Beat Street

Orion Pictures, 1984

Starring Guy Davis, Jon Chardiet, Rae Dawn Chong, and Leon W. Grant

Directed by Stan Lathan

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we dive into early rap culture with two musicals from the mid-80's. By 1983, rap, hip-hop, and breakdancing were just starting to come off the streets of major cities and into dance clubs like the ones in this movie. Record companies were starting to take notice, too, as were several major movie studios who saw the success of those clubs. How well does this do in representing that new culture, seen through the lives of four young men living in the South Bronx? Let's begin on the streets with the kids and their breakdancing and find out...

The Story: Kenny Kirkland (Davis) is a DJ and aspiring composer. His best friend Ramon Franco (Chardiet) is a graffiti artist who tags himself "Ramo," and wants nothing more than to decorate one unmarked subway car with his work. Ramon's girlfriend Carmen (Saundra Santiago) wants him to marry her and help her take care of their child. 

Kenny's brother Lee (Robert Taylor) is a member of one of the breakdancing gangs. He first turns up when he DJs for a party to rumble with another local breakdancing gang, then at the Bronx nightclub the Roxy. Fellow composer Tracy Carlson (Chong) is impressed with his moves and invites him to try out for TV dance show. He's rejected, and Kenny accuses Tracy of being a snob. She goes to his house to make up, and they end up falling for each other. 

Things begin to look up when Kenny gets a job at the Burning Spear Club, and Ramon finally gets an apartment for him and his family. Kenny's not as happy when he first catches Tracy with her professor (Duane Jones), then he accidentally erases his creation on their equipment. Ramon's having his own problems. There's an artist named Spit (Bill Anagros) who keeps defacing his work, and job interviews are keeping him from the art he loves. His attempt to make one last try at that unmarked train leads to a confrontation with Spit that ends in tragedy. Kenny, however, will never forget his friend or the lasting impression he left on his music, his family, and their community.

The Song and Dance: This one has a lot in common with Saturday Night Fever, from the New York Boroughs setting to its use of actual Bronx locations (including the real Roxy nightclub). Chardiet is by far the best thing here with his intense performance as the tough youth who sees beauty in his art where others see something damaging or criminal. Some of the dancing is genuinely amazing too, both in the breakdancing sequences and at the TV show audition Tracy wrote a song for. 

Favorite Number: We open with "Breaker's Revenge" over a montage of Lee and his friends breakdancing in the streets of the Bronx and Ramon. "Son of Beat Street" and "Baptise the Beat" are the dance numbers at the house party. Juicy performs "Give Me All" and over the end credits "Beat Street Strut." "Santa's Rap" is Lee and two of his buddies (The Treacherous Three) singing a comic Christmas rap number as Santa and two kids complain about his gifts. Jake Homes sings the R&B ballad "Strangers In a Strange World" as Kenny takes Tracy home. "Frantic Situation" is Afrika Bamaataa's goofy jungle routine at the Burning Spear Club. "Battle Cry" is the number that gets Lee and his buddies into trouble when they're practicing a dance routine, and the cops think they're actually trying to hurt each other. 

The huge finale involves Davies and almost every rap group in the film dressed in the most 80's collection of tulle, sequins, chains, and vinyl saluting the life and death of Ramon with "Beat Street Breakdown." A gospel choir finishes off with "Believe."

Trivia: Filming locations included the actual Roxy (which has since been demolished), the City College of New York, and the Bronx subway.

Most of the graffitti used in the movie wasn't real, but actual graffiti artists were used as consultants. 

What I Don't Like: It has a lot of the same problems as Saturday Night Fever - namely, it was made to represent a certain time and place, and hasn't aged well beyond that. New York and rap culture have changed a lot in 40 years. The crazy costumes at the clubs and in the finale alone scream "New York 1984." There is some bad language (though not to the degree of Fever) and violence, not to mention that tragic ending. Most of the artists here probably aren't remembered by anyone but huge fans of 80's rap, too, and neither the actors, nor the plot are really all that interesting. 

The Big Finale: If you want to learn more about early rap culture or rap in New York in the 80's or are a fan of the rap and R&B musicals of the mid-80's, this one is worth checking out for some of the numbers alone.

Home Media: Easily found anywhere; it's streaming for free on The Roku Channel and Pluto TV. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

The Roku Channel 

Pluto TV

Cult Flops - The Cotton Club

Orion Pictures/American Zoetrope Pictures, 1984

Starring Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, and Lonette McKee

Directed by Frances Ford Coppola

Music and Lyrics by various

Undaunted by his difficulties directing Finian's Rainbow in 1968, Frances Ford Coppola returned to musicals in the 1980's. His One from the Heart was a massive flop in 1982, and this did only slightly better. Production continued for the better part of five years. The movie went way over-budget well before Coppola picked the production up from its original producer Robert Evans, whose extravagant tastes ballooned costs to anywhere from 47 to 65 million, a record at the time. The movie went through at least 12 scripts before finally settling on one filmed during rehearsals. Coppola recut the film in 2015, and it's that version I'm basing this review on. Let's start onstage at The Cotton Club and find out why this movie ran into so much trouble...

