Point Break
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a surfing term, see Point break
| Point Break | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 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 |
| Music by | Mark Isham |
| Cinematography | Donald Peterman |
| Editing by | Howard L. Smith |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | July 12, 1991 |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | USA  |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Point Break is a 1991 film starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, and directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The title refers to the surfing term point break. It was rated R by the MPAA for violence, language and brief nudity.
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[edit] Plot summary
Keanu Reeves plays Johnny Utah, a FBI agent and former Ohio State football quarterback who, with his partner Angelo Pappas (played by Gary Busey), is investigating a string of bank robberies. Suspecting a connection between the bank robbers (known as the "Ex-Presidents" because they hide their faces behind masks of former US presidents) and local surfers, Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community. Knowing little of the surf lifestyle, Utah convinces surfer Tyler Ann Endicott (played by Lori Petty) to mentor him and bring him into the surfing community.
In the process, Utah develops a complex relationship with Bodhi (played by Patrick Swayze), the ex-boyfriend of Tyler and charismatic leader of a gang of surfers who accept Utah into their midst. While Utah goes undercover in the hope of finding and identifying the bank robbers, he finds himself increasingly attracted to the adrenaline-charged lifestyle of the community he has infiltrated.
The Bodhi/Utah dynamic gets more complicated as Utah begins to zero in on Bodhi as the likely ringleader of the Ex-Presidents. Utah learns that Bodhi and his gang rob banks in order to fund surfing lifestyles and skydiving expeditions and as a form of rebellion against a social system that they believe "kills the human spirit." This creates an internal struggle for Utah, as his fondness for Bodhi and the lifestyle Bodhi epitomizes conflicts with his duty and responsibility as an FBI agent.
By the end of the movie, Johnny is so absorbed by this lifestyle that he refuses to arrest Bodhi and instead lets him seek his own death surfing the giant waves of Bells Beach, Australia, in a raging 'fifty year' storm.
The actual location used to film Bells Beach is really Indian Beach Oregon.
[edit] Box Office
Point Break was a considerable success in 1991, with competition from Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. With a budget of $24 million, it grossed $45 million in the USA, and $105 million worldwide.
[edit] Aftermath
Point Break has been widely considered to be the ultimate surfer-movie. Kathryn Bigelow's work positively altered perceptions of female directors in the action film genre, and the film's success helped establish Keanu Reeves as a future action star, from Point Break to Speed and to The Matrix. On the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, Point Break was nominated for 3 awards.
- Most Desirable Male – Keanu Reeves
- Most Desirable Male – Patrick Swayze
- Best Action Sequence – For the second jump from the plane, when Utah jumps out of a plane to catch Bohdi and rescue Tyler. Utah catches up with Bodhi and holds a gun to his head. But, Bohdi 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.
The movie has even inspired a piece of cult-theater, Point Break Live!, which features a new, unrehearsed "Keanu" picked at random from the viewing audience, and reading all of his (or her) lines from cue-cards for the duration of the show.
The movie was listed in the book "The Movies of the 90's".
In the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the agent who shouts, "Stop! FBI!" is impersonating Keanu Reeves.
Point Break was listed in the VH1 show 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".
Michael J. Nelson, who regularly mocked the acting abilities of Reeves and Swayze on Mystery Science Theater 3000, has produced a Rifftrax audio commentary for Point Break.
The scene where Utah jumps after Bodhi without a parachute was ranked nr. 7 in Empire Magazine's Top 10 Crazy Action Sequences.
[edit] Inspiration from Point Break
See also the ex-presidents.
- The 2001 film The Fast and the Furious has many plot elements that are similar to those in Point Break, including: the overall plot element of a caper, an undercover agent who learns surfing/drag-racing to find out who the criminals are, arrests of innocent people, the agent discovering that the criminals are his newly found friends, the agent having to tell his girlfriend he is an undercover cop, and the agent busting the main criminal and letting him go.
- In the French film Brice de Nice certain scenes are part spoof of and part homage to Point Break. The film portrays the experiences of Brice, a young man from Nice. Although Brice claims to be a great surfer and owns a board, he does not know how to surf (for there are no waves in the Mediterranean Sea). Brice shows fanatical worship for the movie, which is possibly the sole inspiration for his surfer persona. He is shown watching Point Break several times during the film, and knows every line by heart. Brice also gets inspired from Point Break in order to rob a bank with the help of a Jacques Chirac mask. The climax of his adoration occurs when, late in the movie, upon losing consciousness after a bad spill (and finally realizing that he can't surf), he is visited by an apparition of Bodhi himself, telling him not to give up.
- The film Fun with Dick and Jane has a reference to Point Break, when the main characters rob a shop they are wearing masks that are a similar style to the masks worn in Point Break.
