Knights Of The City (1985)

Knights Of The City (1985)-* * *

Directed by: Dominic Orlando

Starring: Leon Isacc Kennedy, Stoney Jackson, Jeff Moldovan, Janine Turner, with Jeff Kutash, and with Special Appearances by: Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, and Smokey Robinson











Could it be that there is a movie that combines Body Rock (1984) with Chains (1989)? Yes, it exists: Knights of the City has to be one of the silliest movies ever, and, coming from us, that's really saying something.

The Royals are a street gang in Miami. The core members are also in a band called the Royal Rockers. The Mechanics are a rival gang moving in on their turf. One night after a rumble, they end up in jail. Like most jails, The Fat Boys and Kurtis Blow are there and everyone in the cell starts dancing and rapping. Luckily, Delamo (Ansara) is in the cell next door for being a raging alcoholic. Of course, he is the head of Twilight Records. He likes what he hears and sees, so he gives the band a business card. The next day, the band shows up at the offices and drops off their demo tape (which sounds exactly like Michael Jackson). His daughter Brooke is in charge of A&R and wants to sign them, but they didn't leave any contact info on their tape. So she starts a contest, "Street Contest", to try and find acts in the inner city. This was pretty ahead of it's time; try to imagine a ghetto "American Idol" or "America's Got Talent". She finds the band, but the leader of the Royals/Royal Rockers, Troy (Kennedy) falls for her. Conflicts ensue when her high class world meets his lower-class one. But wait! There's more!

Joey (Nicholas Campbell) is a die-hard Royal, and, due to the rising popularity of the Royal Rockers, thinks Troy is losing his edge and forgetting his roots. But fellow Royal/guitarist Mookie (yes, Mookie) (John Mengatti) wants to go the music route more, and Troy is torn between them.  But Troy sees winning the Street Contest as his way out of the ghetto. Thanks to Brooke, he's seen the other side of life, and now wants to be a part of it. But there's yet another conflict at hand. Jasmine (Wendy Barry), Troy's former girlfriend is competing against him in the contest...and she's being coached by none other than Carlos (Moldovan), the evil head of the Mechanics! And did we mention their bad-ass gang hideout is an abandoned TUGBOAT!?!?  A freakin' TUGBOAT! As if all that wasn't enough, both gangs are constantly being harassed by grumpy cop McGruder (Floyd Levine)! How will Troy deal with all this, to quote him, "Jive"?

CRUCIAL PLOT POINT THAT I FORGOT TO MENTION: In rehearsing for the contest, they decide their dance moves are not good enough so they hire Flash (Jeff Kutash) to show them how to get down and get funky in the proper manner. Naturally this leads to a montage of dance training. Don't ever forget about Kutash.

Besides the aforementioned Body Rock and Chains, Knights of the City can also be compared to a cross between West Side Story (1961), Beat Street (1984) and The Warriors (1979). There are gangs, and they do gang-y things, but they will throw down some breakdancing moves at the drop of a hat! At any moment, a dance could break out. Even Denny Terrio of Dance Fever fame appears as himself, along with all the other guest musical stars!

Forget all the ham-handed acting (or in the case of Nicholas Campbell as Joey, yelling and screaming) where everything every character says ends in "man!"...the TRUE stars of Knights of the City are THE COSTUMES! The clothes that people wear in this movie are truly astounding. They must be seen to be believed. NO 80's movie or music video you have seen before can prepare you for the awesome outfits. Top honors go to Costume Designers Celia Bryant and Beverly Safier. No wonder it took two people. If there were any justice in this world, they would be more recognized for their abilities. I would try to describe the clothes for you, but not only is that pointless, I think it might also count as a "Spoiler Alert"!

In another completely absurd turn, none other than Smokey Robinson shows up as the MC of the contest. He seems stiff and confused. Maybe getting onstage in front of judges such as Dean Dean made him nervous.

The Royals are a ragtag group of street ragamuffins, and they supposedly are rude, crude and have a dangerous 'tude, but in actuality they are obnoxious and annoying. No wonder Troy wants to drop them like a bad habit. For example, Carlos' big insult to Troy is to repeatedly call him "Fish Lips". But there does seem to be some weird, last-minute editing out of swear words, so that might make sense. But the movie is still rated R, so...why? But at its core, Knights of the City is really a movie with a message. Reach for the stars!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Body Rock (1984)

Body Rock (1984)-* * *1\2

 Directed by: Marcelo Epstein

Starring: Lorenzo Lamas, Cameron Dye, Ray Sharkey, Grace Zabriskie and the NYC Breakers, etc.













