Beat Street

source: Beat Street

Without doubt Beat Street is the best film about the breakin scene. Everything about it is spot on,the clothes (puma),the music and most importantly the dancing! The storyline is basic,but hey whats there to tell a story about? The whole point of the film is to show what kids of that moment in time were doing,what mattered to them. It shows that teenagers in general are good,all that mattered to these everyday kids was music,dancing and friendship. Having watched the DVD recently i was plesantly surprised how well it had stood the test of time! The clothes didn't look dated (possibly because Puma is now having a massive comeback),the music still sounds fresh,and the dancing is still captivating to watch. A film anyone 10-25 years of age should see as part of their youth culture.

"...with a kung-fu grip that don't even work!" Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! Here we go... Kenny is an aspiring mixmaster/deejay. He mans the wheels-of-steel at Kool Herc's happening hangout, The Burning Spear. Kenny's brother is Lee. Lee participates in subway platform breakdance battles. Lee befriends serious dance student Tracy. Tracy falls for a guy from the wrong side of the split-open cardboard box, Lee's brother Kenny. They have snowball fights, roam subway passages together, and have arguments about what it really means to be "down". Oh, and Kenny has a friend named Ramo' who bombs (spray-paints graffiti on) the endless number of clear, white, subway trains that were seemingly in circulation during the filming of this movie. Only, there's some jagoff named "Spit" that keeps painting over Ramo's mobile masterpieces. "Why does he do it", asks Ramo's homey. "'Cuz he can't do no better" comes the response. Yup. Intense stuff. But "Beat Street" was never about plot, or acting, or even breakdancing (there are but a few short scenes featuring any at-length dancing at all). It's all about rap songs with lyrics like: --"My name is Brenda Starr, and I, move to the beat/I go to the Roxy just to move my feet"... or: "Jingle, and Jangle, a Jingle-Jangle for the poor/and when you get your welfare check, you can buy reindeer by the score!" It's all about juicylishus wet dripping Jerri-curls and goose down coats. It's about Fila suits and sneakers with the tongues hanging out. It's about girls named Sha-Rock and guys named Cosmic Pop, Crazy Legs or Powerful Pexster. It's about manly-man rapper Grandmaster Mel E. Mel, wearing zebra-print scarves, thigh-high black leather boots, dreadlocks with Christmas ornaments on the ends, and a wrap shawl that looks like a mutant-sized tarantula crawled onto his shoulders, threw-up, and then died. Stay tuned for the film's "Showtime At The Apollo/Welcome To Your Own Personal Hell" grand finale. It's true-- white men can't jump and not all black guys can rap either. Word.

Great time-capsule of the Bronx and 'hood in the 1980s, and the b-bop culture/dress/dance. Kids walking the snowy streets, abandoned buildings (sealed with concrete, then broken into), marked-up subway cars...New York as it was then. It's a well put-together, but not "slick", movie, with a good, believable story and characters with some depth. The breakdancing is "real" and pretty thrilling. I taught at Roosevelt High in the Bronx at this time, and this movie catches the scene. Interesting to note how upbeat, pleasant it all was, too, vs. today's more sinist

I guess when "Beat Street" made a national appearance, "Flashdance" came at the same time. The problem with "Flashdance" is that there was only one break dancing scene and the rest was jazz dance and ballet. That was one of the reasons why "Beat Street" was better. The only movie that could rival "Beat Street" seems to be "Footloose", because both movies focused on how dance had been used by people to express their utmost feelings. The break-dance scenes in "Beat Street" come just before the middle and at the end of the flick. And I loved all of them. Almost all of the break tricks were featured in the break jam scenes: the jackhammer, the flares, the head spins, the suicide sit, the crazy legs, the mortal, the forward flip, the figure four---almost everything. Like "The Warriors", "Beat Street" does have violence related to the gang life in the hip hop world...but in a much less violent way than the former. The only major fight scene in "Beat Street" was when graffiti artist Ramon (which in the movie was abbreviated as "Ramo") is chased by a rival gang member on the New York City subway tracks.....fighting each other on the third rail and both dying by electrocution on that rail. Well, although that chase scene ended tragically, it was better that they died that way than having blood exploding from a gang gunshot. Most of the gang stuff in the flick was graffiti related to the hip-hop culture, and rap music. A lot of rap music appeared in the flick, because hip-hop members used rap music as a diversion to the negative aspects of gang life. Even the theme song of the movie, which closed the curtain to the flick, was not just an homage to hip-hop culture--it also was an homage to the death of Ramon. By the way, during the dance scene called 'Tango, Tango', I guess the female drummer in the pit orchestra conducted by actress Rae Dawn Chong was Sheila E. making a cameo appearance.

