Breakin' (1984)

"It's real, it's fresh." - Kelly

aka: Breakdance: The Movie
Street dancers struggle to gain acceptance in a world that doesn't take them seriously.
Starring: Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo Quinones, Michael Chambers, Christopher McDonald

Link to IMDB

When Kelly isn't busy working as a waitress she's focusing on her aspiration of being a jazz dancer. Her dance instructor, Franco, is one of the best in town, but he's also a jerk and an egotistical pig. On the boardwalk one day, Kelly is introduced to the local break-dancing crew and she makes friends with two of the guys, Turbo and Ozone. She loves their style and creative skills that are the opposite of the discipline she receives from her traditional dance schooling.
After Franco gets rough with Kelly, she decides to quit his class and look for dance opportunities on her own. She gets an agent named James to help find her auditions, but she's discouraged by how exhausting the process is.
A rival break-dancing crew have been harassing Ozone and Turbo, so they decide to have a dance-off at the local hip-hop club. Kelly comes along, excited to see more of Ozone and his impressive moves.



The movie has lots of dancing, of course, but it's fittingly placed to push the story along instead of just being "dance numbers." These are real dancers, too, so everything looks great and the music is full of fresh energy.

Ozone and Turbo

The dance-off gets almost bizarre in its intensity, as T and O bust out all their best moves to burn their two rivals and impress the crowd. It's a lot of fun seeing these guys cut loose to the max! The rivals have a secret weapon though, a hip girl that jumps in to help them, leaving Ozone so caught off guard that he and Turbo are the clear losers.
Kelly is so inspired by the energy of poppin' and breakin' that she wants to join Ozone's team and help them win next time, but she's going to need to learn all their moves if she wants to be taken seriously. This can only mean one thing... Training montage! Yes!



James, Kelly's agent, thinks that she's wasting her time with the street dancing, but he agrees to come watch the next dance-off and see her friends in action. James gets impressed and agrees to enter Kelly and her friends into a local dance contest, where they will be competing against Franco and his students.
Ozone doesn't care about the contest or trust James, but Kelly begs him to do some soul searching and set aside his pride and fear so that they can show everyone the legitimacy of street dancing.

"I don't dance for anybody but myself." - Ozone

James

Franco

The premise might be simple, cheesy and predictable, but it has some real heart and gets a bit deeper than I initially expected. Ozone's reluctance to mingle with the upper class is the same type of prejudice he's been facing his whole life, giving the third act some new conflict. Overall, it remains an inspiring dance adventure that is both sincere and a bit ridiculous.
I truly like the characters, and the movie focuses on them in realistic ways as they change through the story. I was completely invested in watching their struggle to find respect in a world that has some very big walls between them and their dreams.
I had fun watching this, and will be catching the sequel as soon as possible!

Ozone in the zone

Be sure not to miss:
- As soon as I saw that butt slide in the movie, I searched for a gif of it.
- The big screen debuts of Ice-T as the club MC, and Jean-Claude van Damme as an excited spectator in the first break-dance scene.
- Turbo dancing with his broom to Kraftwerk... Pure magic.

Internet review:
"Excellent, awesome, absolutely need in ya collection." - jimmy-albert

Should I watch it?
Recommended!!

Where can I find it?
Viable links here. (gorilla)

Breakin' gets...