Click to set custom HTML
Point Break
PG 13/2h 2min | Action, Crime, Thriller | 12 July 1991 (USA)
Cast
Patrick Swayze...Bodhi
Keanu Reeves...Johnny Utah
Gary Busey...Pappas
Lori Petty...Tyler
John C. McGinley...Ben Harp (as John McGinley)
James Le Gros...Roach
John Philbin...Nathanial
Bojesse Christopher...Grommet
Julian Reyes...Alvarez
Daniel Beer...Babbit
Chris Pedersen...Bunker
Vincent Klyn...Warchild
Anthony Kiedis/Red Hot Chili Peppers...Tone
Dave Olson...Archbold
Lee Tergesen...Rosie
PG 13/2h 2min | Action, Crime, Thriller | 12 July 1991 (USA)
Cast
Patrick Swayze...Bodhi
Keanu Reeves...Johnny Utah
Gary Busey...Pappas
Lori Petty...Tyler
John C. McGinley...Ben Harp (as John McGinley)
James Le Gros...Roach
John Philbin...Nathanial
Bojesse Christopher...Grommet
Julian Reyes...Alvarez
Daniel Beer...Babbit
Chris Pedersen...Bunker
Vincent Klyn...Warchild
Anthony Kiedis/Red Hot Chili Peppers...Tone
Dave Olson...Archbold
Lee Tergesen...Rosie
Somehow director Kathryn Bigelow manages to bring an almost mythic dimension to the barkingly daft premise of straight-laced FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) going deep undercover to infiltrate a gang of mystical surfer-dudes who fund their quest for inner enlightenment by robbing banks while disguised as the nations’ former leaders.
Utah is paired with cynically grizzled wacko Angelo Pappas (scene-stealing Gary Busey), who quickly deduces the gang’s lifestyle from traces of Sex Wax and the fact that they only pull jobs during the summer months.
Landlubber Utah suddenly finds himself plunged into California’s surfing culture, buying his first board from store housed in the Mediterranean-style octagonal building at the end of Manhattan Beach Pier.
After his clumsy attempts to master the necessary skills are roundly dissed by the more experienced Tyler (Lori Petty), Utah homes in on her as a potential inroad to the clannish beach fraternities.
Point Break location: Johnny Utah gives Tyler his sob-story: Neptune’s Net, Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
Convincing Tyler that, like her, he’s a poor little orphan, Johnny Utah convinces her to teach him to ride the waves.
The beachfront café where Tyler works is Neptune’s Net, 42505 Pacific Coast Highway, a real surfer-biker hangout on the Malibu coast. It’s laidback and casual, good for a substantial seafood feast at one of the wooden picnic benches (though water restrictions mean the only restroom facilities are the basic port-o-potty). You can also glimpse this terrific hangout in The Fast And The Furious, though for Iron Man 3, it was mocked up in the studio.
Sure enough, Utah is soon bonding with a bunch of tanned, flouncy-haired beach boys, led by the charismatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) – “a real searcher for the ultimate ride”.
Back in the day job, a strand of hair retrieved from the ponytail of one of the Ex-Presidents reveals contaminants likely to point to a specific beach, and it’s up to Johnny and Angelo to collect comparison samples.
The beach on which Pappas manages to clip a lock from a couple of stoners is Dockweiler State Beach in Playa Del Rey, overlooked by the ominous bulk of the Scattergood power plant in El Segundo.
In the end, the match turns out to be ‘Latigo Beach’, where Johnny finds the locals nowhere near as friendly and Bodhi and his crew.
The beach scenes were filmed at Leo Carrillo State Beach, 35000 West Pacific Coast Highway, in Malibu, though more spectacular waves for the surfing sequences were found in Hawaii, at the legendary surfers’ paradise locations of Pipeline Beach, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay, on the north shore of Oahu.
Expecting one more job before the end of summer, Pappas and Utah stake out the ‘Assured Trust Savings Loan Bank’. With Utah sent off to get a couple of meatball sandwiches and Pappas engrossed in Calvin & Hobbes, the Ex-Prezzes have pulled the hold-up before being spotted.
The ‘bank’ has since been substantially remodelled and is now sports shop Sporteve, 3849 Main Street, at the corner of Culver Boulevard, Culver City. The large arched windows in the background, by the way, are the venerable Culver Hotel – once owned by John Wayne and famous in Hollywood folklore as the place the little people stayed during filming of The Wizard Of Oz at the nearby MGM Studio.
