Pretty Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Some movies you watch because they are classics. Some movies you watch because they mean something to you in particular. Some movies you watch to be enlightened. But a huge number of movies you watch you watch for fun and nothing more or maybe to remember a time when things were different. Such is the case with "BEAT STREET".In 1984 when the movie came out hip hop music was on the rise as was hip hop dancing. The jerky movements, the spins, the flips, the musically influenced dance style was the rage. Hollywood, never one to let a fad go by untapped, made the choice to bring out several films involving the hip hop scene, almost always by a low budget studio. That year Cannon popped out "BREAKIN'" and its sequel "BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO". "KRUSH GROOVE" gave Shelia E. a chance to hit the movie screen. "WILD STYLE" featured the music of Fab Five Freddy and Grandmaster Flash.BEAT STREET came out in 1984 and was one of the first to hit the screens. All of them seemed to play off of the same things, the music, the New York locale and the graffiti art. "BEAT STREET" takes on all of those themes. Kenny is a young DJ living in the Bronx with dreams of being a star one day. Along with his brother Lee who wants to be a professional hip hop dancer and his friends they hit the clubs and private parties held in abandoned buildings.The possibility of success arrives in the form of Tracy (Rae Dawn Chong), a grad student who invites Lee to show off his moves for her classmates. With no pay and no chance to use it as a stepping stone, Kenny gets upset since Lee had told him Tracy promised him a chance at both. This leads to a parting of the ways until Tracy finds a way to make things right with Kenny. Later he gets that chance at stardom and an opportunity to show his skills at a major nightclub. He just has to show them what he can do.In addition to this story we have that of Kenny's friend Ramon, a gifted graffiti artists who also dreams of making it big. Ramon also has a young child with his girlfriend and he's trying his best to make things right with her and her family. He works as well as doing his art and finds himself in a battle of wills with another spray paint artist who keeps ruining his works. A face off is inevitable.But story isn't the main reason for these movies. Much like the musicals of the past it was the song and dance portions of the films that made fans go to them. The movie offers plenty of that for hip hop fans who craved seeing that as often as possible. The film is filled with dance offs and party sequences that are filled with hip hop dancing. Not only that but songs are provided by some of the best performers on the scene at the time including Doug E. Fresh, Grandmaster Mel and the Furious Five and Africa Bambata among others.The movie fits into the drama category because it's about hope and dreams, some achieved and others that crash to the ground before they can even begin. Yes there is tragedy as well as joy in this film. In the end it is a movie that for those who grew up in the 80s when the music and dancing was just taking off will bring back fond memories. For those young enough to like the music they can now see what their parents were up to at the time. And for movie fans it's another one to just sit and enjoy. Those interested in adding it to their collections will be the die-hard fans. All others will just have a bit of fun and move on.

Beat Street was always the film you watched back in the 80's if you took Hip Hop and Break Dancing seriously and wanted a better idea of how this new wave of music was infecting the youth culture at the time. Oh how we laughed at those who thought Electric Bogaloo was the film to watch,if you hadn't seen this, you didn't know anything.Beat Street as a film in its own right is something of a rare gem and still stands up today, despite a really weak performance from Rae Dawn Chong,the rest of the performances from mostly non or inexperienced actors are raw and real. The plot, such as it is revolves around two brothers, KK a DJ, Lee a dancer and their close friends who are all hustling with the new movement of dance, music and graffiti art to make their marks in the run down impoverished Bronx of New York. Thrown into this story is something of a rather flimsy love plot involving the older brother (Guy Davis) and a dance from the local arts school, where it seems only the rich kids go. What is more interesting is the relationship between talented artist Ramo (John Chardliet, shame he didn't do more acting) and his girlfriend and mother of his young child,(Santiago, excellent in anything she is in) as they struggle to make ends meet while he strains to retain his title of the spray can king. At the time this was made it was seen by many as a fictionalised version of the documentary Wild Style, the films almost go hand in hand. In the latter an artist called 'Cap' always sprayed over everyones work, just for the hell of it. Here someone called 'Spit' does the same, ultimately with Tragic results.The film features the dance groups of the time, Rocky Steady Crew and New City Breakers, as well as Africa Bambata, Doug E Fresh, Grandmater Mel and the Furious Five and others. It is gritty, rough around the edges, but has a charm and is often funny and touching. The ending with the concert and mesh of styles and music of the time is a really rewarding sequence which I have watched many times. Anyone who looks at this film dismissively is really missing the point. It was an attempt to counter point god awful films like Breakdance 1 and 2, to show a more realistic depiction of the types of kids who were involved in this music and culture at the time (Most of them in the film actually were) and though the film enjoyed some success it left many of its participants wondering at the end, what happens now? What indeed? It almost feels as if the film was the last cry of a generation that became fragmented and lost its way just before drug culture impacted so heavily on communities.Beat Street played out of competition at the Cannes festival in 1984, which that year found Paris / Texas scooping up all the awards, but as an impact on youth culture on an international stage that film cannot claim to have even a fraction of the influence that Beat Street did, especially behind the iron curtain where pirate copies were being sold for as much as 100 dollars. Sometimes it feels as if it were criminally overlooked, not least of all, by Cannes. Anyone who doubts its impact only needs to go and look at Art and Hip Hop in France, and you will find many of its influences orginate from this film. It was a voice for a time that many over looked, but those interested in the beginnings of Hip Hop should seek this out. As a statement on musical culture given voice through a drama, in this way, this film has not been equalled.

Maybe you shouldn't compare, but Wild Style and Style Wars are original Hip Hop. Beat Street does have a lot of the original artists of early Hip Hop, but they've been obviously made clear that this could be their big break, of course for some it was and that's nice. But if you view this as original Hip Hop Culture you're wrong. It's overproduced and has a Hollywood sauce. Rather look for the first two movies i mentioned. They have convey the grittiness that comes with life in the ghetto. Yes, the rating for this movie is low, but the reviews are mostly positive or even raving. This is probably because although the story, the acting, the dialogues and the direction all are dreadful, the music and dancing is what the people love about it. Me, i do love the dancing but at the time thought that electro was the death of Hip Hop (i was so glad when round '86 a new generation of now classic Hip Hop artists appeared, like Krs One, Public Enemy, Ultramagnetic Mc's, Jungle Brothers, Bizmarkie to name a few), and i still don't like most of the beats in this movie and that is why it doesn't work for me. I mean, Wild Style has not much of a story but the music there is great and authentic. Of course tastes differ and that's alright. But as far as i'm concerned, this movie is trash except for the break dancing and some of the music and so i can't rate it higher than a 4 out of ten.

When released in 1984, Beat Street was one of the best hip hop themed films released at the time. The movie gets a 10 just for combining all of the elements of hip hop which are the mc,dj, graff and b-boy. The soundtrack is one of the best I've ever heard.