Beat Street (1984)

(On Cable TV, September 2019) There isn’t a lot to the plot or characters of Beat Street that we haven’t seen since then—this weakly plotted musical comedy follows the adventures of a few Bronx teenagers as they dance, beat box, DJ, tag and create music. But the plot or characters aren’t the point—the point is to showcase early-New York rap and breakdancing, as the film’s plot is structured in a way to feature such sequences. The result is a wonderful time capsule of early hip-hop, featuring plenty of names that even casual fans such as myself can recognize: Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Moe Dee. There’s a lot here that prefigures later looks at hip-hop—including a dance battle sequence that feels like the prototype for the entire Step Up series. The actors themselves are passable—although Rae Dawn Chong looks great here. Not every moment works (I’m not so happy about the graffiti sequences, for instance, and the more conventional dramatic beats feel overwhelmed by the dance and music sequences) but as a time capsule movie, Beat Street is definitely worth a look.