RIDE OR DIE: POINT BREAK (1992)

Or how bad boy Bodhi stole Johnny Utah's kind heart 🌊

This week marks the 14th anniversary of the passing of one of the first Hollywood himbos to make me fall to my knees. I am, of course, talking about the one and only Patrick Swayze.

There are many ways I could honour his legacy, which I believe was a perfect mix of soft (see: Dirty Dancing, Ghost) and hard (i.e. Road House). But I have wanted to write about Point Break for as long as I can remember, particularly how it depicts the bonds between men. Please bear with me as I go long on two of my favourite righteous dudes with their heads in the clouds, but their hearts in the right place: Bodhi and Johnny Utah.

This line from Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break (1992) is seared in my brain and has been since I first heard it. 

Delivered with unbridled passion by Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi, a surfer and bank robber who just wants to ride the wildest wave of his life, this statement is remarkably provocative in and out of context. Not only does it give us, the audience, a visceral reaction — the acrid taste of poison filling the corners of our cheeks as we hear Swayze spit the words out — it also clearly sparks something in the character it is directly pointed at: Keanu Reeves’ rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah.

I’m not the first person to read into Point Break’s queer subtext. After all, the chemistry between Swayze and Reeves is searing, a perfect example of the classic cops-n-robbers dynamic (see also: Heat, The Departed) with a frothy, himbo-heavy twist. But I would argue that Bodhi’s seduction of Johnny is the true heist of the film, drawing us in even more than the literal thievery on screen. Their bond turns what could have been a simple crime story into a timeless tale of growth, self-discovery and spirituality, the two star-crossed soulmates finding comfort (and challenge) in each other's toned arms. 

From the film’s opening sequence, which sees Swayze and Reeves’ names collide into each other before the title explodes at you, Bigelow asks us to see Bodhi and Johnny as one. As the credits continue to roll, she alternates between clips of Johnny rolling through training drills and Bodhi riding waves. Despite their differing backdrops, these righteous dudes from opposite sides of the shore are clearly destined to meet.

Let’s start with Johnny, your prototypical fish-out-of-water. He stands out at work not only because he’s new to the force, but also because he’s a pretty boy (“young, dumb and full of cum”). A former star quarterback at Ohio State University, he has a polish his peers simply do not, his fresh face and shiny hair signaling his innocence and ignorance about the world around him. 

It is these precise qualities that will make him the perfect choice to go undercover and unmask the Ex-Presidents, a group of robbers who do their dirty work while dressed in suits and donning the rubber visages of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson. Well, that and the fact that he looks and sounds like the type of guy who could catch a gnarly wave. 

Agent Pappas, Johnny’s mentor played by Gary Busey, is the one who puts our protagonist on this particular assignment, having suspected that the swift and sporty band of thieves may be surfers after finding… wait for it… “Sex Wax” at one of the crime scenes. This task leads our hero to the beach, where he meets an adorably androgynous waitress named Tyler (Lori Petty with an adorable pixie cut). Through Tyler, Johnny gets introduced to Bodhi and his friends. 

On the surface, Bodhi and Johnny have the makings of a mismatched couple from an opposites attract romcom — a sea-salted Harry and Sally, if you will. One with sandy blonde locks and a tan and the other with jet black hair and a porcelain pallor, they look like natural enemies. But they have more in common on the inside than they could even anticipate, the lines between good and evil — right and wrong, love and hate — blurring more and more as they get to know each other. 

Much like in Dirty Dancing, where he plays another lovable bad boy who brings a sheltered sweetheart out of their shell, Swayze plays it cool during Bodhi and Johnny’s initial meeting. In fact, Bodhi comes across rather rude at first, clocking this new kid as a poser who isn’t real enough to hang with his crew of philosophical wave riders. He insults Johnny’s newly bought board to his face and continues to make fun of him in earshot. You know, the kind of stuff you do when you have a crush on someone. 

Later that night, Johnny gets a chance to prove himself to Bodhi as the group plays a sandy touch football game. In the heat of passion, the two men end up in the water together, collapsing into the waves in time like lovers falling into bed. This won’t be the last time they get tangled up together. 

After they recover from their fateful fumble, a dampened Bodhi reveals he recognizes Johnny from the Rose Bowl a few years back. It is here that Johnny reveals his backstory: after he wrecked his knee, he gave up the pigskin to go to “law school.” Suddenly, things are less awkward between them, Bodhi even defending Johnny after one of his pals quips, “Lawyers don’t surf.” 

“You’re getting too goddamn close to this surfing guru buddy of yours.”

Perhaps it’s their mutual love of sports, or the fact that Johnny clearly isn’t afraid to challenge his authority, but after this exchange Bodhi welcomes Johnny into the crew as if he’s a long lost brother — or, as I see it, a potential life partner. And Johnny seems just as excited about catching waves with Bodhi as he is chasing the Ex-Presidents for Pappas. Perhaps even more. 

Johnny’s coworkers pick on him for diving headfirst into his work and carrying his board into the breakroom. But when he's with Bodhi and his crew, he is free to just be himself, or at least embrace a side of himself he had previously suppressed. It’s like when a newly out queer person finally connects with the people who will become their found family. Waves of internal and external acceptance start to wash over him like an emotional riptide, pulling him further and further away from where he thought he was headed. 

Things really start to heat up between Bodhi and Johnny when the latter hits the sand solo to track some potential suspects. Some unfriendly surfers corner Johnny, hoping to beat him up for accidentally damaging one of their boards. Without warning, a previously unseen Bodhi swoops in from the sidelines. After telling the Nazi scum to “back off,” he says, point blank, “He’s with me.” 

