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Movies / On DVD / Wild Style
Wild Style

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Wild Style (1982)

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88 %
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Reviews Counted: 16

Fresh: 14

Rotten:2

Average Rating: 6.9/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: A graffiti "tagger" taken under the wing of an East Village art collector prepares for a festival of rap and hip-hop music. This film details the early 1980's cultural turning point which occurred... A graffiti "tagger" taken under the wing of an East Village art collector prepares for a festival of rap and hip-hop music. This film details the early 1980's cultural turning point which occurred in the South Bronx, New York, at which time Old School hip-hop was first crystallizing. A fairly authentic document of the early '80s South Bronx rap scene, with a soundtrack featuring Grandmaster Flash, Busy Bee, and co-star Fab 5 Freddy. [More]

Starring: Lee Quinones, Fab 5 Freddy, Patti Astor, Busy Bee

Starring: Lee Quinones, Fab 5 Freddy, Patti Astor, Busy Bee, Grandmaster Flash, Cold Crush Brothers

Director: Charlie Ahearn

Director: Charlie Ahearn

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 22, 2002

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Wild Style

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1 - 16 (sorted by date)
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Wild Style is just as important a New York City musical as On the Town, so vital and exuberant are its scenes of a burgeoning cultural moment.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
11/12/08
Melissa Anderson
Time Out New York

Charlie Ahearn’s groundbreaking film about hip-hop, graffiti, break dancing, and rap in eighties New York celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new 35-mm. print.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
11/10/08
Sara Cardace
New York Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A poorly-acted shambles.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
08/10/07
Derek Malcolm
This is London

It's great to see again this bolt of ghetto joy, a kind of updated West Side Story, that shows hip-hop as a living, breathing expression of cultural resistance rather than a crunky, cheerless set of cruddy grunts and boasts from which to make money.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
08/10/07
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph

Nothing else comes close to capturing the atmosphere of the early days of hip-hop and spraycan art, of the burned-out and derelict Bronx.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
08/10/07
Phelim O'Neill
Guardian [UK]

This unpolished but authentic film, a drama with the honesty of a documentary, shows hip-hop pure and unvarnished.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
08/10/07
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]

The acting is stilted, and the story almost non-existent. But that isn't the point, Wild Style is a cult classic - indisputably the most important hip hop movie, ever.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
08/10/07
David Mattin
BBC

Mixing early-’80s nostalgia with mild social anthropology, the film successfully crystallises the optimism and vivacity of the early New York hip hop scene and suggests that film and TV portrayals of the Bronx as a savage and inhospitable hellhole were pe

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
David Jenkins
Time Out

No review available.

comment Comment
08/14/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Wild Style lacks a lot of the style of the people in it, but it never neutralizes their vitality.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
08/30/04
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Hip-hop rolls on tractor treads now, unafraid to colonize those who hesitate, but in 1982 it was small, self-selecting, and as specific to New York as the World Trade Center.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/16/03
Sasha Frere-Jones
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fascinating study of an era that now feels so remote, it might as well have occurred on another planet.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Richard Luck
Channel 4 Film

Shot independently, this film captures a movement in its genesis.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

No review available.

comment Comment
11/22/02
James Hill
BET.com

It's a fascinating time capsule, worth examining for anyone interested in the cultural roots of hip hop.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
05/29/01
Keith Phipps
AV Club

The pacing is slow -- inexcusable in a film about music -- except when hip-hop takes over, and Ahearn wisely gives plenty of screen time to the likes of Busy Bee, Rock Steady Crew, and Fab Five Freddy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/11/01
Ted Shen
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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