Beat Street

Rating:
Summary: Beat Street will NEVER leave the place in my HEART.
Review: This is a very gooooood movie, I loved this movie since I was a kid growing up and now I really need to add this to my collection. I know there is another movie that came out in the 80's called "Breakin'". It's similar to Beat Street. If anyone knows where I could get my hands on that movie let me know because Iam a breakdancing-aholic. Email me if you have any clues about that movie. Thanks!!

Rating:
Summary: Oh My GOD!
Review: I was franticly looking for this movie not more than 6 months ago, cannot find it anywhere! . This is a movie that must be seen and owned by anyone who loves hip hop and it's culture. Unlike the other breakdance movies this one is so well made, not only does it include artist that are the foundation of hip hop such and melle mel, afrika bambaataa and tina b to name a few but it outlines the culture, from dj-ing to graffity and showdowns on the dancefloor. The rocksteady crew are pure ledgens and for them to be in this movie is just a major bonus. I am propably preaching to the converted here but if you are into hip hop or just listen to the music, you have got to get this movie, hopefully it will come out on dvd 'cos the music would absolutely ROCK.

Rating:
Summary: A commercial/glossy/shoddy vehicle for breakdancing.
Review: This film has not aged well. It was played during a college "Hip-Hop conference" and was very sparsely attended. It is interesting in that Harry Belafonte produced the soundtrack or something significant--most numbers lean toward wastes of time rather than timelessness. One also gets a look at the staged life of an MC/performer/composer...the equipment (especially the "techie" stuff that the "pro"s use) is comically primitive, exposed due to its questionable relevance to the plot. The dance scenes, the feigned gang war scenes particularly, not only steal the show but are in this case the only worthwhile tidbits in the whole thing. Sideplots and incidental urban characters abound, and not surprisingly they only weigh down a very heavy plot. The final scene caps off the chintzy histrionics and romance in the most extravagant show of obsolescence and fantasy possible. This has definite entertainment value, but it requires the viewer to ignore the movie and indulge in the guilty pleasure of hoodlums spinning on their heads, landing squarely on their suede tennis shoes in a pose that embodies the film. Raw pre-skool breaks 'n' beats...SPIT on the rest.

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate and unique!
Review: This is the ultimate and unique motion picture about hip hop culture which showed a real atmosphere inside the guetto and all the vibe that any soundtrack of an era could show. If you'd worn checked pants and snickers and still have the tunes of Mr. Bambaatta in your head, please get right now!

Rating:
Summary: beat street : king of the beat
Review: If you have seen the other breakdance movies but not yet seen Beat Street, then now is the time. This film is the definitive old skool hip hop movie. This is the hip hop movie which sets the standard, the others just follow.

Rating:
Summary: ROCKSTEADY BY FAR WINS THE BATTLE, OFF CAMERA
Review: In the movie it would have appeared that NYC Breakers would have won the battle @ the Roxy because of their fast, dynamic moves. But I think Rocksteady on the streets would beat them easy. If you see home movie footage of both groups, Rocksteady by far has more original and different moves that show true bboying. But dont get me wrong, I'm not taking away from the NYC Breakers power and speed, and I still think they are tight !! This was my favorite movie growing up in the 80's along with Fast Times @ ridgemont high (what a combination huh !) peace ya'll

Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE SHOULDN'T EVER GET LESS THAN 5!!!!!!
Review: WHOEVER GAVE BEAT STREET LESS THAN 5,,AREN'T TRUE TO HIP HOP,AND PROBABLY DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE MOVEMENT THAT BOUGHT ABOUT YOUR 50 CENTS,AND PETEY PABLO'S,AND JAY-Z'S.... BEAT STREET IS MY #1 HIP HOP MOVIE!!! (...)BEAT STREET WILL REMAIN A CLASSIC TO ME..

