Rooftops (1989)

Director Robert Wise recalls his musical masterpiece WEST SIDE STORY with ROOFTOPS, a drama that utilizes contemporary music and dancelike fight sequences to tell the story of homeless youths on Mahattan's Lower East Side. T (Jason Gedrick) is one of these misunderstood loners, having broken away from the drug-ridden lifestyle of the rough city streets to make a life for himself on a rooftop of a tenement building. He is soon joined by Squeak (Alexis Cruz), a graffiti artist who has been kicked out of his home. The two earn money by stealing copper piping from other buildings or stripping cars for parts. But their makeshift home is soon threatened by Lobo (Eddie Velez), a crack dealer whose cousin Elena (Troy Beyer) T falls in love with. T meets her at a dance mixer held in a vacant lot, where T competes as a "capoeira" dancer, performing a ritualistic Brazilian karatelike form of "combat" dancing. When Lobo takes T's building over and refuses to back down, a war erupts between the gangs. With punchy capoeira sequences and a plot woven with high stakes, ROOFTOPS is a unique and memorable film.