After this, proper gentleman Bodhi walks Johnny to his car as if they are wrapping up a first date. He compliments Johnny for not backing down on those guys and tells him that he’s got what it takes to appreciate the sport as he does: spiritually. Clearly a bit uneasy with this instant intimacy, Johnny cracks a joke, asking his buff bro if he’s going to start chanting. Bodhi is unphased by this awkward attempt at flirting, inviting Johnny to come to his place later that night… with Tyler in tow. “Make yourself at home,” Bodhi says when they arrive. “What’s mine is yours.” 

In another director’s hands, Bodhi and Johnny would simply be rivals for Tyler’s affections, what with Bodhi repeatedly referencing his shared past with her. But with the boundary-pushing Bigelow at the helm, Tyler slowly takes a backseat to Bodhi and Johnny’s growing affection for one another. 

Take, for example, the scene where Johnny appears wide awake as he lies next to a sleeping Tyler in bed. He seems stuck in a trance, his postcoital afterglow overtaken by thoughts about work and/or his next wave. Soon after they hear a knock on the door: it’s Bodhi inviting them for a night surf. 

What’s more, Bodhi has no problem putting Tyler in danger, kidnapping her as an “insurance policy” after finally finding out Johnny is an FBI agent. He doesn’t flinch when he shows Johnny footage of Tyler bound and gagged, reportedly at the mercy of the bloodthirsty Rosie (Lee Tergesen). It is Johnny he’s after, not Tyler, and he will do anything to keep him close. 

Similarly, Johnny struggles to bring Bodhi down once he discovers his fair-haired “friend” is the head of the Ex-Presidents. While chasing a masked Bodhi down, Johnny has the chance to shoot him, the two men locking eyes from afar as Johnny raises his gun. But Johnny lets him get away, shooting his, well, load into the sky instead. 

Later, when the Ex-Presidents come knocking, Johnny doesn’t fight back as they invite him on an unknown adventure. Shortly after this, Bigelow treats us to one of the most exhilarating (and homoerotic) sequences of the 1990s, as Johnny goes skydiving with Bodhi and the boys. Listening to the group childishly compare parachute sizes, Johnny quips, “You gonna jump, or jerk off?” To which Bodhi says, without missing a beat, “My man!”

What happens next is the extreme sports version of a gang bang. After some solo flight time, Bodhi invites Johnny to join hands with him and the rest of the crew. Together they form an imperfect circle, only spreading apart for landing. Johnny and Bodhi are the last two to split, of course, staying connected until the very last second. 

“See you in the next life!”

The next time these two skydive together is much less romantic, but even more erotic. Following an airport shootout that leaves Pappas and an Ex-President dead, Bodhi forces Johnny to get back in the air with him.  Before jumping out of the plane and leaving Johnny stranded without a parachute, Bodhi says the line. “I know you want me so bad it’s like acid in your mouth.” 

Bodhi is right: Johnny can’t stand to watch him get away that easily. He leaps out the door without proper protection, making a beeline for Bodhi’s backside. They collide together midair, eventually facing each other as they continue falling. They end up twisted in fabric when they hit the ground, unable to get up as they recover from what just happened between them. 

Sadly, this toxic union is quickly broken up by Rosie’s arrival. As Rosie lets a lingerie-adorned Tyler go, Bodhi delivers what he thinks is going to be his last words to Johnny and drives off. Little does he know their story will have a much more poetic ending. 

Flashforward nine months. Johnny is headed to Bells Beach, the site of the infamous “50-Year-Storm” Bodhi once told him he was dying to take on. After nearly missing him at several other locations around the world, he finally finds Bodhi in the flesh. Wrapped in a towel, Bodhi stands alone on the shore, waiting for his chance to jump into action. 

At first their conversation is oddly cordial, akin to the ending of The Way We Were with Bodhi playing Barbra. There is no mention of Tyler, but Bodhi asks Johnny if he’s “still surfing,” to which Johnny says, “Every day.” Then Johnny reveals that he has to take Bodhi into custody. 

Naturally, a fight ensues between the men on the shore, Bodhi eventually getting the upper hand before straddling Johnny and pushing his head underwater. But Johnny’s ahead of him, handcuffing them together when he’s not looking! Enraged at this act of trickery, Bodhi fights for his freedom, begging his former friend to let him take on one more wave — the biggest wave — before he gets booked. 

Johnny has two options at this moment. He can move ahead as planned, succumbing to society’s expectations and putting Bodhi in a cage for life. Or he can do what’s in his heart, uncuffing his best dude and watching him swim out to his desired death. 

As Johnny throws his badge in the ocean after watching Bodhi “go with God,” it becomes clear that the head of the Ex-Presidents has successfully completed his heist. Sure, he doesn’t walk away with any money, but Bodhi surfs off into the sunset (uh, rainstorm) scot-free. And more importantly, he does so knowing that his “man” has been converted to his side and is no longer committed to protecting and serving. With one simple gesture, Johnny trades in his squad car for the untethered independence of the surfboard. 

“Vayas con dios”

We poke fun at surfers as we do stoners, pegging this subculture as one with its head in the clouds. But as Point Break suggests, one has to be truly in tune with themselves and their surroundings to surf, and to love, successfully. Surfing is a balancing act of biblical proportions, the closest thing to walking on water. Like mediation or monogamy, it requires full physical and mental commitment. 

At one point in the film, Bodhi says, “If you want the ultimate, you’ve got to be willing to pay the ultimate price.” During his time with Bodhi, Johnny is able to experience a specific kind of ecstasy. He finds a new passion and a hobby, one that you get the sense he’ll find joy in for the rest of his life. He also discovers what it means to truly connect with someone, to find mutual respect despite differences. 

While they may not be on the same plane anymore, Johnny and Bodhi will always remain intrinsically linked. Every time he hits the ocean, Bodhi will be there with him, whispering in his ear to keep the ride alive.