The Story: Michael "Dixie" Dwyer (Gere) is a coronet musician drifting through life and jobs in the late 1920's. He finally gets a permanent position playing at the world-famous Cotton Club in Harlem, where blacks perform onstage but, at least initially, can't watch in the audience. Mobster Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) is the owner who courts the rich, famous, and infamous, like fellow racketeer Dutch Schultz (James Renar). Dwyer falls for Renar's moll Vera (Lane), while his brother Vincent (Nicholas Cage) joins his mob. Madden eventually bankrolls Dwyer's career as a Hollywood star. Jealous, Schultz gives Vera her own club. 

Meanwhile, Delbert "Sandman" Williams (Hines) and his brother Clayton (Maurice Hines) have joined the Cotton Club's revue as their newest dance act. Williams falls for singer Lila Rose Oliver (McKee), but the manager treats his performers badly and keeps interfering in their romance. There's also Lila's passing for white to perform in whites-only clubs. Sandman and Dixie become friends when Sandman's fast feet save Dixie from being shot...but Schultz may not survive the night of their big number together.

The Song and Dance: It's not hard to tell where those millions of dollars went. This is a lavish, if unsettling, look at a place and time where blacks and immigrants were just starting to be allowed into "polite" white society...and were tired of being told to keep their place. Along with amazing, period-accurate costumes and Oscar-winning sets, the stand-out here is the supporting cast. Look for Fred Gwynne of The Munsters as Owney's second in command, Broadway star Gwen Verdon as the Dwyers' mother, Jennifer Gray as their sister, Larry Fishburne as a black gangster who does not appreciate that racist Cotton Club manager's behavior, and Tom Waits as one of the mobsters. 

If nothing else, I appreciate the restored numbers. Some of these are downright amazing, with some of the best tap dancing seen anywhere on film in the 1980's. 

Favorite Number: The Hines Brothers get two great numbers in the beginning and end of the film as they show how they start off dancing perfectly together...and eventually realize they can still cut a fine rug as a pair. McKee is shown to great advantage in gorgeous versions of the ballads "Stormy Weather" and "Ill Wind" at the Cotton Club, both with dramatic interpretations against lit street lamps and dancers in flowing costumes. Hines gets a chance to show off his dexterous solo moves towards the end of the film with "Copper Colored Gal." Even Lane gets in on it, singing "Am I Blue?" at Vera's Club in a rather attractive voice; Gere joins her for a coronet solo. Larry Marshall, as a nifty Cab Calloway, scores with a dynamic "Minnie the Moocher" and "Lady With the Fan." 

Trivia: Richard Gere did indeed do his own coronet playing.

Richard Pryor was originally cast as Sandman, but the already-inflated budget couldn't accommodate his salary. 

Ironically, the movie did lead to a real-life murder. The vaudeville promoter Evans hired to do promotion for the movie was killed in 1983 by a drug dealer who resented being cut out of the profits from the movie. It also lead to lawsuits galore by investors who never saw their money back. 

What I Don't Like: It's pretty obvious the movie was constantly re-written as it went along. The plot is confusing and annoying. I lost track of who everyone was and what was going on after a while. No wonder audiences in 1984 couldn't figure it out. It's also overlong, especially in the Encore recut. This did not need to be almost two and a half hours, even with the restored numbers. He may be able to burn up the coronet, but Gere is deadly dull as the musician whose career is buoyed by his association with organized crime, and Lane is even less interesting. 

Even in the longer cut, there still isn't enough of the black side of the story. I'd love to see more of Lila's feelings on having to pretend to be white to sing in major clubs, how the black mobs finally pushed for racially-mixed audiences at The Cotton Club, and the relationship between Sandman, Clay, and Dwyer. The happy ending feels forced, too bright and cheerful for this relentlessly dark film. And note that "dark." There's a lot of blood, violence, gunplay, some mild sexual situations, and tons of swear words (including era-appropriate ethnic slurs). This movie really earns its R rating and is absolutely not for children. 

The Big Finale: In the end, the dynamic numbers, colorful supporting cast, and elegant production more than made up for major script problems and the bland leads. Adults with time on their hands and who have any interest in the history of the 20's and 30's or the cast and can handle the violence level will find a great deal to enjoy here. 

Home Media: The original cut is out of print on solo DVD, but the Encore Director's Cut is easily available on all formats. It's currently streaming for free on Pluto TV. 