Chased by the cops, the gang is soon inexplicably screeching about beneath the Marina Freeway in the parking lot of Fox Hills Mall – now Westfield Culver City, 6000 Sepulveda Boulevard, Culver City (which is also the Mall seen at the end of Superbad).
They stop to use a gas pump as an improvised flame-thrower to torch their getaway car. The gas station, where Utah tangles with Ronald Reagan, is now Triathlon Lab cycle shop, 600 North Catalina Avenue at Beryl Street in Redondo Beach.
The foot chase leads to Ballona Creek, the concrete river channel flowing through Culver City, where Johnny freezes after locking eyes with Reagan/Bodhi, and fires his gun into the air while shouting “Aaaargh!” – the grand gesture repeated by Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz.
Knowing his cover is now blown, Johnny is nevertheless obliged to join the lads in an edgy skydiving session. The hair-raising ‘speedstar’ formation was filmed above the red sandstone landscapes of Utah, over Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River.
With Tyler being held captive, Johnny is obliged to join the Ex-Presidents for their final bank job.
The ‘Security Independence Bank’, where the robbery goes bloodily wrong after the gang break their own rules, is the Wells Fargo Bank, 2444 Wilshire Boulevardat Chelsea Avenue, overlooking Douglas Park in Santa Monica.
Johnny and Angelo follow Bodhi to Santa Monica Airport, 3223 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica, where Angelo is fatally wounded before Bodhi makes his getaway by plane.
Fast forward to a rainy ‘Australia’, where Johnny has doggedly trailed Bodhi, knowing that there’s no way he would miss the ‘50 year storm’ at ‘Bell’s Beach’ (a real surfing hotspot in Victoria).
’Torquay’, the rainy Australian town in which Johnny arrives, is Wheeler, about 35 miles south of Astoria, Oregon, where he parks on Oregon Coast Highway (101) at Gregory Street in front of the Old Wheeler Hotel, before heading down to the beach.
Actually, the town of Wheeler isn’t exactly on the coast – the apparent seafront is the Nehalem River estuary running into Nehalem Bay.
Point Break location: Utah catches up with Bodhi at ‘Bell’s Beach’ in Australia: Indian Beach, Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach, Oregon
Photograph: iStockphoto © Maile M Rounds
The stormy finale was filmed at Indian Beach, Ecola State Park, off Hwy 101, two miles north of Cannon Beach, Oregon (which stood in for ‘La Push’ in Twilight).
The titanic waves, where Bodhi (or his stunt double) finally disappears, were filmed back on Oahu at Waimea.
Utah is paired with cynically grizzled wacko Angelo Pappas (scene-stealing Gary Busey), who quickly deduces the gang’s lifestyle from traces of Sex Wax and the fact that they only pull jobs during the summer months.
Landlubber Utah suddenly finds himself plunged into California’s surfing culture, buying his first board from store housed in the Mediterranean-style octagonal building at the end of Manhattan Beach Pier.
After his clumsy attempts to master the necessary skills are roundly dissed by the more experienced Tyler (Lori Petty), Utah homes in on her as a potential inroad to the clannish beach fraternities.
Point Break location: Johnny Utah gives Tyler his sob-story: Neptune’s Net, Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
Convincing Tyler that, like her, he’s a poor little orphan, Johnny Utah convinces her to teach him to ride the waves.
The beachfront café where Tyler works is Neptune’s Net, 42505 Pacific Coast Highway, a real surfer-biker hangout on the Malibu coast. It’s laidback and casual, good for a substantial seafood feast at one of the wooden picnic benches (though water restrictions mean the only restroom facilities are the basic port-o-potty). You can also glimpse this terrific hangout in The Fast And The Furious, though for Iron Man 3, it was mocked up in the studio.
Sure enough, Utah is soon bonding with a bunch of tanned, flouncy-haired beach boys, led by the charismatic Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) – “a real searcher for the ultimate ride”.
Back in the day job, a strand of hair retrieved from the ponytail of one of the Ex-Presidents reveals contaminants likely to point to a specific beach, and it’s up to Johnny and Angelo to collect comparison samples.
The beach on which Pappas manages to clip a lock from a couple of stoners is Dockweiler State Beach in Playa Del Rey, overlooked by the ominous bulk of the Scattergood power plant in El Segundo.
