Point Break

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Point Break
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Kathryn Bigelow
Produced by	James Cameron Peter Abrams Robert L. Levy
Written by	W. Peter Iliff
Starring	Patrick Swayze Keanu Reeves Gary Busey Lori Petty John C. McGinley James LeGros
Cinematography	Donald Peterman
Editing by	Howard L. Smith
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 12, 1991
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$24,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$83,531,958 (Worldwide)[1]

Point Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term "point break".^[2]

The film was a box office success upon its release, and it has since gathered a cult following.

Plot summary

Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves), is a rookie FBI agent and former Ohio State quarterback who, with his partner Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey), is investigating a string of bank robberies by a gang of bank robbers known as the Ex-Presidents because they wear masks of Presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Pursuing a theory of Pappas' that the criminals are surfers, Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community. Knowing little of the sport and lifestyle, Utah persuades orphan surfer girl Tyler Endicott (Lori Petty) to teach him to surf.

In the process, Utah develops a complex relationship with Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) the charismatic leader of a gang of surfers, Roach (James LeGros), Grommet (Bojesse Christopher), and Nathaniel (John Philbin), who accept Utah into their midst as they realize he's a great athlete. As he masters the art of surfing, Utah finds himself increasingly attracted to the surfers' adrenaline-charged lifestyle, Bodhi's philosophies - and to Tyler.

Following a clue gotten by analyzing toxins found in the hair of one of the bank robbers, Utah and Pappas lead an FBI raid on another gang of surfers. While criminals, these surfers aren't the Ex-Presidents and the raid inadvertently ruins a DEA undercover operation.

Watching Bodhi's group surfing, Utah suspects they are the Ex-Presidents from the way one of them moons everyone as one of the robbers did leaving the bank. He tails Bodhi and his suspicions are confirmed when Bodhi and Roach case a bank. Utah and Pappas stakeout the bank and the Ex-Presidents appear. In the ensuing chase through streets, backyards, houses, alleys, etc. Utah is finally unable to shoot his friend and he gets away.

Bodhi aggressively recruits him into participating in a skydiving adventure, and Utah, still not having any hard proof that Bodhi is a bank robber, goes along. After the jump, Bodhi reveals that he knows Utah is an FBI agent, and has arranged for Tyler to be held hostage by his friend Rosie, a non-surfing thug; Utah is forced to participate in their last bank robbery of the summer. The robbery goes wrong and Grommet and an off-duty cop are killed; Utah is left at the scene.

Defying their FBI supervisor who arrested Utah for participating in the bank robbery, Pappas and Utah go to the airport where Bodhi, Roach and Nathaniel are about to board a plane. Another shoot out ensues, in which Pappas and Nathaniel are killed and Roach seriously wounded. Bodhi and Roach take off in the plane, forcing Utah to board with them. Once airborne and over their intended jump point, Bodhi and Roach put on parachutes and jump from the plane. Without any other parachutes available in the aircraft, Utah jumps out of the plane and after the pair. Utah manages to intercept Bodhi before he lands, and the two parachute to the ground with Bodhi's chute. Once on the ground, Bodhi and Rosie meet up, check on Roach (who died either in the air or on landing) and escape. Bodhi orders Rosie to release Tyler, and then the pair leave with the money.

Utah eventually catches up with Bodhi at Bells Beach in Australia, where a record storm is producing huge but lethal waves. After a brutal physical altercation on the surf, Utah manages to handcuff Bodhi to his own wrist, but, through Bodhi's persuasion, releases him to go ride the once-in-a-lifetime wave which will kill him. Utah walks away, throwing his FBI badge into the ocean.

