Cavaleiros da Noite

This hard to find 1986 movie where rappers are gangsters trying be fo gooders was cheesy even for the 80s. I was a kid during the breakdancing, rapping, hey day movies of Breakin, Rappin, Beat Street, Krush Groove, and forgotten film of Lorenzo Lamas-Body Rock. Back then street dancers like Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp set a pretty good tone for these kind of movies with Breakin. After that producers went crazy offering every goofy looking rapper a movie deal. This was one of them and by far one of the goofiest.

I was a fan of the Fat Boys and remember renting this on video. I remember I tried to like it, I wanted to like it, but man this movie was just stupid. Rappers as gang members trying get a record deal break out into song and dance. There really is no plot to this movie but an excuse to capitalize on the hip hop popularity of more superior music movies. Breakin opens and makes 40 million on a 1 million dollar budget so every studio wanted that same success.

Like I said, nothing happens here just rappers playing gang members performing songs. Theres a sort of back story of crime from an ex inmate producer but I've seen betting acting in six grade Christmas plays. This was cheesy in 86 and ever hilarious in 2024.

Troy (Leon Isaac Kennedy) leads the tough street gang and rock band (!) called the Royal Rockers. Locked up one night after a brawl, they are heard by a record CEO (Michael Ansara) who is in the drunk tank and get offered a shot at the big time in a talent contest. As an added bonus, Troy begins to fall for the CEO's daughter Brooke (Janine Turner in her first lead), which the record exec doesn't approve of.

Shot as Cry of the City in Miami during 1984, this could easily have been Breakin' 3. Unfortunately for producer-writer-lead Kennedy, the film sat on the shelf for nearly two years before New World picked it up in November 1985 and put it in theaters in early 1986. Kennedy contends on his site that the studio cut down his masterpiece, but I'm not quite sure this could be considered that in any form. Truth is by the time this came out the breakdancing craze was pretty much dead. The film is pretty schizophrenic in nature - you have one moment where the band is performing a goofy song and the next they are engaged in violent gang activity. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that it was financed by former mafia kingpin Michael Franzese. This would be the penultimate leading role for Kennedy, who was best know for the Penitentiary series (he ended his leading man career with part three after this). Musical cameos include Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Harry Wayne Casey (the K. C. of K. C. and the Sunshine Band), and Smokey Robinson. And because I know you are dying to know - yes, the band wins the talent contest.

It isn't often that I would say that a film has almost no redeeming value. Sadly, this is one of those cases. "Knights of the City" has virtually nothing going for it. The story is pretty bad and rather uninteresting. The characters are decent, I suppose, but nothing spectacular. The acting is far from top-notch, but I've seen worse. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the cast is made up of unknowns (and this was made back in 1986...so they've all had some time to make a name for themselves).

The only cast member that I did recognize is Janine Turner from "Cliffhanger" and must I say that she is the ONLY reason to watch this film. Janine looks absolutely fantastic in the film.

The ending to the film is unbelievably unsatisfying. The whole point of the film was that these a-little-too-old-to-be-gang-bangers wanted to get out of their wasted lifestyle and do something meaningful. But in the end, they basically threw it all away and stuck with their barbaric ways...at least they have each other right? ...And the main guy (Leon Isaac Kennedy) didn't even get the girl in the end!!! I guess I have to give the makers some credit for not being predictable and somewhat ballsy...but this was just stupid if you ask me.

I definitely wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, unless you are really into the look of Michael Jackson's "Bad" Music Video or films like "The Warriors" (1979). I thought this film was rather laughable and obviously made in the 1980's. If for some reason you MUST see this film, I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

Chris,

Little known fact, I suppose, but I want to let you know that this movie was made by a now ex-mob boss (Michael Franzese) who was dubbed by Tom Brokaw as "The Prince of the Mafia," and made more money than anyone since Al Capone. In the manner of sucking up, I'm going to say that I love this movie. Though it was made in the 1980's, it is still a beautiful representation of everything that the culture back then stood for.

Thanks.

Katy

One thing that I found rather strange in this movie is that everywhere you go, you can see people dancing. On dimly lit street corners, in alleys, everywhere! What's up with that???.