Breakin'

1984 saw the release of not one, not two, but three films that captured and capitalized on the emerging craze of breakdancing. All these films were made in the wake of the documentary Breakin' 'n' Enterin' and the feature Wild Style, which is considered the first Hip-Hop movie. These two 1983 pictures caught the imagination of several bigwigs in the music and film industries. Two such folks were calypso singer, actor, and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte and former United Artist President David Picker. They started work on the film that would become Beat Street. But, the always opportunistic duo behind Cannon Pictures—Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, were determined to be the first to cash in on the fad. The prolific producers hired their pal from the Israeli film school, Joel Siberg, to get cranking on a breakdancing movie that would beat Beat Street into theaters, which he did by pulling many of the artists and dancers from Breakin' 'n' Enterin' and casting them in Breakin’.

These cast members included Ice-T (who makes his film debut here as a club MC) and co-star Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers. The other lead is played by choreographer Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quiñones, known for his work with Lionel Richie on videos like the wildly popular "All Night Long." Breakin' was made as a cheap quicky, destined mainly for home video, but it was so clear from the dancing dailies that the little picture was going to be a big hit; Golan and Globus started working on a sequel before Breakin' was even mixed. Hence, we have a rare (possibly the only?) occurrence of a film and its sequel both being released in the same calendar year. Breakin' on May 4th and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo on December 19th, with Beat Street coming out on June 8th. Each film was successful, but Breakin' was by far the biggest hit since it cost the least, $1.2M, and made the most, $39M.

While Breakin' was inspired by the documentary Breakin' 'n' Enterin', which is set in LA's multi-racial hip-hop club Radio-Tron, it also borrows heavily from Flashdance. In fact, you could almost view this as a feature film expansion of the scene in Flashdance where Jennifer Beals and some of her nightclub dancer friends walk past a couple of guys breakdancing on cardboard in the street, stop and watch, and then join in. That's pretty much the plot of Breakin'. A young jazz dancer named Kelly (Lucinda Dickey) meets two street dancers, Ozone and Turbo, on the boardwalk at Venice Beach. Kelly is enamored with their unique moves, and all three become friends. They form their own dance troupe and enter a dance competition with strict requirements in terms of the respected styles of performance. Much like Flashdance, the stuffy panel of judges is won over.

All the lead actors in this movie were clearly cast for their dancing ability, not for their acting (I don't know if any of them had any acting experience, but I kinda doubt it). Still, these amateur thespians fit perfectly with the simplistic, PG-rated conflicts and low stakes. There is a real innocence to this movie, which is part of its charm, and the music is absurdly catchy. Surprisingly, the dancing is thoroughly unimpressive. Most of the "dance battles" we see consist of little more than sticking out arms and looking serious. I also love how the "winners" of these battles are so obvious to all parties. With no one to officially judge the outcome, all participants seem to understand without conflict who won any particular dance-off and who lost. It all seems very far-fetched, but you watch Beat Street for authenticity; you watchBreakin' for... Well, for a lark?