“Bodhi, this is your fucking wake up call. I am an FBI Agent.” – Undercover FBI Agent, Johnny Utah.
When the Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, it contained two identical golden records bound for interstellar space. Within those records were sounds and images that portrayed the vast diversity of life on planet Earth, including photographs and songs by Louis Armstrong, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Johann Sebastian Bach. It was, as President Jimmy Carter noted, “a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings.”
Unfortunately, humanity failed in this cosmic endeavor since these records did not contain the cinematic classic, Point Break—quite possibly the highest achievement of our collective efforts in the arts and sciences. Knowing that Point Break has not entered interstellar space should cause deep skepticism about NASA’s life choices. But let’s not digress fully, since we’re here to talk about the second installment in our Summer of Swayze film series, which we’ll be screening on August 13th to raise funds for the magnificent Byrd Theatre’s restoration.
ed. note: Get your ticket pre-sales, HERE. Also, we have tees and tanks for sale HERE
Point Break is the ultimate adrenaline movie, the equivalent of mainlining 134 Mountain Dew Code Reds while partaking in the Red Bull Flugtag off the side of K2 in Pakistan. It’s the equivalent of smashing 78 Four Lokos and telling a group of Taylor Swift fans that Ed Sheeran is, indeed, the superior musician. Without Point Break, there would be no Heat (a super controversial hot take). Or as Patrick Swayze’s character Bodhi would have said, “If you want the ultimate, you have to pay the ultimate price.”
While Point Break is a cops-and-robbers movie, it is also a cops-and-robbers movie that came about at the ‘end of history,’ right as America emerged ‘victorious’ from the Cold War. This new era of movies and music was rejecting the throwaway patriotism of 1980s excess, but the coming generation was still amorphous and lacked shape—lurking right under the surface though was a feeling of existential optimism, which was about to drive one of the greatest cultural resurgences in American history. So it is easy to understand why this Swayze classic was initially dismissed as disposable entertainment and not a film that would perfectly set the tone for what the 1990s would become.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Point Break has a familiar storyline: Rookie FBI Agent Johnny Utah (played by a boyish Keanu Reeves) teams up with an outcast veteran agent, Angelo Pappas (an unhinged Gary Busey), and goes undercover to stop Bodhi (a delicious Swayze) and his gang of bank-robbing surfers known as the Ex-Presidents. Throw in a hard-edged love interest with a beach local named Tyler (a smokin’ hot Laurie Petty) and a cameo by Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and you have all the ingredients for interstellar magic (looking at you, NASA).
What the generic storyline lacks is more than compensated for by the underlying philosophy that drives the performances in Point Break; namely, the belief that given the opportunity, we can choose to live beyond the boundary. Both protagonist Johnny Utah and antagonist Bodhi represent a symmetry that cannot exist without the other, which is to say, both men are clearly defined opposites representing versions of the same need. But make no mistake, this is Swayze’s film; dominating every frame he occupies, Bodhi flawlessly conveys danger and unpredictability while at the same time adding a deep vulnerability inherent in living outside the boundary.
Point Break can ultimately be summed up with a powerful yet subtle line toward the end of the film when Bodhi finally admits, “Yeah, it went bad, it went real bad.” A testament to what would become true only ten short years later, erasing the cultural gains of the 1990s for a repeat of the faux-patriotism of the 1980s. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that Bigelow went on to direct two Oscar-winning films, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, both dealing with the same theme of living beyond the boundary, this time during the Global War on Terror. Her ability to map violence and convey that application in the starkest terms has set her above her peers and cemented Point Break as one of the finest crime movies ever committed to film.
Let’s celebrate Point Break and our Summer of Swayze film series together at the Byrd Theatre on August 13th at 7pm. Bring 500 of your friends and grab some beers from the concession stand, while we support the ongoing restoration efforts of one of the last Grand Cinema Palaces in the US—all ticket proceeds go directly to the Byrd Foundation. We’re also having a happy hour next door at NY Deli with Point Break drinks specials starting at 6pm. Pull up and come chat Swayze with us.
See you there Richmond.
