This film is part of Free
It's a Bike!
A ripe slice of 80s cheese: a lively, rapping cautionary tale for the young cyclist.
Overview
Oozing with 1980s cheese, this hugely entertaining live action comic-strip story was made to encourage bike maintenance and safety. Two thieves pursue an overgrown schoolboy and pilfer parts of his bicycle. But help arrives in the form of a mysterious Victorian avenger and his vintage 'hobby horse'... The fun is crowned with a rapping Cockney narrator in the mould of 80s pop maverick Ian Dury.
Members of the Diss Cycle Club can be seen appearing in the film, the bulk of which was shot in Yaxley and Ipswich, Suffolk. It's a Bike! makes an interesting comparison with The Ballad of the Battered Bicycle (1947), also featured here. A film from the RoSPA collection (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents).
Related
Boy and Bicycle Boy and Bicycle
Drama 1965 28 mins Location: Hartlepool
Ridley Scott's first film features his younger brother, the late Tony Scott, as a schoolboy playing truant for the day to meander around Hartlepool on his bicycle, lost in his own thoughts.
BMX BMX
Magazine and Review show 1983 5 mins Location: Adderley Park Sta
Riders from the Birmingham Wheels Project show off the tricks and techniques of the new BMX craze.
Peddlers' Progress Peddlers' Progress
Amateur film 1949 25 mins Silent Location: Ben Nevis
Join four clean-cut intrepid youngsters on an awfully big 1940s adventure as they sing and cycle their way around the youth hostels of scenic Scotland in glorious colour. Tally ho!
Cyclists Special Cyclists Special
Travelogue 1956 15 mins Location: Rugby
A wonderful short film, produced by British Transport Films, about travelling around Britain by bicycle - with the help of the odd train.
Cycling Proficiency Scheme: Father and Son Cycling Proficiency Scheme: Father and Son
Advert 1959 1 mins
"Dad... I want a bike!” Fun animated campaign aimed at 50s parents and their over-eager offspring.
Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.
Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology
2023 15 mins
A satirical take on the healthcare service announcements of the 1960s and 70s.
Every Moment Counts Every Moment Counts
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 9 mins
A short animation that offers a window into the world of children’s palliative care.
Police Story: Panel Discussion Police Story: Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 24 mins
Panel discussion on Jackie Chan's 1985 action classic Police Story, with Chase Armitage, Sam Mak and Jadey Duffield.
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.