Trivia / Breakin' (1984)

• Cast the Expert: In his interview with THE BUZZ days before he passed away in 2020, Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones revealed that – even though he was just supposed to choreograph the film – he was encouraged by Menahem Golan to audition, believing Shabba Doo was an actor because he’s from Chicago. He got a call back, where he brought along Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers to do some shtick with and, as Shabba Doo said, "history was made".
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: In his review of Breakin’, Roger Ebert called out the movie for including a 'stuck-up dance judge with a British accent'. Turns out the actor playing the head Judge was British, born and raised.
• Creator Backlash: Many years later, Ice-T considered the movie — and its sequel, and his performances in them — to be "wack".
• Dueling Movies: Menahem Golan pressured the production crew to complete the film before Orion Pictures released their breakdancing film Beat Street. (Beat Street took $16,595,791 domestically. Breakin' took $38,682,707. Mission accomplished.)
• Hostility on the Set: Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones and Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers admitted that they resented and didn't accept Lucinda Dickey as part of their group. Dickey also stated that some of the dialog between her and Quinones "rang true" in terms of her being the outsider during the production.
• Inspiration for the Work: The idea for the film came from Menahem Golan's daughter who one day while at the beach saw a group of break dancers performing before a crowd in Venice Beach.

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