Point Break

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Point Break

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.
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.

1 Plot summary
2 Box Office
3 Aftermath
4 Inspiration from Point Break
5 The Ex-Presidents
6 Special Edition DVD
7 Quotes
8 Cast
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Patrick Swayze is Bodhi, the charismatic leader of a gang of surfing bank robbers who steal 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." Reeves plays FBI agent, and former Ohio Statefootball quarterback, Johnny Utah, who goes undercover in the hope of finding and infiltrating the gang and finds himself increasingly attracted to their adrenaline-charged lifestyle. Bodhi and Utah develop a strong friendship that is doomed from the beginning by this state of affairs, although Bodhi doesn't find out that Johnny is an FBI agent until later in the film.

The bank robbers are known as the Ex-Presidents, because they hide their faces behind masks of former US presidents. 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 Australia 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 got her breakthrough and established that also a woman can make action movies. The movie introduced 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.

Comedian Michael J. Nelson, of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame has recorded an audio commentary mocking Point Break for his RiffTrax service.^[1] Nelson had previously recorded a similar commentary for an earlier Patrick Swayze film, Road House, and afterwards, recorded a commentary for a later Keanu Reeves film, The Matrix.

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 concluded to the episode. As Hal Sparks says «We never saw Bodhi die... I smell a sequel, Point Break 2 – Paddling Out»

[edit] Inspiration from Point Break

[edit] The Ex-Presidents

Point Break characters as the Ex-Presidents: Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon B. Johnson.

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 will be 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 let's 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 can change your life." -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