May 4, 1984: Breakin' premieres, and the breakdancing trend explodes into American consciousness. It hadn't even been 7 years since the release of Saturday Night Fever, but Breakin' reduced that flick to every bit the anachronism that the 1950s rock and roll movies and the 1960s "Beach Party" movies were rendered by SNF.
Like hip-hop, breakdancing had been developed in The Bronx in the 1970s, and became a worldwide phenomenon in the 1980s. They are tied together, as breakdancing's spins and gyrations are typically set to songs containing drum breaks engineered by hip-hop deejays. It had been pioneered by the dance troupe The Lockers, from whom Fred Berry, a.k.a. Rerun on What's Happening!!, had come.
Ironically -- or, perhaps not, as the "white savior" is a common trope in black-themed films made by white directors -- the film's protagonist is white: Kelly Bennett, a.k.a. Special K, played by Lucinda Bennett. Rapper-actor Ice-T and martial-arts expert and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme also had early roles in the film.
A sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, was released later that year. Neither film was well-regarded by old-school "breakers." It became a running gag that anything with the number 2 attached to it was given the suffix "Electric Boogaloo."
Also released that day were The Bounty, Mel Gibson's take on the Mutiny on the Bounty story; and John Hughes' film Sixteen Candles, which made stars of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Jon Cryer.
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May 4, 1984 was a Friday. The NFL was out of season. The United States Football League was in season, but no games were played. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between the Conference Finals and the Finals.
There were 3 games in the NBA Playoffs:
* The New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 100-92 at Madison Square Garden. But the Celtics would win the series.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 125-115 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. But the Lakers would win the series.
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Utah Jazz, 106-94 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. The Suns won the series.
In the NBA Finals, the Celtics beat the Lakers.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Chuck Porter pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Rollie Fingers pitched a perfect 9. Phil Niekro went the distance in defeat. Not even the only run of the game came on a hit: Jim Sundberg hit a sacrifice fly to score Robin Yount in the bottom of the 8th inning.
* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 2-0 at Shea Stadium. Ron Darling pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, and Jesse Orosco completed the 3-hit shutout. Hubie Brooks hit a home run.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Tom Seaver outpitched Dennis Eckersley.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Phils knocked Joe Price out of the box in the 1st inning, but Frank Pastore pitched the rest of the way, and got the win. Mike Schmidt hit a home run.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-3 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Alfredo Griffin singled George Bell home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 7-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Padres tied the game in the top of the 9th. However... Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Sid Monge walked Bob Dernier to start the bottom of the 9th, leading to Monge walking Keith Moreland with the bases loaded to end the game. Leon Durham hit a home run for the Cubs. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI for the Padres.
No one knew it yet, but these two teams would face each other in the National League Championship Series.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Jeff Robinson pitched 8 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Gary Lavelle pitched a perfect 9th.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 2-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. George "Storm" Davis pitched a 3-hit shutout. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4.
* The California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Rod Carew went 0-for-4. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Atlanta Braves and the Montreal Expos were rained out at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The supposedly retractable roof wasn't finished. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader 2 days later. The Braves swept, 2-0 and 9-8. Craig McMurtry (6 hits over 7 1/3rd innings) and Steve Bedrosian combined on an 8-hit shutout in the opener. In his brief tenure with the Expos, Pete Rose appeared as a pinch-hitter in both games, and got a hit in the nightcap.
* And the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The game was rescheduled for a doubleheader 2 days later. The Dodgers won the 1st game, 6-4. Terry Whitfield doubled Candy Maldonado home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. The Pirates won the 2nd game, 2-1. Lee Lacy beat his former team by singling Joe Orsulak home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.
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