Taglines: 27 banks in three years – anything to catch the perfect wave!
Point Break movie storyline. Former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback and rookie FBI Agent Johnny Utah is assigned to assist experienced agent and veteran Angelo Pappas in investigating a string of bank robberies by the “Ex-Presidents”, a gang of robbers who wear face-masks depicting former US presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter to disguise their true identities. They raid only the cash drawers in the banks that they rob—never going for the vault—and are out within 90 seconds.
Pursuing Pappas’s theory that the criminals are surfers, Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community. He persuades orphaned surfer Tyler Endicott to teach him to surf after she saved him from drowning during his first attempt at surfing. Through her, he meets Bodhi, the charismatic leader of a gang of surfers consisting of Roach, Grommet, and Nathaniel.
The group are initially wary of Utah, but accept him when Bodhi recognizes him as the former college football star. As he masters the art of surfing, Utah finds himself increasingly drawn to the surfers’ adrenaline-charged lifestyle, Bodhi’s philosophies, and Tyler. Following a clue retrieved 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. Despite their criminal records, these surfers turn out to not be the Ex-Presidents and the raid inadvertently ruins a DEA undercover operation.
Watching Bodhi’s group surfing, Utah begins to suspect that they are the “Ex-Presidents,” noting how close a group they are and the way one of them moons everyone in the same manner one of the robbers does when leaving a bank. Utah and Pappas stake out a bank and the Ex-Presidents appear. While wearing a Reagan mask, Bodhi leads Utah on a foot chase through the neighborhood, which ends when Utah causes an old knee injury to flare up again after jumping into an aqueduct. Despite having a clear shot at Bodhi, Utah does not shoot and Bodhi escapes.
At a campfire that night, it is confirmed that Bodhi and his gang are the Ex-Presidents. Shortly afterwards, Bodhi aggressively recruits Utah into going skydiving with the group and he accepts. After the jump, Bodhi reveals that he knows Utah is an FBI agent and has arranged for his friend Rosie, a non-surfing thug, to hold Tyler hostage. Utah is thus blackmailed into participating in the Ex-Presidents last bank robbery of the summer. As a result, Grommet, along with an off-duty police officer and a security guard—who both try to stop the robbery—are killed. Angered by Grommet’s death, Bodhi knocks Utah out and leaves him at the scene.
Point Break is a 1991 American action crime thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow, starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, James Le Gros, John Philbin, Bojesse Christopher, Julian Reyes and Daniel Beer.
The title refers to the surfing term “point break,” where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline. Keanu Reeves stars as rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah, who is investigating a string of bank robberies possibly being committed by surfers. Johnny goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community and develops a complex friendship with Bodhi (Swayze), the charismatic leader of a gang of surfers.
The film was a box office success upon its release, with an $83.5 million gross and a budget of $24 million, and has since gained cult status.
Point Break 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 Swayze was cast, the film had been renamed Riders on the Storm after the famous rock 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.[5] Reeves and Swayze had appeared together once before, in the 1986 film Youngblood.
Point Break (1991)
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, James Le Gros, John Philbin, Bojesse Christopher, Julian Reyes, Daniel Beer
Screenplay by: W. Peter Iliff
Production Design by: Peter Jamison
Cinematography by: Donald Peterman
Film Editing by: Howard E. Smith
Set Decoration by: Linda Spheeris
Art Direction by: Pamela Marcotte, John Huke
Music by: Mark Isham
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: July 12, 1991
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