In the end, the match turns out to be ‘Latigo Beach’, where Johnny finds the locals nowhere near as friendly and Bodhi and his crew.
The beach scenes were filmed at Leo Carrillo State Beach, 35000 West Pacific Coast Highway, in Malibu, though more spectacular waves for the surfing sequences were found in Hawaii, at the legendary surfers’ paradise locations of Pipeline Beach, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay, on the north shore of Oahu.
Expecting one more job before the end of summer, Pappas and Utah stake out the ‘Assured Trust Savings Loan Bank’. With Utah sent off to get a couple of meatball sandwiches and Pappas engrossed in Calvin & Hobbes, the Ex-Prezzes have pulled the hold-up before being spotted.
The ‘bank’ has since been substantially remodelled and is now sports shop Sporteve, 3849 Main Street, at the corner of Culver Boulevard, Culver City. The large arched windows in the background, by the way, are the venerable Culver Hotel – once owned by John Wayne and famous in Hollywood folklore as the place the little people stayed during filming of The Wizard Of Oz at the nearby MGM Studio.
Chased by the cops, the gang is soon inexplicably screeching about beneath the Marina Freeway in the parking lot of Fox Hills Mall – now Westfield Culver City, 6000 Sepulveda Boulevard, Culver City (which is also the Mall seen at the end of Superbad).
They stop to use a gas pump as an improvised flame-thrower to torch their getaway car. The gas station, where Utah tangles with Ronald Reagan, is now Triathlon Lab cycle shop, 600 North Catalina Avenue at Beryl Street in Redondo Beach.
The foot chase leads to Ballona Creek, the concrete river channel flowing through Culver City, where Johnny freezes after locking eyes with Reagan/Bodhi, and fires his gun into the air while shouting “Aaaargh!” – the grand gesture repeated by Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz.
Knowing his cover is now blown, Johnny is nevertheless obliged to join the lads in an edgy skydiving session. The hair-raising ‘speedstar’ formation was filmed above the red sandstone landscapes of Utah, over Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River.
With Tyler being held captive, Johnny is obliged to join the Ex-Presidents for their final bank job.
The ‘Security Independence Bank’, where the robbery goes bloodily wrong after the gang break their own rules, is the Wells Fargo Bank, 2444 Wilshire Boulevardat Chelsea Avenue, overlooking Douglas Park in Santa Monica.
Johnny and Angelo follow Bodhi to Santa Monica Airport, 3223 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica, where Angelo is fatally wounded before Bodhi makes his getaway by plane.
Fast forward to a rainy ‘Australia’, where Johnny has doggedly trailed Bodhi, knowing that there’s no way he would miss the ‘50 year storm’ at ‘Bell’s Beach’ (a real surfing hotspot in Victoria).
’Torquay’, the rainy Australian town in which Johnny arrives, is Wheeler, about 35 miles south of Astoria, Oregon, where he parks on Oregon Coast Highway (101) at Gregory Street in front of the Old Wheeler Hotel, before heading down to the beach.
Actually, the town of Wheeler isn’t exactly on the coast – the apparent seafront is the Nehalem River estuary running into Nehalem Bay.
Point Break location: Utah catches up with Bodhi at ‘Bell’s Beach’ in Australia: Indian Beach, Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach, Oregon
Photograph: iStockphoto © Maile M Rounds
The stormy finale was filmed at Indian Beach, Ecola State Park, off Hwy 101, two miles north of Cannon Beach, Oregon (which stood in for ‘La Push’ in Twilight).
The titanic waves, where Bodhi (or his stunt double) finally disappears, were filmed back on Oahu at Waimea.
Patrick Swayze was an accomplished skydiver, and took part in the big skydiving scene. He made fifty-five jumps in total.
Keanu Reeves, who learned to surf for his role, still surfs as a hobby to this day.
Johnny Utah became a F.B.I. Agent after a knee injury ended his football career. In real-life, Keanu Reeves was once an aspiring hockey player who suffered a knee injury, and went on to become an actor.
For many of the surfing scenes, Patrick Swayze refused to use a stunt double, as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases.
Keanu Reeves observed real F.B.I. Agents in Los Angeles to study for the role. He also practiced with UCLA quarterback coaches, to help with the football scene.
Tyler explains to Johnny Utah that Patrick Swayze's character is named Bodhi, the Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is a term in the Buddhist religion meaning an enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others. Bodhi means "wakefulness".
