Film / Breakin' (1984)

Breakin' is a 1984 American comedy-drama movie about breakdancing.

Kelly Bennett (Lucinda Dickey) is a young dancer training under the supervision of the choreographer Franco (Ben Lokey). Through her friend Adam, Kelly is introduced to two street dancers, Ozone (Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quiñones) and Turbo (Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers) on the boardwalk at Venice Beach. Kelly becomes enamored with their dancing and becomes friendly with the men, dancing and talking with them. Eventually, after dancing together the three form a team. Kelly eventually leaves her studio as her choreographer is a traditionalist as he does not respect breakdancing (on top of making unwanted advances on her), and the trio of her, Ozone and Turbo find themselves on an uphill climb to make their breakdancing gain the respect of the dancing community, and... well, that's pretty much it; most of the movie is just corny, entertaining dancing.

Of course, today the movie is best known for its sequel (released later that same year) Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, which spawned the "Electric Boogaloo" joke, used to refer to any pointless or strangely-named sequel.

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Breakin' provides examples of the following tropes:

• Aside Glance: During the opening credits, Ozone looks at the audience, coincidentally after the actor's name is shown.
• Bad "Bad Acting": With most of the cast being played by dancers that don’t have a good deal of acting experience if any, it’s a given.
• Badass Boast:
  • When Ozone learns from James that the judges refused to allow the trio to even dance because of Franco’s insistence, he responds with this sentence:
    Ozone: "They're not gonna stop us now."
  • He subsequently follows that up with "OZONE… STREET DANCER!" and walks over to them, after one of the judges call for the next dancer.
• Bar Brawl: Turbo instigates one by deliberately spilling his drink to the taunting rednecks.
• The Cameo: Ice-T, before he was all that famous, appears at the MC for one of the breakdancing competitions.
• Casting Couch: Franco attempts this on Kelly following a dance with only them in the same room, but Kelly rejects him. This gets lampshaded in a later conversation between Kelly and Franco.
  Franco: "You know, it's really sad. With me, you had a chance. But now, I can see you ain't gonna amount to nothing."
  Kelly: "And what makes you so special?"
  Franco: "Well unfortunately, Kelly, you missed your chance to find that out."
  Kelly: "Thank god..."
• Contagious Cassandra Truth: Kelly manages to get her initially sceptical agent to come down and watch a street dancing contest. This convinces him that they have potential and he agrees to take on her friends as clients too. Unfortunately, he has even more trouble convincing his contacts to take them seriously.
• Dancing Is Serious Business: Ozone gets immensely pissed off after losing the first battle to Electro Rock, largely because of them introducing their third dancer during said battle.
  Turbo: "We showed them; we burned them, didn't we?"
  Ozone: "You're whacked, man... you fool!"
  Turbo: (Beat) "What's the matter with you, man?"
• Dance Party Ending: Naturally. It helps that the movie ends up with the main trio bringing their breakdancing act to stage. Right alongside the Dance Party Beginning and Dance Party Middle!
• Embarrassing Nickname: Kelly gave her friend Adam the nickname of 'Cupcakes', due to him being "so cute". Turbo mockingly lampshades the nickname not long after.
• Excuse Plot: The plot is little more than a reason for the movie to exist. 90% of it is taken up by dancing scenes.
• Gay Best Friend: It is very much implied with his campy mannerisms that Kelly's friend Adam is this.
• Greasy Spoon: Kelly is introduced working as a waitress in one of these.
• In-Series Nickname: Turbo and Ozone decide to give Kelly a nickname similar to theirs after she decides to join them, in her case "Special K".
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: One dancer with crutches for his legs manages to breakdance using his arms.
• Market-Based Title: The film was released in some international markets as Breakdance.
• Mood Whiplash: Franco causing a scene at James’ party forcing Ozone to leave in a rage before being asked to leave is immediately followed with Turbo teaching children how to breakdance.
• Moving the Goalposts: Franco does this as a last-ditch attempt to prevent Kelly, Ozone and Turbo from dancing after getting the judges to reject them. Because of the trio choosing to dance anyway, Franco's gambit fails even after making a deal with one of the judges, as they end up winning them over.
• Ms. Fanservice: Kelly. While it is to be expected of dance clothes to be revealing, some of her dance scenes seem to focus on her ass. Hell, even the DVD cover does it!◊
• Nice Guy: Besides some initial skepticism about Kelly's newfound love for breakdancing, James is nothing but supportive of her (and even the skepticism seems to be out of genuine worry that it could hurt Kelly's aspirations to be a professional dancer), and eventually becomes friendly of Turbo and Ozone too after seeing them at the breakdance competition (even if Ozone is reluctant of him at first).
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Turbo convinces Ozone to battle against Electro Rock after they called both of them "chicken".
• Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Downplayed, as the film teases said sequel before the end credits start rolling.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: "Turbo" and "Ozone" are certainly not their real names, but whatever they actually are, they're not telling. It is stated at one point that their real names are "Tony" and "Orlando", respectively, though that still leaves "Tony" presumably being a nickname too.
• Product Placement: Several characters – main, minor and one scene – are seen dancing wearing Nike-branded attire.
• Rule of Drama: This seems to be the reason why Ozone zig-zags on being a jerk to his friends, is implied that he can't spit out his feelings for Kelly, and why Franco has somehow enough clout to blacklist the main trio from every dance audition they attend.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: James convinces Kelly, Ozone and Turbo to dress up in tuxedos and top hats in order to perform for the judges. The trio ultimately rip them off while dancing in front of the judges to prove them wrong.
• Show Within a Show: Street Jazz, which - as The Cinema Snob points out in his review of Breakin' - puts anything but Jazz in Street Jazz.
• The Stinger: After the credits end, the guy from the first Venice Beach breakdance scene moving with his legs over his hands is seen briefly dancing, before being carried away. Just because.
• Stock Footage: After the film ends, the trailer footage to Breakin' followed with a new rap from Ice-T which ultimately announces to the audience "This story's through, but wait 'till Part Two!"
• Title Drop:
  • Happens during the opening credits, with the aptly titled song: "Breakin… There's No Stoppin' Us".
  • Ozone does so at Venice Beach after seeing Kelly dance.
    Ozone: "With a little work, you'll be poppin' and lockin' and breakin' in no time!"
  • Ice-T does so twice during the second showdown with Electro Rock.
• Training Montage: Happens twice; the first involves Ozone and Turbo teaching Kelly how to dance, and the second where the trio practice in a dance room as James attempts to get them an audition while on the phone. James briefly takes part in the latter by doing a moonwalk.
• Waiting for a Break: Kelly is introduced working as a waitress in a Greasy Spoon while she aspires to be a professional dancer.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • After losing the second battle to Turbo and Ozone, who also introduced their third dancer in Kelly, Electro Rock doesn't appear again until the ending, where they also appear as dancers in Street Jazz.
  • Kelly's friend Adam also doesn't appear again following that battle until the ending.

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