The Bikini Bandits are a parody of female action teams like Charlie's Angels, written and directed by Steven Grasse. They are a band of bikini-clad, gun-toting super vixens, who star in internet film shorts and their own feature length movies. The Bandits are often seen being chased by local law enforcement and a cast of other stereotypical characters in their fight against the evil G-Mart Corporation. The Bikini Bandits style of humor is often sexually crass and contains many double entendres and scenes of sex and violence. Maynard James Keenan of the band Tool is a noteworthy fan, and has starred in The Bikini Bandits Save Christmas and Bikini Bandit Experience, which also stars Dee Dee Ramone and Corey Feldman. The Bandits are also featured in A Perfect Circle's music video for the song "The Outsider". These movies and film shorts are an obvious homage to exploitation films of the 1970's.

History

The sun was just peeking over rooftops and the film crew was cranking up in Center City last Thursday morning, and already there was a major crisis. The problem: Heather has detected a loose heel on her pink vinyl go-go boots, a flaw that could present a hazard as she sprints down the treacherous cobblestones of Quince Street.

A reporter, trained to focus on details, also notices that her thong is riding up a bit, but that's not of immediate concern. Right now, all eyes, or some eyes, are on the wobbly heel.

The director instructs Heather to try a few tentative strides, and everything seems OK - this is vital, because this is the all-important scene in which Heather, playing Helga the lesbian scientist, goes back in time, pursuing a gang of bikini-wearing outlaws into colonial Philadelphia. OK, so it's not "Unbreakable," the Bruce Willis/Night Shyamalan movie shooting in the city. But it is the work of a local director, and it is the follow-up to a surprisingly successful, locally-made feature: "Bikini Bandits." Never heard of it?

It didn't play theaters, but has found an audience of more than 300,000 on the Internet, where it has become one of the most successful short films (3.5 minutes) in the history of AtomFilms, the company whose Web site exhibits short films on-line.

"It's more popular even than 'Saving Ryan's Privates," notes Steven Grasse, 35, the Souderton native who directed "Bikini Bandits." AtomFilms liked it so much it bankrolled several sequels. Grasse and crew, for instance, have recently returned from Morocco, where they filmed "Bikini Bandits and the Magic Lamp" (also titled "Bikini Bandits Rock the Casbah.")

On this day in Philly, they're working on "Bikini Bandits and the Time Machine, Parts I and II," expanding on the themes established in the original, summarized by Grasse as "bikinis, girls, and boobs. Big boobs."

Promotional materials make the proud claim that "all our actresses are real strippers," and indeed they are. The bandits are dancers at Delilah's Den, a business that Grasse lists as a client in his other life - founder of the Gyro Worldwide ad agency, based in Olde City.

A few months back, Steven and brother Peter (also at Gyro) decided they wanted to branch out from advertising into music videos and films. They wanted their films to reflect their favorite subjects (mentioned above). So, they recruited actresses from Delilah's, and went ahead with "Bikini Bandits."

They submitted the quickie thriller to half a dozen Webcasters, and after a mini-bidding war (they won't talk numbers), selected AtomFilms, which has promo'd "Bandits" on MTV, VH-1 and Comedy Central.

"After seeing the first film, we commissioned them to create an entire series," said Julie Moe, AtomFilms spokeswoman. The series includes "Magic Lamp," which took the cast halfway across the world.

"Morocco is fabulous, if you're a guy," reports Heather Victoria, who plays the bikini bandit leader. "It's a Muslim country, and women are expected to dress a certain way. The bikini bandits were quite a sight, and there were times when we wondered whether we'd make it out alive."

She declined to comment on the on-set rumor that the bikini girls, perhaps seduced by the heady aura of sudden stardom, trashed their Moroccan hotel rooms. "We bikini bandits disclose no information that could incriminate us," said the cagey Victoria, also a computer whiz, and one of the few people on the set who could explain the best way to download short films from online archives.

Easy to see why she is the ringleader of the bandits, who in Episode 7 (really episode one) rob a convenience store and kill the lecherous clerk (Peter Grasse) by stuffing weiners in his mouth.

Grasse has key roles in all of the "Bandit" movies. He played a genie in "Magic Lamp," and tackles the role of Ben Franklin in "Time Machine." Steven is asked if he's making a star of his brother.

"Actually, I think I'm making an ass of him," he joked, describing the Bandit series as a mixture of Russ Meyer and Quentin Tarantino.

"In our movies, our goal is to do all the stuff you're not supposed to do," said Grasse, who reports that his mother refuses to watch the movies.

Hundreds of thousands of Web watchers, however, are not so picky. The bandits are a Web hit, and the Grasses are already talking to major studios about a "Bandit" feature, which Stevens envisions as a sci-fi yarn about a lost civilization of strippers at the North Pole.

In the short run, Steven is focusing his energy on "Time Machine," wherein the bikini bandits confront Ben Franklin and George Washington. Carnage ensues, and it is not clear that the founding fathers survive.

Does it affect the fabric of history?

"Um. . .I don't know," admits Grasse, who concedes that the complexities and ramifications of time travel are not fully addressed in "Time Machine."

Filmography

<gallery>
Image:Bbexp.jpg|<center>1. Bikini Bandits Experience<br><center>2002
Image:Bbxmas.jpg|<center>2. The Bikini Bandits Save Christmas<br><center>2004
Image:Bbpant.jpg|<center> 3. Bikini Bandits - Briefs, Shorts & Panties<br><center>2004
</gallery>

External links

Bikini Bandits Official Website

iFilm.com

IMDb

Related links

Atom Films.com

Something Weird.com