Terrible pastiche of ideas that were whole-sale stolen from 2 films before Beat Street - the nucleus of this garbage throw away pap smear was the film Wild Style. Wild Style was a produced / scripted copy of the original production / documentary called Style Wars. So if you want legitimacy, watch Style Wars for the historical reflection and the real story. Wild Style is interesting as there are some good Music and Breakdancing and a killer sound track. If you want Disney ride to b.s. Ville, watch Beat Street. Throwaway trash in 1984 and even worse today. One could argue the soundtrack (vol 1 and vol 2) is better than the film. Marginally. The guy that wrote this film, hilariously tried to make a name for him in the Marijuana culture. No one remembers him 'ironically'.

I just wanna say that amongst all the so-called classic hiphop films Ive seen like Wild Style, KrushGroove, Breakin', Style Wars etc... IMO BEAT STREET is the best amongst the others. Whenever I ask other people about which is their fave, then it seems that BEAT STREET pops out the most. But still, its the lowest ranked of all. 4.3 is just a punch "under the belt" (If say, 5 points is the belt). I love the music performances, the breakdancing makes me wanna spin, RAMO makes me wanna throw a piece...c'mon, its a classic!!!

This movie changed it all for me...I heard of breakdancing and hiphop, but had never seen it professionally done (hey I was an 11-year old kid from Holland!) When I saw this movie, this all changed. I got actively involved in the hiphop-movement in our city, started breakdancing and writing lyrics. To this day, I still consider this movie to be a personal favorite. Sure, the filming and "cinematographic" importance might not be that significant. But who cares if the wide-shot was filmed badly or if you could see a mic hanging above somebody? It's what it does to you personally that counts...

Being that I am a true product of the hip-hop and electronic dance music generation, this is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of all time. Beat Street, although not as "authentic" in some respects as Wild Style, is a film that is guaranteed to tug the heart strings of anyone who takes pride in the culture of urban sample/DJ-based music and electro-club culture. Although I will admit that at times the dialogue is somewhat cheesy, you can't help but feel for the characters, and ultimately "wish you were there" for the beginnings of hip-hop culture in New York City in the early eighties. The b-boy battle scene at the Roxy nightclub (a real-life, real-time competition between the legendary Rock Steady Crew and the NYC Breakers) is just as essential to a hip-hop fan's archives as any classic album. Watch some of the breakers' moves in slow-motion if possible to truly appreciate the athletic and stylistic expertise of a seasoned B-boy/B-girl. All praises due to the Zulu Nation!!!

Closer to reality and containing more depth than "Breakdance", Stan Lathan's "Beat Street" is still a pretty dull show. Again this pic is really only cashing in on the 'breakin' craze but at least we get a little bit of entertainment from the plot, which concerns the lives of three young friends and a younger brother, all growing up in Queens, New York. Each has their own unique talent. One is a hustler, one a d.j., another an artist who creates 'burners', while little bro' Lee is a hot 'hip hop' dancer. Lathan is unable to generate any real audience interest in the story though, and his young cast are likewise struggling with their characters. Therefore it is left almost entirely to the funky music and the 'fresh' dancing to save the day. Choreography is again sharp for both club and street scenes, but this alone is not enough to lift ""Beat Street" to greater heights. Unfortunately the film really falls flat late on, after showing a glimmer of hope that it just might get interesting. Sunday, August 25, 1996 - Video