The film was originally called "Johnny Utah" when Keanu Reeves was cast in the title role. The studio felt that this title said very little about surfing, and by the time Patrick Swayzewas cast, the film had been renamed Riders on the Storm after the famous song by The Doors. However, the 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.
Patrick Swayze, who participated in skydiving as a hobby, was told to stop for insurance purposes, once production began. Producers coaxed him into the agreement with the promise of letting the star do one actual skydive on-screen. The uncut shot of Bodhi yelling "Adios amigo!" and falling from the plane, features Swayze actually making a jump.
Two months before filming, Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, and Lori Petty trained with former world class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on Kauai, Hawaii. Jarvis remembers, "Patrick said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely had not surfed before, and Lori had never been in the ocean in her life."
The scene in which Utah jumps after Bodhi without a parachute, was tested by MythBusters (2003). It was determined that Utah and Bodhi would not have been able to free-fall for ninety seconds (as in the film), 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.
The beach spot, where the football game is played at the beginning of the film, is the same spot used for the soccer game in The Karate Kid (1984).
In her DVD commentary for Strange Days (1995), Director Kathryn Bigelow described filming the foot chase scenes in this movie using a stripped-down, hand-held 35mm camera nicknamed the "Pogo-Cam". The camera weighed eighteen pounds, and was equipped with a gyro-stabilizer, borrowed from a Steadicam. A wire loop on top of the camera gave Steadicam Operator James Muro a rough idea of what was in the frame as he followed the actors at breakneck speed.
The skinny, long-haired guy, named Tone, in Warchild (Vincent Klyn) and Bunker's (Chris Pedersen's) gang was Anthony Kiedis, lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
According to Gary Busey, Patrick Swayze was so nuts about skydiving, that he actually badgered him until he gave in, and agreed to go with him after filming.
Officially uncredited (because of an unresolved issue with the Writers Guild of America), James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow re-wrote the final script together.
Patrick Swayze cracked four ribs while filming the surfing scenes.
Matthew Broderick was originally offered the role of Johnny Utah. Others who auditioned were Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen.
Patrick Swayze is not the one wearing the Reagan mask during the foot chase sequence. Instead, his stunt double, Scott Wilder, performed the scene, because Swayze was in Europe doing press for Ghost (1990).
When Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) is introduced to Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) on the beach, he remarks that Utah's surfboard reminds him of a '57 Chevy he used to have. Swayze previously drove a '57 Chevy in Dirty Dancing (1987).
Patrick Swayze felt that Bodhi was a lot like him, and that they both shared "that wild man edge".
Patrick's Roadhouse, often attributed to an in-joke aimed at Patrick Swayze, is a real place located at 106 Entrada Drive, Santa Monica, California. It's right on the Pacific Coast Highway, which would be a reasonably logical place for Johnny and Bodhi to have a meal.
Val Kilmer auditioned for the role of Johnny Utah.
Patrick Swayze originally auditioned for the part of Johnny Utah before eventually landing the role of Bodhi.
This is the first of two movies in which Keanu Reeves played a former Ohio State quarterback. The second was The Replacements (2000).
Co-Producer Rick King first came up with the idea for the movie, while lounging on the beach. He had been given an L.A. Weekly article, about Los Angeles being the robbery capital of America, and dreamed up a movie about an F.B.I. Agent infiltrating a surf gang that robs banks to fuel their fun.
The song "Nobody Rides for Free", by Ratt, was recorded especially for the film's soundtrack. It does not appear on any of the band's studio albums, but is included on the band's greatest hits album "Ratt N' Roll 81-91". The song was also the final single released by the band in its classic line-up form.
The youngest of the gang of surfers in the film is known by the nickname "Grommet". In surfer slang, a grommet is a young kid or an inexperienced surfer.
Bojesse Christopher (Grommet) and John Philbin (Nathaniel) were pro surfers, who acted on the side.
The girl seen dancing (after the guy shakes his tongue at the camera) when Utah enters Bodhi's house party, is the same dancer in Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love" music video.
This was Kathryn Bigelow's highest grossing film until Zero Dark Thirty (2012).
The film 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."
Second Unit Director and Stunt Coordinator Glenn R. Wilder held fight training sessions for the cast on weekends, because Director Kathryn Bigelow wanted the actors to do their own fights on-screen without stuntmen. Anthony Kiedis was allegedly the only cast member to miss this training, so Wilder had his character knocked out with one punch during the first fight sequence in the movie.
