Wild Style (1983)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Charlie Ahearn

Writer:

Charlie Ahearn (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Break Dancing Graffiti Rap

Plot:

Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city's hottest and most elusive graffiti writer...

Plot Keywords:

Hip Hop | Graffiti | Breakdance | Independent Film

Cast

Easy A.D.	...	Cold Crush Brothers
A.J.	...	Himself (as DJ AJ)
Almighty K.G.	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Patti Astor	...	Virginia
Busy Bee	...	Himself
Grandmaster Caz	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Lil' Rodney Cee	...	Double Trouble
Charlie Chase	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Ruby Dee	...	Fantastic Freaks
Dot-a-Rock	...	Fantastic Freaks
Grand Mixer DXT	...	Himself (as Grandmixer D.St)
Fab 5 Freddy	...	Fab Five Freddy
Sandra Fabara	...	Rose
Grandmaster Flash	...	Himself
Frosty Freeze	...	Rock Steady Crew
Mr. Freeze	...	Rock Steady Crew
J.D.L.	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Kevie Kev	...	Fantastic Freaks
Lisa Lee	...	Herself
Crazy Legs	...	Rock Steady Crew
Carlos Morales	...	Raymond's brother
Glenn O'Brien	...	Museum Curator
'Lee' George Quinones	...	Raymond 'Zoro'
Rammellzee	...	Himself
Master Rob	...	Fantastic Freaks
K.K. Rockwell	...	Double Trouble
Prince Ken Swift	...	Rock Steady Crew
Grand Wizard Theodore	...	Fantastic Freaks
Tony Tone	...	Cold Crush Brothers
Prince Whipper Whip	...	Fantastic Freaks
Dondi White	...	Himself
Andrew Witten	...	Zroc (as Andrew 'Zephyr' Witten)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:R | UK:15

Company:

Wild Style

Trivia:

Most of the dialog was improvised. This became abundantly clear to Sandra Fabara when she took her mother to see the film and was appalled by the prevalence of the word "fuck."

Movie Connections:

Featured in Beastie Boys: Video Anthology (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

M.C. Battle

Fresh! For You, For You...

As much a document of primordial hip-hop culture as it was an arbiter of what hip-hop would become(for a time), this film perfectly encapsulates the earthshaking inventiveness and fun of hip-hop and, upon this viewing, reminds me of how much of that loose, experimental spirit is missing in the current scene. The flimsy story(carried, as it were, by the singularly inarticulate graffiti legend "Lee" Quinones) is aptly subordinate to the raw, bouncy hip-hop soundtrack(provided by Blondie's Chris Stein and the ever-smooth Fab 5 Freddy, who folks of a certain musical disposition might remember from Yo! MTV Raps and who also co-stars). A must not just for hiphop heads but also for anyone striving to understand why this "fad" caught on like it did. 10/10