Point Break: the remake (we made it).

Last fall we made a movie. Not a short film in the modest-expectation sense — we mean a full remake of the 1991 Kathryn Bigelow heist classic Point Break, except all the bank robberies are on bikes, the surfing is trail riding at Starr Pass, and the FBI agent is played by our mechanic Carlos, who had never acted in anything before and turned out to be a natural. It runs 47 minutes. It is absolutely ridiculous. We screened it in the parking lot on a bedsheet and about 80 people showed up.

How this actually happened

It started with a dumb idea at a Tuesday Night Ride. Someone said “you know what movie would be better if all the cars were bikes” and the answer was obviously Point Break. Two weeks later Dan had a script outline, a borrowed camera, and a list of locations that were either within riding distance of the shop or accessible via a group ride. Filming took eight Saturdays spread over two months. The “car chase” scene was shot on the A-Mountain loop at 6 a.m. before the trail got crowded. The climactic confrontation happens in the Rillito River Park. The surfing-equivalent scene is three people doing wheelies in the Rillito riverbed and it is the funniest thing we have ever filmed.

“We had no budget, two lights borrowed from a theater friend, and a crew of people who were mostly there because the ride afterward was going to be good. It turned out to be the most fun we’ve had making something.”
— Dan

The cast, in full

• Johnny Utah: Dan (shop owner, reluctant protagonist)
• Bodhi: Maria (regular customer, actual good cyclist, zero ego about it)
• Pappas: Carlos (mechanic, scene-stealer, now considering a second career)
• Tyler: Keisha (Tuesday Night Ride regular who we had to convince was actually good on camera)
• The Ex-Presidents (the gang): Various Tuesday Night Ride people who showed up for the promise of tacos afterward

Where to watch it

We’re screening it again this fall — date to be announced on the journal and our socials. We’re also trying to figure out if there’s a way to host the video directly without giving it to a platform that will monetize it with ads for car accessories, which feels wrong for reasons that should be obvious. In the meantime, if you come by the shop, you can watch it on the laptop behind the counter. Bring snacks. It’s 47 minutes and worth every one of them.

Next up: we’re taking pitches for a Mad Max: Fury Road adaptation. Requirements are that it has to be filmable on bikes, it has to make sense in the Tucson landscape, and everyone involved has to have fun making it or we stop. Call us at 520-365-0754 if you want in.