To get close-ups of the actors during the skydiving sequences, a crane rig with a telescoping arm was built for each actor. The rigs enabled the cast to say their lines while the camera shot them from below to achieve the sense of floating while skydiving.
Willem Dafoe turned down the role of Johnny Utah.
Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze appeared in Youngblood (1986).
The "f" word is said one hundred five times.
People refer to The Fast and the Furious (2001) as a remake of this film.
Elizabeth Berkley had a small scene in the movie, but it was cut out.
The Ex-Presidents' masks are of Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Lyndon Johnson.
U.S. rentals for the film grossed twenty million dollars. Worldwide rentals were much higher.
Two scenes from the movie that were deleted from the final cut but were shown in the theatrical trailer are:
Ridley Scott was the first choice to direct the movie.
Patrick Swayze based aspects of his character after one of his stunt doubles, Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer.
20th Century Fox had made plans for a sequel to the film to be released in the Summer of 1993. In fact, a script had been written and was in pre-production. Despite the film grossing ninety million dollars worldwide, the studio decided to scrap the project.
Utah tosses his F.B.I. badge in the water, which was previously done in Dirty Harry (1971) and High Noon (1952).
In Spain the movie was called "Le Llaman Bodhi", it means "They Call Him Bodhi".
The Spanish phrase, "Vaya con Dios", spoken by Johnny to Bodhi at the end of the film, in English translates to, "Go with God".
Rick King recruited Screenwriter W. Peter Iliff to pen the script for only six thousand dollars. Since the pay was paltry, Iliff had to wait tables at a restaurant during the day, before going home to write the script at night.
This film and Platoon (1986), feature Chris Pedersen and John C. McGinley. Also, Keanu Reeves auditioned for a role in Platoon, while Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, and Willem Dafoe were contenders for the role of Utah.
The nighttime surfing scenes were filmed the day, due to the difficulty in filming, and completed later with visual effects, making it appear as though it's nighttime. If you watch during the scene, you can see the actors and actresses shadows on the water, as well as a little lens flair caused by the sun.
Keanu Reeves 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."
The last thing Johnny Utah says to Bodhi is "Vaya con Dios". Similarly, in Red Dawn(1984), the last words spoken to Patrick Swayze's character, Jed, is "Vaya con Dios", by Colonel Bella.
Michael Biehn revealed in an interview that there were briefly talks of him co-starring as Bohdi, but plans fell through.
The gas station man who was soaked with gasoline by Bohdi, was stuntman Jeff Imada.
Keanu Reeves liked the name of his character, as it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana.
To get a sense of frenetic energy for the foot chase scene, Kathryn Bigelow and her crew shot the sequence with what they dubbed the "pogo-cam", which was a rig that mounted a gyro-stabilized camera on a body-length pole that could be led by the cameraman shooting the actors in front or behind him.
Johnny Utah's handgun is a Sig-Sauer P226.
The watch shown prior to the first bank job is a Breitling Navitimer New Pluton.
Tyler's (Lori Petty's) birthday is revealed to be November 27, the same as Director Kathryn Bigelow.
Gary Busey was also in the surfing film, Big Wednesday (1978).
The film was originally about skateboarding.
The plot is the same as the Charlie Sheen movie No Man's Land (1987), and Charlie was cast as Utah, with Ridley Scott directing. But production stalled, and Sheen did Young Guns (1988), and eventually the script went in other directions.
Though cast members took surfing lessons to appear in some of the less technically complex surfing shots, many of the more dangerous shots utilized pro-surfer stunt doubles. During the 50 Year Storm scene at the end of the movie, Swayze was doubled by legendary big wave surfer Darrick Doerner.
During the party scene, the song "If 6 Was 9" by Jimi Hendrix, is played in the background. Kathryn Bigelow and Hendrix share the same birth date (both on November 27).
Patrick Swayze hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) a few days after production completed. He memorably sported the same long blond hair he had as Bodhi in the episode.
Pappas' (Gary Busey's) handgun is an older model two inch Charter Arm's Undercover .38 special.
Keanu Reeves' first action film.
Chris Pederson's character in Platoon (1986) was also a surfer.
In 2015, Alcon Entertainment re-made this movie, with Ericson Core directing a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer.