Cast

• Patrick Swayze as Bodhi
• Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah
• Lori Petty as Tyler Ann Endicott
• Gary Busey as FBI Agent Angelo Pappas
• John C. McGinley as FBI Agent Ben Harp
• Sydney Walsh as Miss Deer
• James LeGros as Roach
• John Philbin as Nathanial
• Bojesse Christopher as Grommet
• Lee Tergesen as Rosie
• Julian Reyes as FBI Agent Alvarez
• Daniel Beer as FBI Agent Babbit
• Christopher Pettiet as 15
• Vincent Klyn as Warchild
• Chris Pedersen as Bunker
• Dave Olson as Archbold
• Anthony Kiedis as Tone
• Julie Michaels as Freight Train
• Kimberly Martin as Fibreglass
• Tom Sizemore as DEA Agent Deets (uncredited)
• Richard Grove as FBI Agent Cullen
• Deborah Lemen as Miss Jennings
• Mick Regan as Mr. Duggan
• Anthony Mangano as Off Duty Cop
• Jared Chandler as Pilot
• Peter Phelps as Australian Surfer

Production

Originally, Matthew Broderick and Charlie Sheen were to star in Point Break with Ridley Scott directing.^[3] After acquiring the screenplay, the producers of Point Break began looking for a director. At the time, executive producer James Cameron was married to director Kathryn Bigelow who had just completed Blue Steel and was looking for her next project.^[3]

Point Break was originally called Johnny Utah when Keanu Reeves was cast in the title role.^[3] The studio felt that this title said very little about surfing and by the time Patrick Swayze was cast, the film had been renamed Riders on the Storm after the song by The Doors. However, Jim Morrison's lyrics had nothing to do with the film and so that title was also rejected. It was not until halfway through filming that Point Break became the film's title because of its relevance to surfing.^[3] "Point Break" occurs as an offhand phrase in the book Tapping the Source, which was the original inspiration for this film - Preston the surf guru tells Ike the protagonist "What you need's a good point break," Preston told him. "Some kelp beds out there to cut the chop."

Reeves liked the name of his character as it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana.^[4] He described his character as a "total control freak and the ocean beats him up and challenges him. After a while everything becomes a game... He becomes as amoral as any criminal. He loses the difference between right and wrong".^[3] Swayze felt that Bodhi was a lot like him and that they both shared "that wild-man edge".^[3]

Two months before filming, Lori Petty, Reeves and Swayze trained with former world class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.^[3] Jarvis remembers, "Patrick said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely hadn't surfed before, and Lori had never been in the ocean in her life".^[5] Shooting the surfing sequences proved to be challenging for both actors with Swayze cracking four of his ribs. For many of the surfing scenes he refused to use a stunt double as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases. He also did the skydiving scenes himself and the film's aerial jump instructor Jim Wallace found that the actor was a natural and took to it right away.^[3] The actor ended up making 55 jumps for the film.^[6] Swayze actually based aspects of his character after one of his stunt doubles, Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer.^[7]

Reception

Point Break was released on July 12, 1991 in 1,615 theaters, grossing $8.5 million on its opening weekend. With a budget of $24 million, the film went on to make $43.2 million in North America and $40.3 million internationally for a worldwide total of $83.5 million.^[1]

The film received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote "Bigelow is an interesting director for this material. She is interested in the ways her characters live dangerously for philosophical reasons. They aren't men of action, but men of thought who choose action as a way of expressing their beliefs".^[8] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin praised Reeves' performance: "A lot of the snap comes, surprisingly, from Mr. Reeves, who displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanor that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles".^[9] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote "Point Break makes those of us who don't spend our lives searching for the ultimate physical rush feel like second-class citizens. The film turns reckless athletic valor into a new form of aristocracy".^[10] In his review for the Washington Post, Hal Hinson wrote "A lot of what Bigelow puts up on the screen bypasses the brain altogether, plugging directly into our viscera, our gut. The surfing scenes in particular are majestically powerful, even awe-inspiring. Bigelow's picture is a feast for the eyes, but we watch movies with more than our eyes. She seduces us, then asks us to be bimbos".^[11] Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote "Bigelow can't keep the film from drowning in a sea of surf-speak. But without her, Point Break would be no more than an excuse to ogle pretty boys in wet suits".^[12] USA Today gave the film two out of four stars and Mike Clark wrote "Its purely visceral material (surf sounds, skydiving stunt work, a tough indoor shootout midway through) are first-rate. As for the tangibles that matter even more (script, acting, directorial control, credible relationships between characters), Break defies belief. Dramatically, it rivals the lowest surf yet this year".^[13] Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote "So how do you rate a stunningly made film whose plot buys so blithely into macho mysticism that it threatens to turn into an endless bummer? Looks 10, Brains 3".^[14]

