Year:1991
Star: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
“It’s 100% Pure Adrenaline”
We open up with Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Nixon, and LBJ all robbing a bank. Times are rough when you’re no longer the President. They play it smart and only hit the registers, making sure to avoid all dye packs & tracers. After this, we find one handsome looking Johnny Utah [Reeves] getting a perfect score on his marksmanship test. It’s now time for him to break into the FBI, baby, partnering up with Angelo Pappas [Busey]. Angelo is a bit of a joke in the FBI because of his belief that the bank robbers who’ve been running roughshod over Southern California are in fact surfers. Utah believes him, so he’s off to undercover land.
First things first, he needs to find a girl who’s built like a 10-year-old boy. Now, if it’s early 90’s, and you need a girl a woman who’s body screams “prepubescent”, look no further than Lori Petty who plays Tyler Endicott. So, she’s a surfer and he wants to learn to surf. They do so, and before we know it they’re hanging out with Bodhi [Swayze] and his crew. Bodhi is of course known as a modern-day savage, who’s honestly just Dalton with a surf board. He’s full of awesome wisdoms, and rockin’ hair. As the gang play football on the beach, Bodhi recognizes Johnny Utah as the former superstar College quarterback.
Johnny gets in good with these peeps, and starts to dig the lifestyle. Night surfing, drinking & partying, grabbin’ some boobie, then realizing it’s Tyler’s back. Never more is it evident that he’s close to Bodhi and crew than when he & Angelo catch them robbing a bank. What ensues is honestly one of the greatest chases in film history. We get everything from gas-pump flame-thrower, to throwing a dog. Just as Utah gets a bead on Bodhi, and could easily drop him with a bullet, he points the gun to the sky and unloads, allowing the Modern Day Savage to make the escape.
So, at this point, Utah knows that it’s pretty much over. The gang is gonna blow town, and his cover is pretty much toast. It’s at this point that Bodhi shows up at Utah’s place and tells him that they’re gonna go do something amazing. Now, Utah, who knows full well that these guys are dangerous, and that they know he’s a cop, just decides to go with them. I mean, why the hell not, right? The amazing thing they plan on doing is skydiving, which Utah seems to have no problem with. Afterwords, it seems like he and the guys are cool as a cucumber with each other, until Bodhi shows Johnny a video of Tyler being tied up, and under the threat of death. The deal is, Bodhi has a place to be, if he gets there on time, Tyler is free.
They hit up a bank, and force Utah to go along. Normally, the gang has these robberies down like clockwork, but Bodhi gets greedy and decides to go for the vault. Also playing against their luck is the fact an off the clock cop is there, with a piece. He talks the security guard into being just as stupid as he is, and they start blasting. They clip one of the bad guys in the throat, and both catch shotgun blasts for their trouble. They flee and leave Johnny behind.
Now that the gang is ghost, and Utah is an accessory to robbery & homicide, he gets taken in by Angelo. Of course, they’re a couple of loose cannons who don’t play by the rules and go after the gang. Naturally, people die, bullets fly, and everything is awesome. Bodhi ends up getting away, but Johnny knows where he’ll eventually be.
Man Movie Encyclopedia Tally:
1-Liners: None
Guys Beat Up: 6
Guys Killed: 8
Swear Words: 180
Boobs: 2
Explosions: 1
Slow-Motion Scenes: 53
Car Chases: 1
Chases on Foot: 2
Broken Bones: None
Fight at a Motel? No
Guy Get Girl? Yes
Guy Smoke Cigarettes? No
Man-Facts:
Before Keanu & Swayze were attached, Matthew Broderick was slated for one of the lead roles with Ridley Scott behind the camera.
Two slated titles for the film was Johnny Utah, and Riders of the Storm. However, the studio felt that the names didn’t say anything about the film, and it wasn’t until half-way through filming that Point Break was decided on.
The place where they play football is the same place Daniel was rockin’ soccer & Johnny from the Cobra Kai was rockin’ sidekicks in the first Karate Kid.
Box-Office Business:
Distributed by 20th Century Fox, Point Break was created for $24 million, and released July 21st, 1991, in 1,615 theaters. It opened up at #3, and raked in $8,514,616
In the end it brought in $83,531,958.
C’mon Bennet, Let’s Party:
This baby has become a cult classic, and it needs…nay, deserves to be raised to full classic. There’s a ton of great dialog, action scenes, and Gary Busey. Everything is completely over the top, and drenched in the 90’s culture. Hell, even Anthony Kiedis has a small role, he’s the drug dealer who’s foot gets blown to bits. It’s an awesome film that’s a lot of fun, and is thankfully getting it’s due. Fitting in along the likes of Fight Club, it makes you want to say f**k it, and truly do your own thing. Of course, you’d need to put your life on the line and rob banks, but if you want the pot of gold you’ve go to fist fight a leprechaun.
4 ½ Head-Butts out of 5