Rating:
Summary: disregard post below, STILL A CLASSIC, GROUND BREAKER!!
Review: To the Kid below that said this "I spent a good portion of my teen years in Riverdale (Bronx) near JFK High" Are you kidding me, RIVERDALE IS THE BEVERLY HILLS OF NEW YORK CITY, WEATHLY PEOPLE LIVE THERE, SON. So you know what that means, you know nothing about hip hop at that time, because your WELL TO DO, as@#
would not be around people like that, Thats like some body from beverly hill talking about gang life in east LA, HA HA come on!!! JFK HIGH SCHOOL, you went to private school, B.E.T AND VH1 has played this movie, this movie is so well done I can't believe I acted just like them at that time. This movie is so real that it showed the real way that rappers dressed back then,looking crazy like parliament and BOOTSY COLLINS. TO the statment that fool ("Ramo"), a damn grown man who would rather paint trains than get a job to feed his girlfriend and baby-who would sympathize with such a moron? At that time non-white guy's like him had no options, I think the movie was being nice about it, truth is guys like him could not get job's, thingS were BAD IN THE 70'S AND 80'S REAL BAD! The BRONX looks pretty now compared to back then, it looked like IRAQ, But you had no problems right RIVERDALE, to look at the bad side of life all you had to do buy a movie. So for all you fack, trying to open your mouth when all you have is a good education, using it to write clear bull#$#$. please stop,
YOU LOVE THIS MOVIE BECAUSE THIS MOVIE THIS THE ONE AND ONLY!!

Rating:
Summary: Fack is, the movie is wack!
Review: I spent a good portion of my teen years in Riverdale (Bronx) near JFK High in the late 70s and early 80s when the hiphop culture was starting and the music was referred to as "freaking out music" (after a then-popular dance). Wild Style, Charlie Ahearn's early hip hop flick, pretty much got it right. Then came this hollywood ripoff about 2 years later.

The story is a melodramatic version of the tale told in Wild Style. The idea of this silly fool ("Ramo"), a damn grown man who would rather paint trains than get a job to feed his girlfriend and baby-who would sympathize with such a moron? Compare this to Lee Quiniones' more authentic prototype in Wild Style. The music consists of the soulless, ultra-computerized, synthesized trash that led to the dark ages of black music of the 1980s (at least the lyrics had not yet reached the negative lows of the gangster garbage to come). Rap was actually on it's way out at the time just before this movie was filmed in the winter of 1983 (it was released that following summer), before Run DMC revived the genre with their much needed shot in the arm. This film shows why it was so bad before their arrival.

The acting is atrocious! Guy Davis supposedly angry speech to Rae Dawn Chong's dance class about exploiting the hip hop culture is so contrived and poorly acted that it causes laughter instead of tension. No wonder he was never heard from in films after this!

The only thing worth seeing here are the break battles early in the film (although breakdancing generally gets tiring to watch after a period of time). The party in the abandoned building with bootleg electricity early in the film (with the beloved Sharah "Sha-Rock" Greene of the Funky 4+1 More among others taking a turn at the mike) DOES capture the flavor and spirit of the era well.

The Treacherous Three (with young Kool Moe Dee and Dougie Fresh) are quite amusing in their politically incorrect rap skit about Santa Claus on welfare ("My GI Joe turned out GI gay!"), we get breif glipmses of the legendary hiphop inventor Kool DJ Herc in what amounts to a cameo, as well as a performance or two from Afrika Bambaata's Soul Sonic Force. Melle Mel is in rare form during his pwerful performance of "Beat Street breakdown." These factors raise the movie for me from 1 to 2 stars.

If they isolated the appearances and performances of the true rap pioneers on this DVD without the dumb story and bad acting, then it would be worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT HATE
Review: HARLEM WORLD, THIS MOVIE WAS HOT THEN AND NOW. ALL THESE BAD REVIEWS ARE FUNNY IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY WRITE LIKE THEY GOT THERE ((PHD)) PLAYER HATER DEGREE. I DO HATE THE COVER TO THIS MOVIE WERE IS THE OLD ONE.