"Utah, get me two."
The Hollywood number of surf movies that have wormed their way into the hearts of true surfers is, roughly, three. Big Wednesday, North Shore and the original Point Break. The last on the list roaring back into theaters in under two weeks in full 4k restoration.
But who didn’t thrill at the tale of surfers who moonlit as bank robbers? Starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty, Gary Busey and, of course, John Philbin, the Kathryn Bigelow-helmed film has grown in stature over the 35 years since first release and is considered a true cult classic.
Philbin, as you certainly know, played the Jimmy Carter character and, also as you know, played Turtle in North Shore.
I have gotten to know him during the past year, first introduced at the glorious Florida Surf Film Festival. He is an actor’s actor, very serious about the craft, but also keenly and acutely aware of himself, the path he has taken, where he was and where he is.
He basically derailed a movie star-like film career by turning down roles because all he wanted to do was surf G-Land between projects but shared with me the glorious of filming Point Break and what a singular creating Patrick Swayze was.
Swayze, the leader of the Ex-Presidents, wanted his own Ronald Reagan, James Le Gros’ Lyndon B. Johnson, BoJesse Christopher’s Richard Nixon and Philbin’s Carter to bond in the same way. Philbin recalls Swayze waking them all up in the wee hours, regularly, and taking them skydiving. He said it was absolutely terrifying but there was no way any of them could, or would, say no.
Such is charisma.
Petty recently sat down with People sharing similar sentiments, how fun it was to be on set. “It was a dream, for real. It was so much fun. Come on, it was me and 20 wet dudes. It was just so much fun just playing football and training and surfing and kissing. It was just a blast,” she shared, continuing, “We had no business in the pipeline. You put goofy actors strapped to a board in the Pipeline. So we had indigenous men from Hawaii who would tread water for hours being our bodyguards in case we got smashed off of our boards and they had to save us. We got saved a lot. We weren’t scared. We were young and happy and daredevils, and it was wonderful. We all just took our lumps, but we had a good time doing it.”
Much of the filming, like North Shore, done on Oahu’s North Shore.
Which, in any case, do you count as the best Hollywood surf film of all time and why?
Discuss.