New DVDs: 'Point Break,' 'Mad Men'

"Point Break" broke Keanu Reeves as an action star, clearing the path to "Speed" and "The Matrix."

Reeves stumbled into overnight fame a few years before in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," playing a blissed-out fool. No one saw the guy as a man of action. Except Kathryn Bigelow.

The director of "Blue Steel" pushed for Reeves as the star of her upcoming film about an FBI agent and a band of bank-robbing surfers dubbed the Ex-Presidents. After several of the era's usual suspects turned down the young FBI agent role, Bigelow got her man.

The movie's star was Patrick Swayze, anyway, coming off the blockbuster weeper "Ghost." "He was just a god," writer Rick King says. "He was the man diva." Swayze ruled as the surfer/shaman who leads the gang.

Seventeen years later, Reeves rules as a major boxoffice attraction who makes "interesting choices," notably "The Matrix" trilogy. Swayze has long since been off the radar, now battling cancer. And "Point Break" remains a minor action classic, beloved by dudes everywhere. The movie feels a bit thin these days, but not dated. It still administers the adrenaline in large doses.

Fox Home Entertainment released "Point Break" twice on DVD, in 2001 and 2006. The lifeless images disappointed in both cases. Fox finally does right by the movie with this week's release of "Point Break" on Blu-ray.

An A-B comparison of the Blu-ray and 2006 DVD shows not only the upgrade you'd expect from high definition but also what appears to be a restoration of some kind. The flatness and some of the grain that afflicted the DVDs are gone. The HD's high contrasts and inky blacks transform the film. Owners of the latest DVD have reason to be unhappy, as a lot of this could have been addressed upon that release.

The Blu-ray extras are the same as those on the latest DVD. Reeves and Bigelow don't participate -- they're repped by old promo footage -- but Swayze, Gary Busey (great as an FBI agent) and love interest Lori Petty are on hand. John C. McGinley, who plays the annoying FBI station chief, does plenty of talking in the extras and is, um, still annoying.

Petty recalls how director Bigelow was "so in love in action," and tended to rush through the obligatory love scenes. The movie's energy came in part from extensive use of the relatively new Steadicam, best experienced in the extended foot-chase scene.

Bigelow ("Near Dark") wanted her actors doing their own fight scenes. The guy who taught them to movie-rumble recalls how rock singer Anthony Kiedis failed to show for an early-morning fight workout, and so his character was downgraded to being taken out with the first punch. ("He didn't like that.")

Swayze wanted to do it all, including his own skydiving. The completion bond company agreed, on the condition that the film be essentially done before he jumped. (The actor recalls that he almost drowned a couple of times in the surfing scenes, but the insurer didn't care about him doing that.)

Swayze says people ask him all the time how they did the climactic shot with him falling backward out of the plane. "Show me the cut!" he demands of doubters.

* * * * *

HBO and Showtime both passed on Matthew Weiner's "Mad Men," leaving the outstanding TV series about early '60s advertising to AMC, of all places.

"Mad Men" scored the cover of the New York Times magazine a couple of weeks ago, as the series geared up for its second season -- and this week's DVD/Blu-ray release of the first.

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the first episode, could have worked as a feature film. All of the show's elements are on display: the ever-present booze and cigarettes; the unquestioned male supremacy; the women obsessed with finding a husband and leaving the workforce; the buttoned-down corporate culture that's corrupt at the core; and of course the merry serial cheating by all the Dads. The opening titles recall the work of the great Saul Bass.

Billy Wilder would have loved it.

Show creator Weiner was a key writer and producer on "The Sopranos" for several years (he got the gig based on the initial screenplay for "Mad Men"). He's landed first-rate actors and actresses, notably Jon Hamm as one of the big guns at ad agency Sterling Cooper; Elisabeth Moss as the "new girl" in the office; and Robert Morse ("How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying") as the agency's aging alpha male.

Lionsgate's "Mad Men" Blu-ray looks slick and satisfying. Dialogue is clear and crisp. (My Samsung player flipped out when confronted with the menu, but it has issues with a lot of things. Update: Fixed by firmware update.)

Extras include an interesting look at the 1960s' creative transformations in media.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are "City of Men," the sort-of "City of God" sequel; and Criterion's "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters."

New and notable:

City of Men (Miramax)
The Closer season 3 (Warner)
Drillbit Taylor (Paramount)
Heathers 20th High School Reunion Edition (Anchor Bay)
Heaven (Keaton, Warner)
Mad Men: Season One (Lionsgate)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (The Criterion Collection)
Patriotism (Mishima film, Criterion)
My Blueberry Nights (The Weinstein Co./Genius Products)
Rebus, Set 3 (Acorn Media)
Streets of San Francisco season 2, Vol. 1 (Paramount)
30 Days season 2 (Arts Alliance America)
2007 Newport Music Festival (Acorn)
Vantage Point (Sony)
Yankee Stadium: Baseball's Cathedral (Shout! Factory)

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org