In this movie, Johnny Utah is a former football player-turned F.B.I. Agent. In Black Dog(1998), Sonny (Gabriel Casseus) is a football player-turned F.B.I. Agent.
Roach (James Le Gros) carried a second generation Detonics Scoremaster.
The number of Utah's pickup at the end of the movie is 549 956 EUE.
When Johnny Utah goes to purchase his first surfboard, 15 (Christopher Pettiet) and Utah (Keanu Reeves) have a conversation where 15 is surprised someone like Utah would take up surfing 'at a late age' (Utah being 25 years old). In a strange twist of fate, Christopher Pettiet did not make it to 25-he died from a drug overdose aged 24.
This was Kathryn Bigelow's first film to be shot in 2.39:1. This film, Strange Days (1995), and K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) are her only films that were made in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, through the Super 35 format.
John Philbin and James Le Gros share a birthday, April 27.
Spoilers The trivia items below may give away important plot points.
James Cameron confessed at the end of his Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) commentary that Bodhi killed himself at the end of this movie.
The members of The Ex-Presidents are killed in chronological order of when their respective President served in office.
At one point, there were talks of making Point Break 2, with Keanu Reeves reprising his role as Johnny Utah, and Patrick Swayze reprising his role as Bodhi (apparently, Bodhi survived the ending). The real-life death of Swayze put an end to these plans.
Bodhi, who wears the Ronald Reagan mask, is the only member of The Ex-Presidents that isn't shot. In real-life, Ronald Reagan was shot during an attempted assassination.
Body count: ten.
Director Kathryn Bigelow, and her then husband and collaborator on the film, James Cameron, re-wrote the end together. Cameron said in his Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) commentary that Bodhi killed himself at the end of this movie.
The revolver Bodhi uses, is a Freedom Arms model 83.
Keanu Reeves, who learned to surf for his role, still surfs as a hobby to this day.
Johnny Utah became a F.B.I. Agent after a knee injury ended his football career. In real-life, Keanu Reeves was once an aspiring hockey player who suffered a knee injury, and went on to become an actor.
For many of the surfing scenes, Patrick Swayze refused to use a stunt double, as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases.
Keanu Reeves observed real F.B.I. Agents in Los Angeles to study for the role. He also practiced with UCLA quarterback coaches, to help with the football scene.
Tyler explains to Johnny Utah that Patrick Swayze's character is named Bodhi, the Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is a term in the Buddhist religion meaning an enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others. Bodhi means "wakefulness".
The film was originally called "Johnny Utah" when Keanu Reeves was cast in the title role. The studio felt that this title said very little about surfing, and by the time Patrick Swayzewas cast, the film had been renamed Riders on the Storm after the famous song by The Doors. However, the 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.
Patrick Swayze, who participated in skydiving as a hobby, was told to stop for insurance purposes, once production began. Producers coaxed him into the agreement with the promise of letting the star do one actual skydive on-screen. The uncut shot of Bodhi yelling "Adios amigo!" and falling from the plane, features Swayze actually making a jump.
Two months before filming, Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, and Lori Petty trained with former world class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on Kauai, Hawaii. Jarvis remembers, "Patrick said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely had not surfed before, and Lori had never been in the ocean in her life."
The scene in which Utah jumps after Bodhi without a parachute, was tested by MythBusters (2003). It was determined that Utah and Bodhi would not have been able to free-fall for ninety seconds (as in the film), 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.
The beach spot, where the football game is played at the beginning of the film, is the same spot used for the soccer game in The Karate Kid (1984).
In her DVD commentary for Strange Days (1995), Director Kathryn Bigelow described filming the foot chase scenes in this movie using a stripped-down, hand-held 35mm camera nicknamed the "Pogo-Cam". The camera weighed eighteen pounds, and was equipped with a gyro-stabilizer, borrowed from a Steadicam. A wire loop on top of the camera gave Steadicam Operator James Muro a rough idea of what was in the frame as he followed the actors at breakneck speed.
The skinny, long-haired guy, named Tone, in Warchild (Vincent Klyn) and Bunker's (Chris Pedersen's) gang was Anthony Kiedis, lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
According to Gary Busey, Patrick Swayze was so nuts about skydiving, that he actually badgered him until he gave in, and agreed to go with him after filming.
Officially uncredited (because of an unresolved issue with the Writers Guild of America), James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow re-wrote the final script together.
Patrick Swayze cracked four ribs while filming the surfing scenes.
