Breakin'

Breakin', also known as Breakdance the Movie and Break Street '84 outside of the US, is a 1984 musical drama film directed by Joel Silberg, written by Charles Parker and stars Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quinones, and Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers.
== Plot ==
A young dancer named Kelly (Lucinda Dickey) who works as a waitress and practices dancing during free time with a dance instructor, dreams of making it big in the dance world. After practicing at dance class, Kelly wanders through the streets of Los Angeles with her friend Adam (Phineas Newborn III), where she meets Ozone (Adolfo Quinones) and Turbo (Michael Chambers) while performing a breakdance routine at a jam circle at Venice Beach that gets interrupted by the Electro Rock members Pop N’ Taco and Poppin’ Pete. Impressed by their skills, she befriends them and learns more about the world of street dance.
Kelly soon joins Ozone and Turbo's dance crew after leaving her dance class after being sexually harassed by her instructor Franco, she then finds an agent, James (Christopher McDonald) and signs her up for a few auditions, but is let down due to the amount of times she has been rejected. Kelly then visits Ozone and Turbo at a dance competition between them and Electro Rock, but they end up losing as a third member of the Electro Rock was introduced and beat them in the end. Ozone and Turbo then decide to teach Kelly some basic moves of breakdancing and then move on to more advanced moves. Meanwhile, Kelly's manager James disapprove of her association with the street dancers, believing that she should be focusing on her classical dance training instead as street dancing will get her nowhere.
As the crew prepares for a dance battle against a rival group, tensions begin to rise. Ozone, Turbo and Kelly seem confident in their skills. The night of the competition, the two crews face off in a series of intense dance battles, with each crew trying to outdo the other, and in the end are victorious.
After a while of persuasion, Ozone and Turbo audition to be in a dance audition. Fully dressed in formal and sytlish tuxedos, they head down to the audition but are stopped and rejected by the judges, but Ozone doesn't want to give up and instead prove themselves to the judges, who are impressed by their street dancing skills in the end and successfully try out for their own show presented at the end of the movie. 
Throughout the movie, there are several memorable dance sequences, including a scene where Turbo performs an impressive breakdance routine with a broom that is widely regarded as one of the best routines in a breakdancing movie, and a sequence where Ozone and Kelly perform a romantic duet together.
In addition to the dance scenes, the film also explores themes of friendship and the importance of following one's dreams.
Throughout the film, the music plays a key role in setting the tone and driving the story forward. The soundtrack features several popular hip-hop and electro-funk tracks from the 1980s, including "Breakin'...There's No Stopping Us" by Ollie and Jerry and "Freakshow On The Dance Floor” By The Bar-Kays.
== Cast ==
* Lucinda Dickey as Kelly
* Adolfo Quinones as Ozone
* Michael Chambers as Turbo
* Ben Lokey as Franco
* Christopher McDonald as James
* Phineas Newborn III as Adam
* Bruno Falcon as Pop N' Taco
* Timothy Solomon as Poppin' Pete
* Ice-T as Self
* Ana Sanchez as Lollipop
== Production ==
Menahem Golan, the founder of Cannon Pictures, was reportedly inspired to make this movie when his daughter witnessed a breakdancer dance at Venice Beach, California, according to the 2014 documentary of Breakin' and Breakin' 2, titled Electric Boogaloo: The Crazy, Untold Story of Cannon Films, Golan put a lot of pressure on the production team to finish the movie before Orion Pictures' released Beat Street, beating the release date by a month, and also beating it with a bigger box-office and a smaller budget, both revolutionizing the future of breakdancing from the 80's to today.
== Reception ==
When it was first released in 1984, "Breakin'" was a financial success, earning $38 million in total revenue on a $1.2 million budget. Yet there was disagreement among the critics.
Some critiqued the film's conventional narrative and lack of character development, while some applauded the movie's high intensity and spectacular dancing performances. The accuracy of the film's portrayal of the breakdancing subculture was also questioned by several critics, who said that it was unduly sanitized and marketed.
Although receiving a mixed response from critics, "Breakin'" had a profound effect on pop culture and contributed to the acceptance of breakdancing as a mainstream dance form. Two sequels, "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" and "Rappin'," were born from the movie.
Breakin' currently holds a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 53% on Metacritic.
=== Box Office ===
Breakin' was a commercial success upon release, gaining a $37.5 million profit from its $1.2 million dollar budget and screened in 1,069 theaters, even outgrossing Sixteen Candles, which released in the same year.
== Trivia ==
Dancers with expertise Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quiones, and Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers have previously collaborated on other projects before Breakin'.
With a $1.2 million budget, "Breakin'" became an unexpected box office success, earning over $38 million globally.
In order to avoid any potential legal concerns with the phrase "breakdance," the title of the movie was changed from "Breakdance" to "Breakin'".
Several of the dancers who performed in the movies afterwards enjoyed prosperous careers in the entertainment business, many notable being Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michel Qissi, who were extras at the jam circle scene in the beginning of the movie.
Category:1984 films
Category:1980s films
Category:Films
Category:The Cannon Group films
Category:List of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Category:Films directed by John Silberg