On 11 Nov 1966, DV noted that Lee Marvin had agreed to star in Point Blank for producer Judd Bernard, which the 9 Dec 1966 edition claimed would guarantee him a percentage of the eventual gross. Early the next year, a 2 Jan 1967 LAT stated that John Boorman had agreed to direct a script by Rafe and David Newhouse, adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s The Hunter (1961), which was published under the pseudonym “Richard Stark.” The 25 Jan 1967 LAT included Point Blank among fourteen motion pictures at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) representing a $40 million investment. The film marked the first collaboration between Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, who went on to form Chartoff-Winkler Productions, Inc., in 1971, and enjoyed a decades-long working relationship.
       Items in the 11 Jan 1967 DV reported that Barry Sullivan was attached to star, while the 13 Feb 1967 DV suggested Lee Remick was considered to play “Chris” before the casting of Angie Dickinson. A 9 Mar 1967 DV casting announcement also noted the involvement of actress Penny Antine.
       According to a 26 Jan 1967 DV news item, five studio location scouts searched San Francisco, CA, and the Los Angeles, CA, area, including Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Hollywood. Principal photography began 20 Feb 1967, as stated in a DV production chart published four days later. The 27 Mar 1967 DV indicated that the unit completed Southern California filming first around Los Angeles and at the studio’s facilities in Culver City, before moving to Alcatraz Island, site of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay. This marked the first time a motion picture production was allowed access to the island, which had remained vacant since the prison’s closure on 21 Mar 1963. A 7 Apr 1967 LAT article reported that the filmmakers received support from U.S. Senator and former actor George Murphy, San Francisco Mayor John F. Shelley, and Jack Valenti, onetime aide to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and current head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The deal enabled MGM to rent the prison for $2,000 per day, plus the expenses incurred to ship film equipment north from the studio and establish heat, water, and power lines necessary to accommodate the production. Additional filming was completed at Fort Point located under the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Alexander Jacobs worked on revising the script for three weeks on location in San Francisco.
       According to the 1 Jun 1967 LAT, the nightclub fight sequence was choreographed by Judd Bernard’s production associate Patricia Casey, who had an extensive dance background as a student of the Metropolitan Opera and a member of the Joffrey Ballet.
       During production, a 3 Mar 1967 DV item revealed that cast members were fitted with one-and-a-half-inch microphones specially developed by MGM sound mixer Larry Jost to eliminate the need for post-production dialogue looping.
       The 27 Jul 1967 DV estimated the total negative cost of $3 million.
       That same item announced MGM’s decision to push up the release date by two months and schedule a premiere at the Paramount Theatre in San Francisco on 30 Aug 1967. According to a 29 Aug 1967 DV brief, the event encompassed two days of planned promotional “activities” to coincide with the launch of the San Francisco engagement. Point Break opened 19 Sep 1967 at New York City’s DeMille and Coronet theaters before expanding to Los Angeles on 13 Oct 1967 at the Hollywood Paramount Theatre.