Watch Style Wars For Free

Expected more

An Exercise In Nonsense

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

In 1983; director Tony Silver, and producer Henry Chalfant dropped this bomb upon the unsuspecting (except for those lucky enough to live in NYC at the time) populous via PBS. The world was exposed to true urban art, and it's unlikely Picasso's- the bombers and taggers of NYC's resilient subway system...Not only that, but also to 'acrobatic body dances like breaking', and to rocking the mic. This is so much more than just a documentary about the evolution of graffiti. It is truly a time capsule, full of unforgettable characters, stuffy bureaucrats, and the chaotic urban landscape of early 80's NYC...There are so many memorable lines and incredible characters indelibly etched in my brain from this film. Just writing this review makes me want to run over to the DVD player and watch it over and over again...I would gladly pay the price of admission (approximately $25) just for the film. However, our good friends at Plexifilm have once again delivered the goods, including a staggering 3.5 hours of bonus footage to accompany this one-of-kind historical document...The bonus footage includes 32 artist galleries, interviews, trains, and ultra-rare photos from the best-of-the best, including: Skeme, Seen, Frosty Freeze, Dondi, Blade, Rammellzee, and many others...This is a must have document for Hip-Hop heads, historians, social anthropologists, and cool people. Buy this now and support good art...

While searching my video shop for Hip Hop movies I came across this film. Having not heard of it before and the fact that it was a 70 minute documentary made me a bit skeptic about hiring it, but after reading a quote by Krs-One on the front cover saying it was what I had to see for true Hip Hop I was eager to get it out. It turned out to be a great documentary on graffiti and Hip Hop in the early eighties which I throughly enjoyed.It was interesting to see how mixed the scene was race wise back then. This could be quite funny at times, like seeing a hardcore subway graffiti artist with a tight Van Halen t-shirt on and long red hair. This showed that graffiti, DJing, breaking and MCing weren't all considered Hip Hop back then. To do one didn't mean you were into the other.Style Wars makes you understand the pride and enjoyment the artists get out of bombing trains, but you also realize how awful it is for the government to replace or clean trains and especially how bad it is for one bomber's mother.Style Wars is primarily a documentary on graffiti but it also briefly touches on breaking and MCing. Funny that it doesn't mention DJing as a main part of Hip Hop, since that is considered the original and sometimes most important element these days.Overall, Style Wars is a fantastic documentary and a must see for fans of Graffiti and early Hip Hop.

'They call themselves writers because that's what they do. They write their names among other things everywhere. Names they've been given or have chosen for themselves. Most of all they write in and on subway trains, which carry their names from one end of the city to the other. It's called bombing. And it has equally assertive counterparts in rap music and break dancing'. According to Tony Silver, the maker of this documentary film on graffiti and hip hop culture.Back in the days when many neighborhoods in New York were still a crumbling wasteland, Major Koch (of course!) and the city workers responsible for the city's clean-up provide most of the laughs. One tormented Transport Authority official keeps complaining that the substance used to remove the paint also fogs the windows. A difficult choice. Either not getting a view from the windows because of the graffiti or because of the cleaning substance that fogs the windows.And what about that cheesy ad campaign with Hector Camacho and Alex Ramos? 'Take it from the champs, graffiti is for chumps. Make your mark in society, not on society'. And then in the press conference preceding the campaign. 'Mr mayor, are those posters graffiti proof?' 'Time will tell!' Camacho and Ramos must be scratching the back of their heads by now. Many of the writers they agitated against have become legends by now but who remembers these two chumps? It's hard to imagine the airwaves this caused when it first reached Europe. I think it was in 1985 when it first aired in the Netherlands and France and many other countries as well. Literally within months after this documentary was shown, cities like Amsterdam and Paris where bombed in a way they've never experienced before. Graffiti had made its mark, mostly by early pioneers that had their roots in the punk-scene, but after STYLE WARS the scene literally exploded and saw the beginning of hip hop culture in Europe as well. I think it's important to realize this film was much more influential in Europe. In the States it was the first major documentary on graffiti, but of a phenomenon that had existed for quite some time there, but in Europe - besides the early punk scene - it was unknown in 1983 and caused a huge stir. I've seen it many times now, but it never bores me. It remains just as vivid today as the first I saw it and it's subsequent historical significance just adds to the flavour when watching it again.The film is packed with so many memorable moments, it's hard to pick one out. One of the most mesmerizing scenes is when three writers hang around at a subway station on the platform and start rapping on the rhymes from "The Message", by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. After 30 seconds the actual song starts on the background just as the train rolls in. An amazing shot and a fantastic piece of editing, a wonderful scene! If there's anything like THE quintessential shot of New York City subcultures in 1982, this is it.Now the much needed DVD-release is there, given the deluxe treatment by Public Art Films with two discs and lots of extras. I could have done without the interview with Tony Silver, not the most charismatic person around but most of the other stuff is OK with lost of artist galleries, tributes to DONDI and SHY 147 and lots of guest interviews with Fab 5 Freddy, Goldie, Guru, DJ Red Alert and photographer Martha Cooper.Camera Obscura --- 9/10

It is a shame so few people have seen the 1982 PBS documentary "Style Wars". It is not listed in either Lenny Maltin's or Videohound's giant books. This story of NYC graffiti writers fighting transit cops, their parents, and each other is still the definitive word on graffiti and early hip hop culture in the days before it became commercialized. This was probably the 1st film anywhere to examine break dancing and hip hop in any depth well before either became mainstream. For that reason alone it is an important part of hip hop history, to see what it was all about before corruption by cash and fame.Some standout personalities in this film include one armed Case, former NYC mayor Ed Koch, graffiti "villan" Cap, and Skeme and his mom. On the 2nd DVD many of the still living graffiti writers are interviewed in 2001, and although Skeme is now a major in the US army, his (now) little old lady mom is still afraid someone's kid is going to get hurt in the subway tunnel. Some of the kids from Style Wars are dead like Shy and Dondi (both have tributes),and some went to prison like Min. Some are successful 40 and even 50 somethings today. One or two even go paint the occasional subway car still.The 1st DVD contains outtakes from Style Wars, some of which could have been removed originally to make the filmmakers look better. The transit authority cop says he thinks the film will encourage others to commit vandalism. It is also apparent when watching this DVD that Cap was made out to seem worse than he was thru creative editing. The 2nd DVD contains a great short film from 1976 (I think) called Classic hits by Tracy 168 (from Wild Style).Overall this film tries to look at graffiti from the perspectives of the writers themselves, citizens of New York, and the establishment. Even the artists saw the end of the golden age coming with barbed wire fences and eventually even dogs being employed to keep them out of the train yards. It's just unfortunate that such an original art form was so unrecognized by mainstream society. Maybe it had to be that way anyway, when the art community did notice and galleries did start showing the art on canvas, it tended to become fossilized. The scene in the gallery is funny because the artists who are planning to cash in on graffiti try to convince themselves that "getting up" can be be done on canvas as well as trains. A young Swedish woman at the art gallery correctly observes its not the same on canvas, that is an art form that belonged on the trains, not on a gallery wall.The definitive book to go along with Style wars is "Subway Art" by Henry Chalfant who also produced style Wars. He and Martha Cooper spent a huge amount of time photographing NYC subways, and their hard work is well documented on the 2nd DVD which contains 32 artist galleries and a 30 minute loop of train photos. If all you have ever seen about graffiti is "Wild Style" or "Beat Street", pick up Style Wars. If you can find it. Stylewars.com