How ‘Point Break’ Inspired One of America’s Great Bank Robbers

Point Break is a masterpiece of stylish macho-Zen California crime cinema, and thus it’s no shock to learn that it was also the inspiration for one of the greatest bank robbery sprees in recent American history. How to Rob a Bank (June 5, on Netflix) tells the true story of a crook nicknamed “Hollywood” who, taking his cue from Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 Keanu Reeves-Patrick Swayze gem, pulled off 19 stickups at various Seattle banks between 1992 and 1996 for a total haul of $2.3 million. As it turns out, Hollywood didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of his illicit labor for long. Yet the thrill of directors Stephen Robert Morse and Seth Porges’ documentary isn’t the sad destination so much as the wild journey—and the ride they detail proves to be full of the very thrills one might expect from a summer blockbuster.

Considering its subject’s fondness for the movies, as well as its flamboyant saga of daring heists, outrageous disguises, and outlandish hidden lairs, How to Rob a Bank fittingly embellishes itself with animated storyboard panels and dramatic recreations shot like a big-screen feature. Morse and Porges’ film is set in the early-’90s Pacific Northwest—an era in which Seattle’s fortunes exploded thanks to the rise of Starbucks, Amazon, and Microsoft. This tech boom brought a “flood of money” and, with it, an influx of banks. With great cash came great thieving opportunities for the city’s wrongdoers, and it wasn’t long before law enforcement was spending substantial time and resources trying to stem the rising tide of felonies.

Even in this chaotic environment, Hollywood was clearly different, not only because of his success but because of his methods. Wearing facial prosthetics to conceal his identity and a D.A.R.E. cap to suggest that he was a cop (and, additionally, to thumb his nose at investigators), the criminal was a “professional” who committed almost all his robberies on his own inside the bank. Demonstrating an impressive crowd-control presence and a deep knowledge of the establishments’ security protocols, Hollywood was a cut above the usual smash-and-grab pack. Still, that wasn’t initially apparent, given that his early bounties were rather pitiful, lowlighted by second, third, and fourth robberies that each netted him less than $10,000. To lead FBI agent Shawn Johnson, this indicated that Hollywood and his accomplices were “bumbling idiots.” Such an opinion, however, didn’t last long.

Read more at The Daily Beast.