| | |  | HIP HOP & KRUMP | Home » » » Style Wars | | | | | | | Description: | | When director Tony Silver & co-producer Henry Chalfant delivered the broadcast version of their prize-winning film to PBS in 1983, the world received its first full immersion in the phenomenon that had taken over New York City. The urban landscape was physically transformed by graffiti artists who invented a new visual language to express both their individuality, & the voice of their community. In Style Wars, New York's ramshackle subway system is their public playground, battleground & spectacular artistic canvas. Opposing them by every means possible are mayor Ed Koch, the police, & The New York Transit Authority. Meanwhile, as MCs, DJs & B-boys rock the city with new sounds & new moves, we see street corner break dance battles turn into performance art. Extras include outtake footage, directory commentary, 32 graffiti artist galleries, guest interviews with Fab 5 Freddy, Goldie, Guru, DJ Red Alert & photographer Martha Cooper. Featuring music from Def Jux recording artists El-P, RJD2 & Aesop Rock, plus Mr. Wiggles, Kimson 'Angloa Red' Albert, & Darryl Jennifer. 70 minutes + 3 1/2 hours bonus footage on 2 DVDs. Plexifilm. 2003. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Cap, Daze, Dondi, Frosty Freeze, Kase 2 | | Director:
| Henry Chalfant | | Format:
| Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 2 | | Studio:
| Public Art Films | | Run Time:
| 69 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| August 23, 2005 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 43 reviews |
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| $16.93 | New | | | $16.93 | New | | | $17.94 | New | | | $17.95 | New | | | $18.41 | New | | | $18.44 | New | | | $18.97 | New | | | $19.87 | New | | | $19.87 | New | | | $19.97 | New | | | $20.54 | New | | | $20.68 | New | | | $20.82 | New | | | $20.87 | New | | | $21.47 | New | | | $21.58 | New | | | $22.78 This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $22.85 This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $22.97 | New | | | $23.99 | New | | | $24.88 | New | | | $26.68 | New | | | $119.99 | New | |
| Used | |
| $13.99 | Used
- Good | | | $14.35 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $14.35 | Used
- Good | | | $14.94 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $14.96 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $14.99 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $17.94 | Used
- Mint | | | $17.95 | Used
- Mint | | | $20.77 | Used
- Mint | | | $24.99 | Used
- Mint | | | $26.68 | Used
- Mint | | | $73.70 | Used
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Average Customer Review:
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48 of 51 found the following review helpful:
If only Wild Style could have gotten this kind of treatment.Apr 23, 2003
By -Paul E Kilianski---
I, like many, first saw Style Wars back in the early 80's on PBS as an impressionable youth who was just discovering Hip Hop in all it's forms. It has remained to this day, one of the best (certainly the most honest) accounts of Hip Hop in it's relative infancy. While the focus is squarely on the "writers" (graffiti artists for all you new jacks), we do get to see other aspects of Hip Hop culture in play (most notably b-boying with the Rock Steady Crew). Watching the film on dvd after so many years was literally like going back in time. It not only holds up, it has aged like fine wine. Every shot in the film reeks of NY & Hip Hop in the early 80's. A true, 100% bonafide classic in every sense of the word. The filmakers have succeeded beautifully in capturing the spirit of the time, the place, the people and the culture. This is a true time capsule if there ever was one.
Ok, enough with accolades. Now on to the disc. Dang. Talk about getting the deluxe treatment. Whereas the Wild Style DVD is incomplete (see my review), Style Wars is not only complete, uncut and un-altered, it is absolutely full to brim with fantastic extras...close to 4 HOURS worth. Highlights include art and interviews with many of the films participants. Most notable for me was MIN ONE. He's the tough little curly-haired, white kid who tries to get the rest of the writers to retaliate against Cap for "going over their burners". ("That's never forgive action"). All I can say is he looks like he's been through one hell of a lot in the last 20 years. Very sobering to say the least.
Other extras include outtakes, audio commentary by the filmakers, and (this is very cool) a 30 minute loop of "whole cars".