DVD - Original Theatrical Film

DVD - Encore Cut

Blu-Ray - Encore Cut

Pluto TV On Demand

Musicals on TV - Babes In Toyland (1986)

Orion Television/NBC, 1986
Starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Jill Schoelen, and Richard Mulligan
Directed by Clive Donner
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse

And now, we go back a bit to give you NBC's big holiday offering for 1986. It made decent enough ratings then, but wasn't well-received, despite getting a theatrical release in Europe. Is this worth the sled trip to Toyland? Let's head to a snowy Cincinatti, Ohio to find out...

The Story: Lisa Piper (Barrymore) is an 11-year-old girl living in Cincinatti with her older sister Mary (Schoelen), her younger brother, and her harried single mother (Eileen Brennan). Lisa is used to being her mother's helper, which makes her feel quite adult. She takes it on herself to warn Mary and her guy friends Jack (Reeves) and George (Googy Gress) about a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, dashing to the toy store where they work. The store's sleazy owner Barney (Mulligan) wishes she'd go away, but she does manage to help her sister and the guys evacuate the building. They're on their way home in the thick of the blizzard when Lisa slides out on the new sled Mary gave her and hits a tree.

She awakens in Toyland, a magical world where teddy bears are cops and everyone rides around in cute, colorful little cars like something out of an amusement park. What she finds isn't as amusing. The evil Barnaby (Mulligan) is about to wed pretty young Mary Quite Contrary (Schoelen), who is trying to save her family from being evicted. Mary really loves Jack Be Nimble (Reeves). Lisa immediately stops the wedding, earning Barnaby's ire and that of Mary's dithery mother Mrs. Hubbard (Brennan).

Barnaby first accuses Jack of stealing cookies from his cookie factory and has him arrested. Lisa and Georgie Porgie (Gress) break Jack out, but Barnaby has another plot. He wants a Jar of Evil that the kindly Toymaker (Pat Moriata) has been collecting. He thinks that jar will give him enough power to take over Toyland and eliminate toys from the world! Lisa and her friends do their best to stop him...but in the end, it's up to Lisa to remember that one of the greatest weapons we can have is the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child.

The Song and Dance: There's some really cute ideas here. I love details like Barnaby's vulture-things with an eye that helps him keep track of his enemies and Mrs. Hubbard carrying around a list to remember every single thing she says or does. Lisa's attempts to play matchmaker to the two mid-way through are pretty funny, as is how they manage to break Jack out of jail. Barrymore does fairly well as the child who refuses to believe that she's still young; Mulligan's having a fine time chewing the scenery to atoms, both as the scuzzball toy store owner and the old-fashioned silent movie-style villain.

Favorite Number: The children's chorus song "May We Wish You the Happiest Christmas," performed as Lisa is making her way to the toy store in the opening, is reworked later in Toyland as a wedding song for Barnaby and Mary with almost the exact same lyrics. Not only is that a nice touch, but it perfectly emphasizes the Wizard of Oz-like feel the story is going for. Mulligan can't sing, but he throws himself into his big number "A World Without Toys" anyway.

Trivia: The version of this that I own (and that was released on video in 1991) is the shortened European theatrical version. The original TV broadcast included longer versions of some scenes and more numbers, including a duet for Mary and Jack when the latter is in jail.

What I Don't Like: Mulligan and Brennan are the only ones who seem to have any real grasp of the material. Keanu Reeves in particular does not belong here, and Schoelen is only slightly better. They both work better in the opening sequence at the toy store than in Toyland and have no chemistry whatsoever. Other than the joke with the "Happiest Christmas/Wedding" song, most of the music is bland and very far from Bricusse's best work. The only person in the cast who can actually sing - Brennan - doesn't. The dialogue is corny and forced, and the bored readings of many lines doesn't help.

The production looks incredibly cheap. The amusement park cars are more silly than whimsical, and the full-body costumes for the animal characters and toy soldiers were probably pulled off the rack from the nearest party store. The villainous characters are a little better. The designs of the trollogs (Barnaby's vulture-like minions), the trolls, and his mooks Mack and Zack are actually pretty scary. I just wish you could actually see them. Barnaby is supposed to live in a dark bowling ball in an evil forest, but the lighting is so dim, you can't really tell what's going on in those scenes.

The Big Finale: This is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine, and has been since it ran occasionally on the 25 Days of Christmas marathon on Fox Family Channel (now Freeform) in the early 2000's. I can't in all good faith recommend it to those who haven't built up an immunity to cheese or didn't grow up watching those Fox Family broadcasts. Unless you're a really huge fan of the cast or love campy or so-bad-they're (slightly) good movies, you'll want to give this one a pass.

Home Media: That 1991 video was sold at McDonald's as part of a big holiday VHS promotion in 1992. It's out of print, but still fairly easy to find. (I dubbed my copy off one of them.) To my knowledge, this has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray in the US. It is free for downloading on Amazon Prime, and the original full TV version can be found on YouTube.

VHS
Amazon Prime
Babes In Toyland - The Director's Cut (YouTube)