- The action/comedy British film Hot Fuzz has PC Danny Butterman showing his new partner, PC Nicholas Angel a double bill of the films Point Break & Bad Boys II. Butterman, amazed to have a big city cop in a small village, is asking Angel questions about being a police officer in the city, he asks the question "Have you never pointed your gun up in the air, shooting wildly shouting 'Aaaarrrggghhh' because you were friends with who you had to shoot?" similar to how Johnny reacts in Point Break. Later in the film, when faced with shooting his father, Butterman shoots into the air, wildly whilst screaming.
[edit] The Ex-Presidents
Point Break's Ex-Presidents were parodied in the 2005 film Domino with a group of thieves dressed as and known as The First Ladies. A reference to the film was also made in the Family Guy episode "Ready Willing and Disabled" where a man in a Jimmy Carter mask steals a jar of money and Joe and Lois try to figure out which Keanu Reeves movie it was where the crooks wore President masks before Joe goes after him.
In the French film Brice de Nice, the surfer protagonist lives his life by the film, and tries to rob a bank with a mask of the French President, Jacques Chirac.
In the 2005 film Fun with Dick and Jane, the title characters commit a robbery wearing masks of former President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton. Note that at the time Point Break was released, Bill Clinton had yet to be elected President of the United States which came a year later.
The Asian film Fulltime Killer also references Point Break when one of the main characters wears a Clinton Mask in a video store. The girl comments on it and the movie Point Break (in which the movie poster is in the background) and wonders who is under the mask. Later in the movie he assassinates someone wearing the mask.
In the Italian movie "Tre uomini e una gamba", the three lead roles, played by comedy trio Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo, try at some point to steal a wooden leg wearing masks of the Italian ex-presidents Sandro Pertini, Francesco Cossiga and Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
[edit] Special Edition DVD
On October 3, 2006 a special edition of Point Break became available on Region 1 DVD. Fox Home Entertainment has given it the name, Point Break: Pure Adrenaline Edition.
[edit] Quotes
- "They only live to get radical. They don't understand the sea, so they'll never get the spiritual side of it." -Bodhi
- "Vaya con Dios." -Johnny Utah
- "Everything moves in cycles, so twice a century the ocean lets us know just how small we really are. A storm comes out of Antarctica, tearing up the Pacific, and it sends a huge swell north 2,000 miles. And when it hits Bells Beach it'll turn into the biggest surf this planet has ever seen, and I will be there." -Bodhi
- "This was never about money for us. It was about us against the system. That system that kills the human spirit. We stand for something. To those dead souls inching along the freeways in their metal coffins, we show them that the human spirit is still alive." -Bodhi
- "Two bricks, comin' up." -Angelo Pappas
- "Surfing's the source. It'll change your life...swear to God." -Boy at Surf Shop
- "That's Bodhi. They call him the Bodhisattva." -Tyler Endicott
- "Added to which indignity, l have been saddled with a blue-flame Quantico cat! Some quarterback punk. Johnny Unitas or something." -Angelo Pappas
- "No way Bells is bigger than Waimea, bro." -Grommet
- "Little hand says its time to rock and roll!" -Bohdi
- "Just waitin' for my set." -Bohdi
- "If you want the ultimate thrill, you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price." -Bohdi
- "People are dead. The ride is over!" - Johnny Utah
- "Why be a servant of the law when you can be its master?" -Bodhi
- "Utah! Get me two!" -Angelo (in reference to meatball sandwiches)
- "There's cliffs on both sides, I'm not going to paddle to New Zealand" -Bohdi
- "You're just young, dumb, and full of cum!" = Harp
- "I am a FBI agent!" "-Johnny Utah"
[edit] Cast
- Patrick Swayze - Bodhi
- Keanu Reeves - FBI Special Agent John 'Johnny' Utah
- Gary Busey - FBI Agent Angelo Pappas
- Lori Petty - Tyler Ann Endicott
- John C. McGinley - FBI Agent Ben Harp
- James LeGros - Roach
- John Philbin - Nathanial
- Bojesse Christopher - Grommet
- Julian Reyes - Alvarez
- Daniel Beer - Babbit
- Chris Pedersen - Bunker
- Vincent Klyn - Warchild
- Michael Kopelow - Passion for Slashin'
- Anthony Kiedis - Tone (see also Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- Dave Olson - Archbold
- Lee Tergesen - Rosie
- Christopher Pettiet - 15
- Elizabeth Berkley - Macrame Girl
[edit] References
This film was referenced in Hot Fuzz.
Nick Angel, a metropolitan Police Officer is so good it's embarrassing and he's relegated to a sleepy rural village where nothing happens. Danny; (one of the junior NCO's), lives his dreams of action and gun fights vicariously through films, eg Bad Boys 2 and Point Break.[1] There is a sequence where the characters watch Point Break while bonding during a drinking session and it is also referenced throughout the movie, especially in the end fight sequence.
Fans of Point Break may also note that Danny shoots into the air in a homage to the climax of the Utah-Bodhi chase sequence across LA.
