Breakin' (1984)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Joel Silberg

Writers:

Charles Parker (story) &
Allen DeBevoise (story) ...

Release Date:

4 May 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

the beat of the streets is...

Plot:

'Breakin': A struggling young jazz dancer (Lucinda Dickey) meets up with two break-dancers. Together they become the sensation of the street crowds. Features ICE-T in his film debut as a club MC. |

Plot Keywords:

Hip Hop | Cult Favorite | Rap Music | First Part | Punctuation In Title

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Lucinda Dickey	...	Kelly
Adolfo Quinones	...	Ozone (as Adolfo 'Shabba-Doo' Quinones)
Michael Chambers	...	Turbo (as Michael 'Boogaloo Shrimp' Chambers)
Ben Lokey	...	Franco
Christopher McDonald	...	James
Phineas Newborn III	...	Adam
Bruno Falcon	...	Electro Rock 1 (as 'Bruno Pop N' Taco' Falcon)
Timothy Solomon	...	Electro Rock 2 (as Timothy 'Poppin' Pete' Solomon)
Ana Sánchez	...	Electro Rock 3 (as Ana 'Lollipop' Sanchez)
Ice-T	...	Rap Talker (as Ice T)
Peter Bromilow	...	Judge
Eleanor Zee	...	Judge
Scott Cooper	...	Judge
Ed Lottimer	...	Judge's Assistant (as Eb Lottimer)
Teresa Kelly	...	Vicky (as T.C. Laughlin)

Also Known As:

Breakdance (Philippines: English title)
Breakdance: The Movie (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | West Germany:6 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Golan-Globus Productions

Trivia:

Though the end credits never reveal it, Ozone and Turbo's real names are Orlando and Tony, respectively.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the second dance battle scene in the club, Ice-T can clearly be seen rapping/talking into the microphone in the background yet we do not hear him at all. All that can be heard is music and the main characters dialog.

Quotes:

Ozone: FOOL!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Against the Dark (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Freakshow on the Dance Floor

Good..for what it is!

OK, so it's no Oscar winner, and it's plot does'nt run rings round THE NINTH CONFIGURATION, but for all it's faults (and they are many!) BREAKIN (breakdance in the UK) is good, slightly corny fun, for all those who tried to spin on their heads in the early eighties. LUCINDA DICKEY (a CANNON regular, check her out in NINJA 3;THE DOMINATION!)) plays Kelly, struggling dancer/waitress, who dreams of appearing in a big musical. She is introduced to two 'break'dancers (OZONE and TURBO) by her (very homosexual) dancing partner (replete with pink gear and camp looks to camera) And even though the dance fraternity pour scorn on a classicly trained dancer melding her style with 'ghetto' dancing, Kelly, Turbo and Ozone take on the bigwigs, and prove that dancing (of any origin) is universal. BREAKIN was released by GOLAN/GLOBUS, who imedietly rushed out a sequel (BREAKIN 2; ELECTRIC BOOGALOO) the same year (the sequel is pretty sh*t, by the way!) and for sheer 'BREAK' dancing, BEAT STREET wins hands down. BREAKIN, involves more 'body-poppin', than actual break dancing. Nonetheless, the movie is light enough, free of the pretension that sunk FLASHDANCE, and has a very good soundtrack, including "aint nobody" and "tour de France" add to that, a young(ish) ICE T cameo.....AND if you can spot him, a young JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME, dancing in the background in the opening sequence in venice beach (clue; he's wearing a similar all-in-one black body suit, that he wore in LIONHEART (aka AWOL in UK) A good solid movie/time capsual/soundtrack/laugh/innofensive family movie 10 out of 10