At the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, Point Break was nominated for three awards including "Most Desirable Male" (Keanu Reeves), "Most Desirable Male" (Patrick Swayze), and "Best Action Sequence" for the second jump from the plane. In it, Agent Utah jumps out of a plane without a parachute to catch Bohdi and rescue Tyler. Utah catches up with Bodhi and holds a gun to his head. However, Bodhi refuses to pull the rip cord and Utah must decide between dropping his gun (so he can hold on and pull the rip cord) or letting the two fall to the ground.

In 2006, a special edition of Point Break was released on DVD. Entertainment Weekly gave it a "B" rating and wrote "The making-of docs (at their best discussing Swayze's extracurricular skydiving — that really is him doing the Adios, amigo fall) will leave you hanging".^[15]

Legacy

The film has inspired a piece of cult theater, Point Break Live!, in which the role of Johnny Utah is played by an audience member chosen by popular acclamation after a brief audition. The new "Keanu" reads all of his (or her) lines from cue-cards for the duration of the show, "to capture the rawness of a Keanu Reeves performance even from those who generally think themselves incapable of acting".^[16]

Point Break was listed in the VH1 series I Love the 90s on the episode 1991. Many celebrities, including Dominic Monaghan, Maroon 5, Mo Rocca, Michael Ian Black, Hal Sparks & Jackass's Chris Pontius, commented about the movie and why it deserved to be included in the episode. As Hal Sparks says "We never saw Bodhi die... I smell a sequel, Point Break 2 – Paddling Out". The use of the term "Paddling Out" drew suspicions that a possible sequel could involve Bodhi "Paddling Out" to New Zealand (as reinforced by his quote in the film).

The scene in which Utah jumps after Bodhi without a parachute was ranked seventh in Empire magazine's Top 10 Crazy Action Sequences. The scene was also tested by the Discovery Channel series MythBusters. It was determined that Utah and Bodhi would not have been able to free-fall for 90 seconds (as illustrated in the movie), nor would they have been able to hold a conversation in mid-air. However, it was determined that, by streamlining his body, Utah could have conceivably caught up with Bodhi after jumping from the plane.^[17] Entertainment Weekly ranked Point Break as having one of the "10 Best Surfing Scenes" in cinema.^[18]

Soundtrack

• Ratt - Nobody Rides for Free
• Concrete Blonde - I Want You
• Jimi Hendrix - If 6 Was 9
• School of Fish - Rose Colored Glasses
• Public Image Ltd. - Criminal
• Shark Island - My City
• Love - 7 and 7 Is
• Loudhouse - Smoke on the Water
• Westworld - So Long Cowboy
• Little Caesar - Down to the Wire
• L.A. Guns - Over the Edge
• Liquid Jesus - 7 and 7 Is
• Wire Train - I Will Not Fall
• Ice-T - Original Gangster
• Foot Chase - Mark Isham

Score album

On February 7, 2008 a score release for Point Break was released by La-La Land Records, featuring composer Mark Isham's score. This edition was limited to 2,000 units, and features 65-minutes of score, with liner notes by Dan Goldwasser that incorporates comments from both Bigelow and Isham.^[19]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Point Break

• Point Break at the Internet Movie Database
• Point Break at Allmovie
• Point Break at Rotten Tomatoes
• Point Break at Box Office Mojo