If you consider yourself a serious Hip Hop head, you have no excuse not to own this dvd.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
BURN-BABY-BURN!Sep 29, 2003
By James Rodriguez
"Koe Rodriguez"
It's as if Style Wars co-star (and graffiti pioneer) Iz The Wiz was predicting the outcome of this classic documentary when he emphatically yelled:"This is it...this is it!" in one of it's scenes. Some 20 years later, the world over is echoing Iz's exact same sentiments. With Style Wars, creators Henry Chalfant and Tony Silver assembled one of the best and historiaclly correct Hip Hop documentaries to date. Taking place around '81, '82 during the Koch administration, Style Wars delves mostly into NY's subway graffiti and B-boy culture. By far, two of the more illustrious facets in the cultural jewel known as Hip Hop. Style Wars captures graffiti and B-boy pioneers (most in their teens) doin' what they do best and ultimately shaping the course of Hip Hop culture. All the "true-school" legends are here (i.e., The Rocksteady Crew, Dondi, Seen, Dez a.k.a. DJ Kay Slay, etc.) equipped with a vintage NY backdrop and killa soundtrack. As "fresh" as it was back in '84 when PBS "broke" it, Style Wars works because it not only deals with the creative forces behind it's subject matter, but those effected by it as well. From the linoleum kitchen of famed graffiti artist Skeme to the B-boy battlegrounds of the U.S.A. skating rink, Style Wars is there. With unforgettable scenes like dopey Mayor Ed Koch screwing-up at a press conference to graffiti legend Duro mispronouncing the word "negotiate", Style Wars captures it all. Celebrating it's 20th anniversary, Style Wars' recent double DVD release only adds to it's greatness. Packed with 4 hours of nothing but flavor, this double delight doesn't dissappoint. It would've been great to have seen graffiti great Kase 2 (or Noc) make the DVD, but the revisiting of Skeme and Mom Barbara (minus the kitchen) definitely makes up for it. So, if you're thinking of spending your hard earned on anything boasting unadulterated Hip Hop, Style Wars is a sure-shot. In the immortal words of Iz The Wiz: "This is it!" --James "Koe" Rodriguez.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 A grass roots, street-level documentary pleasing to the eyesApr 10, 2009
By Pork Chop
Style Wars (1983) from directors Henry Chalfant and Tony Silver,
is a grass roots, street-level documentary that is easily
digested, as it's pleasing to the eyes.
It offers a glimpse of 10 to 16 year olds, in the inner cities of
Brooklyn, Bronx back in the 1970's and 1980's, who are surrounded
by high rises, who brainstormed for ideas back in the 1970's to
have fun and pass the time.
In this particular instance, it involves dance competitions, art
competitions, music competitions, expressed in various
recreational halls through the break-dance styles, DJ-ing and
rapping, free-styling with rhymes as well as by using up 15 to 20
canisters per subway train in color painting them.
This subculture, comprising the "personal lives" of dozens of
youths (in contrast to school, or professional endeavors) is
specialized to the point that various youths' aliases become
"stars" in their own right, with verbal histories or accounts
being told and passed down to other joining this movement, who
are pigeon holed in this ghetto.
The psych of those taking part, is underpinned by a sense of peer
pressure in the group for the best art, dance moves and ability
to rhyme, coupled with a sense of ego gratification by somehow
having become world-class, as their assigned names or tags are
seen on trains crossing the city. Perhaps a sensitive point for
the undertrodden in the inner cities, housing projects,
accustomed to poverty, yet crossing all background and cultural
lines.
The images taken are numerous, well chosen, and the narrative
well planned, the testimonies frequent, the educational aspects
to the masses very understandable. Underground terminology such
as "bombing" (meaning to deface a train for the first time),
breaking and rocking (meaning, doing a style of dance), are a few
explained.
Some locations are reminiscent of those seen in Escape from the
Bronx, by Enzo Castellari or Warriors by Walter Hill, such as the
manhole entrance, or the underground warehouse, etc.
Inevitably the idea is taken from the ephemeral, to amateur, to
professional, as viewers see graffitists sketching ideas back
home, planning out missions on trains, organizing themselves in
time and space, approprating 15 paint cans at a time, from
stores, in their competition. To the point that 8 year olds are
given an apprenticeship of sorts into become accomplished
graffittists.
All sides of the story are told, with messages from the mayor of
the city, police detectives, concerned parents, outraged public
transit users, keeping in mind that these deeds against property
pale in comparison to behaviors against people also processed in
the justice system (murders. etc) or even, the 3-card-Monte,
pickpockets, shoplifts, etc.
The movie redeems itself, by calling attention to art galleries,
school programs for those with a talent in visual art, by
suggesting that the "big time" is possible into the mass media.
It also underlines sensitivity campaigns against graffiti, by
boxers Hector Camacho and Alex Ramos.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
What a great buy!Mar 17, 2008
By Christine E. Atkins
you get so much bang for the buck with this DVD. Not only is the documentary fantastic, but the supplemental DVD has recent interviews with lots of the superstar graffiti artists, breakdancers, and rappers. Well worth the money!!!!!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Great documentary on graffiti...Nov 04, 2006
By A. Ort
"aorto"
The very fact that in the special features section there is an entire segment of photos of the cars that have been tagged with graffiti and the fact that the individuals who tagged the trains are presented, interviewed and paid homage to tells what a phenomenal slice of history this documentary is.
It was filmed during the time that these artists were doing their work and the ones still living are followed up with many years later. It really dives into the history and development of the phenomenon. Who can forget images of dirty big cities with the trains riding along with huge works of graffiti art on them? Someone was there to document it all. This film is a result of that work.
This is the story of it all. Interesting is the documenting of the lengths the authorities had to go to in order to control the "problem" (which, of course, is a matter of perspective). One of the artist is shown years later with his mother gleaming with pride and his mother, interviewed earlier in the film as well, still rolls her eyes at his pride.
The artists are interviewed, both then and now, and the connection of graffiti to hip-hop and B-boy culture is touched upon, although this is probably the weakest link in the film. Wild Style and The Freshest Kids take you deeper into the world of B-boys and Scratch takes you deeper into the world of hip-hop and the emergence of rap from it. But this is a great film on graffiti in its heyday.
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