In the fine tradition of early hip hop culture movies such as Rappin' (1985), Breakin' (1984), Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), Beat Street (1984), Wild Style (1983), and Style Wars (1984), (not to mention super-80's-NYC films like Mixed Blood (1984), Alphabet City (1984) and even Gloria (1980)), although definitely more akin to the first four films mentioned above, Body Rock is a more-than-worthy companion to those more well-known films.

Loaded with awesomely amazing 80's New York style and energy, Body Rock is completely winning fun.

Chilly D (Lamas) is a kid (?) from the New York City streets who doesn't have a lot of money, but he has a big dream: to make it big with his crew of dancers and rappers, the Body Rock Crew. Through some streetwise tenacity, as well as a lucky break or two, Chilly achieves his dream: but at what cost? He stops "keeping it real" and starts spending all his time with these uptown snobs, forgetting his downtown roots. He even moves out of his old neighborhood and into a ritzy loft with his new, snobby lady...causing a rift between him and his true love, Darlene, not to mention alienating the entirety of his once-beloved Body Rock Crew. Will Chilly lose his soul and become a sellout? Or will he reconnect with his roots, and pop-and-lock his way into glory?

EVERYTHING about Body Rock is so incredibly great:

THE MUSIC is infectious, toe-tappin' fun (assuming you don't jump out of your seat and start breakin' right there on the floor), which actually, maybe because there wasn't a whole lot of available rap music at the time, encompasses a wide variety of genres: rap, dance, new wave and even powerpop are represented (Baxter Robertson's should-have-been-an-MTV-hit "Vanishing Point" and Dwight Twilley's - yes, Dwight Twilley! - "Why You Wanna Break My Heart").

THE FASHIONS: Where to begin? The whole movie is a whirlwind of half-shirts, zippers, vests with writing on them, multi-colored socks and Converse sneakers, leather, suspenders, headbands, bandannas, and on and on. The eye is truly dazzled by the clothes alone. Other highlights include Chilly's leather trenchcoat, symbolizing his new hoity-toityness, but still has "CHILLY" graffiti'd on the back, and Darlene's outfits, which either have letters or numbers stenciled on them. Not to mention the bouncer at the club, "Big Daddy", a man so obese, all the rules of the club are printed on the front of this shirt. I barely even scratched the surface. You have to see this for yourself!


THE DANCING is nonstop: the film, while not a musical, is structured similarly - every 10 minutes or so there is a song and a dance sequence. No one is really here for the plot or the acting, so these are the best parts of the movie. This was director Marcelo Epstein's only feature film, as he is primarily known as a music video director, and here it shows very well. Body Rock is almost like a feature-length video, and I mean that in the best possible sense. A MAJOR highlight of the film is the show-stopping "skeleton dance" which is truly awesome. It might be the first case in movie history of "day-glo-slo-mo".


Also the huge boombox set of the final "rapstravaganza" where Chilly has to prove himself is very impressive as well. The little boy, "Magik" gets off some great moves and is very charming, especially when he's teaching Chilly how to dance, including the fan-favorite "sit-down dance". Also, the dancer in Chilly's crew that looks like "Reno 911"'s Thomas Lennon gives it all he's got and proves you can be a middle-aged white guy with a wife, kids and a mustache and still lay down some funky moves. 

In addition to the actors, some real-life breakers, such as the NYC Breakers are shown doin' their thing.

NYC LOCATIONS: Keepin' it street, there are a lot of great NYC locations, captured beautifully in all their 80's glory for the world to see. From Brooklyn, to Times Square (where Once Upon a Time in the West and Romancing the Stone are playing at a movie theatre, I think where the Virgin Megastore later was, but I could be wrong), to Washington Square Park, and, poignantly, the World Trade Center Towers, and many other places in between, this lends a lot of interesting authenticity to the proceedings and delights the eye along with everything else about Body Rock.



From the opening of the film, when the Body Rock Crew are dancing their way across the street, to the spray painting of the subway cars, to the dance sequences, to the training sequences, to Chilly's "downfall" where he becomes a pot-smoking lowlife, to the final "Rapstravaganza", you MUST see Body Rock. It's layer upon layer upon layer of impenetrable 80's awesomeness. Especially if you are an 80's freak like me, you will have a lot to feast on with the great and underrated Body Rock.

Don't just watch it tonight -- LIVE it tonight!

Comeuppance review by: Brett