Matthew Broderick was originally offered the role of Johnny Utah. Others who auditioned were Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen.
Patrick Swayze is not the one wearing the Reagan mask during the foot chase sequence. Instead, his stunt double, Scott Wilder, performed the scene, because Swayze was in Europe doing press for Ghost (1990).
When Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) is introduced to Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) on the beach, he remarks that Utah's surfboard reminds him of a '57 Chevy he used to have. Swayze previously drove a '57 Chevy in Dirty Dancing (1987).
Patrick Swayze felt that Bodhi was a lot like him, and that they both shared "that wild man edge".
Patrick's Roadhouse, often attributed to an in-joke aimed at Patrick Swayze, is a real place located at 106 Entrada Drive, Santa Monica, California. It's right on the Pacific Coast Highway, which would be a reasonably logical place for Johnny and Bodhi to have a meal.
Val Kilmer auditioned for the role of Johnny Utah.
Patrick Swayze originally auditioned for the part of Johnny Utah before eventually landing the role of Bodhi.
This is the first of two movies in which Keanu Reeves played a former Ohio State quarterback. The second was The Replacements (2000).
Co-Producer Rick King first came up with the idea for the movie, while lounging on the beach. He had been given an L.A. Weekly article, about Los Angeles being the robbery capital of America, and dreamed up a movie about an F.B.I. Agent infiltrating a surf gang that robs banks to fuel their fun.
The song "Nobody Rides for Free", by Ratt, was recorded especially for the film's soundtrack. It does not appear on any of the band's studio albums, but is included on the band's greatest hits album "Ratt N' Roll 81-91". The song was also the final single released by the band in its classic line-up form.
The youngest of the gang of surfers in the film is known by the nickname "Grommet". In surfer slang, a grommet is a young kid or an inexperienced surfer.
Bojesse Christopher (Grommet) and John Philbin (Nathaniel) were pro surfers, who acted on the side.
The girl seen dancing (after the guy shakes his tongue at the camera) when Utah enters Bodhi's house party, is the same dancer in Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love" music video.
This was Kathryn Bigelow's highest grossing film until Zero Dark Thirty (2012).
The film 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."
Second Unit Director and Stunt Coordinator Glenn R. Wilder held fight training sessions for the cast on weekends, because Director Kathryn Bigelow wanted the actors to do their own fights on-screen without stuntmen. Anthony Kiedis was allegedly the only cast member to miss this training, so Wilder had his character knocked out with one punch during the first fight sequence in the movie.
To get close-ups of the actors during the skydiving sequences, a crane rig with a telescoping arm was built for each actor. The rigs enabled the cast to say their lines while the camera shot them from below to achieve the sense of floating while skydiving.
Willem Dafoe turned down the role of Johnny Utah.
Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze appeared in Youngblood (1986).
The "f" word is said one hundred five times.
People refer to The Fast and the Furious (2001) as a remake of this film.
Elizabeth Berkley had a small scene in the movie, but it was cut out.
The Ex-Presidents' masks are of Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Lyndon Johnson.
U.S. rentals for the film grossed twenty million dollars. Worldwide rentals were much higher.
Two scenes from the movie that were deleted from the final cut but were shown in the theatrical trailer are:
- Bodhi and Utah are in Bodhi's truck. Utah is shooting with a gun on the left side. Bodhi says, "This is gonna be a great day, Johnny!"
- Utah meets Harp at his office with his surfboard. Harp is angry and says, "You are not here to pick up girls, Utah." Utah replies, "The original term is 'babes', sir!"
Ridley Scott was the first choice to direct the movie.
Patrick Swayze based aspects of his character after one of his stunt doubles, Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer.
20th Century Fox had made plans for a sequel to the film to be released in the Summer of 1993. In fact, a script had been written and was in pre-production. Despite the film grossing ninety million dollars worldwide, the studio decided to scrap the project.
Utah tosses his F.B.I. badge in the water, which was previously done in Dirty Harry (1971) and High Noon (1952).
In Spain the movie was called "Le Llaman Bodhi", it means "They Call Him Bodhi".
The Spanish phrase, "Vaya con Dios", spoken by Johnny to Bodhi at the end of the film, in English translates to, "Go with God".
Rick King recruited Screenwriter W. Peter Iliff to pen the script for only six thousand dollars. Since the pay was paltry, Iliff had to wait tables at a restaurant during the day, before going home to write the script at night.
