Wild Style (1982)

South Bronx street graffiti artist Zoro is commissioned to paint a backdrop for a rap/break-dance concert.

Director:

Charlie Ahearn

Writers:

Charlie Ahearn (original concept), Charlie Ahearn

Stars:

'Lee' George Quinones, Lady Pink, Fab 5 Freddy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
'Lee' George Quinones	...	Raymond 'Zoro'
Lady Pink	...	Rose 'Lady Bug' (as Sandra 'Pink' Fabara)
Fab 5 Freddy	...	'Phade' (as Frederick Braithwaite)
Patti Astor	...	Virginia
Andrew Witten	...	Z-Roc (as Zephyr)
Busy Bee	...	Chief Rocker
Carlos Morales	...	Hector
Alfredo Valez	...	Chico
Niva Kislac	...	Niva
Glenn O'Brien	...	Museum Curator
Johnny 'Crash' Matos	...	Union Crew
Daze	...	Union Crew (as Chris 'Daze' Ellis)
Fred 'Caz' Glover	...	Union Crew
Edwin 'Obe' Ortez	...	Union Crew
Lisa Lee	...	Fly Girl

Storyline

Universally hailed as the first hip-hop movie, Wild Style captures New York's 1981 hip-hop culture and several prominent figures including [url=nm1265222] Starski, [url=nm0292735], The Cold Crush Brothers, and one of the godfathers of hip-hop, [url=nm0334739]. A movie whose influence cannot be under-estimated and hailed as the most inspirational hip-hop of movie of all time, Wild Style immortalizes the birth of an underground hip-hop scene about to explode around the world changing the face of music, fashion, art and a way of life forever. Following street artist Zorro (played by legendary subway artist 'Lee' George Quinones) and his crew as they journey through the streets, projects and train yards of New York, keeping one step ahead of the cops and their rivals, the film climaxes in one of the most famous hip-hop concerts in history. Featuring the pioneers at the forefront of a cultural revolution including DJs, rappers and breakers such as [url=nm0334739], The Chief Rocker [url=...

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Plot Keywords:

hip hop | graffiti | cult film | new york city | breakdance | 

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Taglines:

Break Dancing Graffiti Rap

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Dondi was the second choice for the role of Zoro.

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Goofs

At 6:18 Hector tells Raymond 'Zoro' to take off his do-rag. Then Ray's hair pops back and forth between being flat from the do-rag to a picked out Afro during their conversation.

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Quotes

'Phade': Scooby Doo!

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Connections

Featured in Black in the 80s: Color in Film (2005)

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Soundtracks

Wild Style Theme Rap 2
Performed by Grandmaster Caz and Chris Stein
Scratches by Charlie Chase
(uncredited)

User Reviews

A Cultural Shift

Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city's hottest and most elusive graffiti writer. The actual story of the movie concerns the tension between Zoro's passion for his art and his personal life, particularly his strained relationship with fellow artist Rose.

Director Charlie Ahearn was approached by graffiti artist Fred Braithwaite, later known as Fab 5 Freddy, who wanted to make a film about hip-hop (as a broad culture encompassing emceeing, DJing, graffiti and break-dancing) and graffiti as an art form. Braithwaite was an acquaintance of Lee Quiñones, whom Ahearn had long-wanted to film and whose murals he has always admired. Braithwaite brought Quiñones in to meet Ahearn and the three began discussions about creating a hip-hop movie.

As a film, this movie is pretty lacking -- the plot is weak, and the acting is completely awful. But that was never the point. With most of the characters ad libbing their lines and actually being real life hip hop and graffiti artists, this almost serves as a pseudo-documentary. Probably no other film better captures the rise of hip hop than "Wild Style".

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 November 1983 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Asi Tarz

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,948

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wild Style

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1