THE
STRAIGHT DOPE:
As far as trend movies go Charlie Ahearn's
Wild Style (1983) was both
way ahead of the curve and extremely
intimately involved with the
culture it portrayed. Shot in 1981 and 1982 (before recorded rap was even a minor factor in the music industry),
Wild
Style is the first
major
film to take the rapidly expanding hip-hop
movement seriously. We're
talking about pre-Miami, pre-Atlanta,
pre-West Cost, hell, pre-Queens
hip-hop. Wild Style is so deep in
the South Bronx origins of
hip-hop that the film's Lower East Side
finale feels positively
exotic.
For a plot Ahearn made no attempt to bite
off more than he could chew.
His main character, graffiti artist
Raymond
("Lee" Quinones) longs for his
ex-girlfriend Rose (Sandra "Pink" Fabara)
while struggling
with some of the same issues as any other
kind of artist: What is the
purpose of his work? What is he trying to
say? Can he become a
commercial success and still retain his
roots? Neither the film nor the
actors are articulate enough to make these
issues pretentious and
obvious and instead the film comes off as
simply honest. There's no
false poetry to the dialog, much of which
sounds completely
spontaneous.
In fact, the film's plot only gives it a
basic structure. The
brilliance
of Ahearn's film is that its meatiest
content consists of tons of real
hip-hop flavor. Long before hip-hop became
little more than a showcase
for egotistical rappers it was a movement
consisting in equal parts
rapping, DJing, break-dancing and
graffiti.
Wild Style contains
generous amounts of each, often tying them
together in dynamic,
visually
exciting ways. One of the most memorable
scenes in hip-hop film history
finds rap pioneers Cold Crush Brothers and
the Fantastic Freaks facing
off
on a playground. First they rap a cappella
at each other, then compete
in a game of basketball scored with their
rhymes. The sequence is so
filled with the joy of their words and
skills that you almost want to
jump up and wave your hands in the
air.
The hip-hop material is also formed into
something of a plot with Fab
5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) at the center. Playing the smooth-talking Phade, the legendary
hip-hop scenemaker spends the film trying
to elevate the movement's
notoriety. He introduces Raymond to a
journalist (underground film star Patti Astor) and helps
organize the climactic outdoor jam. His
slick promotion style is a
sharp precursor to the movers-and-shakers
who would eventually turn rap into
the mega-industry it is today but there's
still a sweetness to Freddy's
flow here.
Wild Style is an originator. The
scenes in here echo through every hip-hop film to follow, from Krush
Groove through Belly and beyond. None of those films,
however, are as honest. The ridiculous culture of violence had
not yet fully turned the art form into the cartoon it has been for the
past decade (although one sequence reminds the audience that the South Bronx wasn't just a hip-hop paradise but rather a dangerous place) and the hip-hop
language hadn't yet splintered and become overly simplified. Like Doug
Pray's recent excellent documentary Scratch or DJ Qbert's
Wave Twisters, Wild Style celebrates the culture in its
entirety. It's a very simple film with a tremendous amount of important
stuff going on.
Given how central to the film the music is it should come as no surprise how outstanding it all is. Great performances abound, like several wonderfully clever rhymes from Busy Bee, that amazing a capella basketball court duel and another beat-free performance from Double Trouble, sitting on a stoop rapping about life. These are iconic images and sounds in hip-hop but they're dazzling for how casual they all are. Heck, Grandmaster Flash cuts it up on a set of turntables in his kitchen.
The cool thing about the music is that in order to avoid copyright issues (for the most part, see below for the exception) Ahearn had Freddy work with Chris Stein of Blondie to create original beats for the DJs in the film to cut up. (In fact, if you look at the turntables you can sometimes see that the records are labelled "Wild Style") This technique gives the music in the film a familiar style and sound but fresh specifics, like you recognize the beats but you're still hearing them for the first time. Grand Master Caz's title track perfectly sums up the drama of the lives on display with rhymes like "South Bronx, New York is where I dwell / But to a lot of people it's a living hell."
One caveat: Presumably due to rights issues, one important musical cue has been changed. Grandmaster Flash's use of Bob James' "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" (the same bell-ringing sample used in Run DMC's seminal DJ-classic "Peter Piper") has been eliminated and replaced with another cue. While this substitution doesn't ruin the film in any way and will go unnoticed for most, it's worth pointing out. A purist might skip this disc in favor of an old VHS copy that may contain the original cut but frankly there isn't any better version of Wild Style available and it's unlikely that it will be re-released any time soon.
VIDEO:
The full-frame video is a bit soft and
shows some reasonable wear but considering the 16mm source
and the age of the elements it looks
remarkably good. This is a film with humble technical
origins and, all things considered, Rhino's
treatment here is terrific.
AUDIO:
A Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is
available
as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix. The 2.0 is
muffled by comparison but still sounds
better than old VHS copies of the film. The 5.1 mix
highlights how rough some of the location
recording is, particularly the dialog, some of which is
hard to understand, but the music sounds
great. The sparse beats and unpretentious rhymes sound
excellent.
EXTRAS:
The most important extra here is the commentary
track featuring director Charlie Ahearn and costar / music supervisor /
all-around behind-the-scenes inspiration Fab 5 Freddy. This is one of
the most informative, energetic, personality-filled tracks I've ever
heard. There is a wealth of knowledge on both the film and the
early history of hip-hop on display here and both participants are
dazzling in their abilities to mix non-stop chatting with riveting
entertaining. In particular Fab 5 Freddy delivers as lively an audio
commentary as can possibly be done. Fans of his years as the host of
the
weekly version of Yo! MTV Raps recall his smooth demeanor and
his
friendly display of insider expertise. The movie is already
indispensable but the commentary track easily bumps the DVD up a review
grade.
A couple of deleted scenes are included as well as generous galleries,
both in still and video formats, of classic subway graffiti. The full
version of Caz's Wild Style theme song is included along with
clips from the film and a nice photo gallery of rappers, graf writers and
filmmakers is also included.
FINAL
THOUGHTS:
Simply required viewing for hip-hop fans. Rhino's disc is good enough but
the real treat here is the movie. Wild Style is in no way
reactionary trend-cashing filmmaking. As much as later hip-hop films
like Krush Groove or Beat Street are great fun only Wild Style deserves
the title of true hip-hop film. Everything about it oozes realness,
from
the honest portrayal of the horrific South Bronx environs to the pure
joy of the music to the unpolished performances of the graf writers.
With the outstanding commentary this is one disc that fans of the
culture can't live without.
Email Gil
Jawetz at cinemagotham@yahoo.com
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