This film and Platoon (1986), feature Chris Pedersen and John C. McGinley. Also, Keanu Reeves auditioned for a role in Platoon, while Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, and Willem Dafoe were contenders for the role of Utah.
The nighttime surfing scenes were filmed the day, due to the difficulty in filming, and completed later with visual effects, making it appear as though it's nighttime. If you watch during the scene, you can see the actors and actresses shadows on the water, as well as a little lens flair caused by the sun.
Keanu Reeves 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."
The last thing Johnny Utah says to Bodhi is "Vaya con Dios". Similarly, in Red Dawn(1984), the last words spoken to Patrick Swayze's character, Jed, is "Vaya con Dios", by Colonel Bella.
Michael Biehn revealed in an interview that there were briefly talks of him co-starring as Bohdi, but plans fell through.
The gas station man who was soaked with gasoline by Bohdi, was stuntman Jeff Imada.
Keanu Reeves liked the name of his character, as it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana.
To get a sense of frenetic energy for the foot chase scene, Kathryn Bigelow and her crew shot the sequence with what they dubbed the "pogo-cam", which was a rig that mounted a gyro-stabilized camera on a body-length pole that could be led by the cameraman shooting the actors in front or behind him.
Johnny Utah's handgun is a Sig-Sauer P226.
The watch shown prior to the first bank job is a Breitling Navitimer New Pluton.
Tyler's (Lori Petty's) birthday is revealed to be November 27, the same as Director Kathryn Bigelow.
Gary Busey was also in the surfing film, Big Wednesday (1978).
The film was originally about skateboarding.
The plot is the same as the Charlie Sheen movie No Man's Land (1987), and Charlie was cast as Utah, with Ridley Scott directing. But production stalled, and Sheen did Young Guns (1988), and eventually the script went in other directions.
Though cast members took surfing lessons to appear in some of the less technically complex surfing shots, many of the more dangerous shots utilized pro-surfer stunt doubles. During the 50 Year Storm scene at the end of the movie, Swayze was doubled by legendary big wave surfer Darrick Doerner.
During the party scene, the song "If 6 Was 9" by Jimi Hendrix, is played in the background. Kathryn Bigelow and Hendrix share the same birth date (both on November 27).
Patrick Swayze hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) a few days after production completed. He memorably sported the same long blond hair he had as Bodhi in the episode.
Pappas' (Gary Busey's) handgun is an older model two inch Charter Arm's Undercover .38 special.
Keanu Reeves' first action film.
Chris Pederson's character in Platoon (1986) was also a surfer.
In 2015, Alcon Entertainment re-made this movie, with Ericson Core directing a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer.
In this movie, Johnny Utah is a former football player-turned F.B.I. Agent. In Black Dog(1998), Sonny (Gabriel Casseus) is a football player-turned F.B.I. Agent.
Roach (James Le Gros) carried a second generation Detonics Scoremaster.
The number of Utah's pickup at the end of the movie is 549 956 EUE.
When Johnny Utah goes to purchase his first surfboard, 15 (Christopher Pettiet) and Utah (Keanu Reeves) have a conversation where 15 is surprised someone like Utah would take up surfing 'at a late age' (Utah being 25 years old). In a strange twist of fate, Christopher Pettiet did not make it to 25-he died from a drug overdose aged 24.
This was Kathryn Bigelow's first film to be shot in 2.39:1. This film, Strange Days (1995), and K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) are her only films that were made in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, through the Super 35 format.
John Philbin and James Le Gros share a birthday, April 27.
Spoilers The trivia items below may give away important plot points.
James Cameron confessed at the end of his Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) commentary that Bodhi killed himself at the end of this movie.
The members of The Ex-Presidents are killed in chronological order of when their respective President served in office.
At one point, there were talks of making Point Break 2, with Keanu Reeves reprising his role as Johnny Utah, and Patrick Swayze reprising his role as Bodhi (apparently, Bodhi survived the ending). The real-life death of Swayze put an end to these plans.
Bodhi, who wears the Ronald Reagan mask, is the only member of The Ex-Presidents that isn't shot. In real-life, Ronald Reagan was shot during an attempted assassination.
Body count: ten.
Director Kathryn Bigelow, and her then husband and collaborator on the film, James Cameron, re-wrote the end together. Cameron said in his Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) commentary that Bodhi killed himself at the end of this movie.
The revolver Bodhi uses, is a Freedom Arms model 83.