Flashdance (1983)

A Pittsburgh woman with two jobs as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school.

Director:

Adrian Lyne

Writers:

Thomas Hedley Jr. (screenplay), Joe Eszterhas (screenplay),

Stars:

Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Lilia Skala

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Beals	...	Alex Owens
Michael Nouri	...	Nick Hurley
Lilia Skala	...	Hanna Long
Sunny Johnson	...	Jeanie Szabo
Kyle T. Heffner	...	Richie
Lee Ving	...	Johnny C.
Ron Karabatsos	...	Jake Mawby
Belinda Bauer	...	Katie Hurley
Malcolm Danare	...	Cecil
Philip Bruns	...	Frank Szabo (as Phil Bruns)
Micole Mercurio	...	Rosemary Szabo
Lucy Lee Flippin	...	Secretary
Don Brockett	...	Pete
Cynthia Rhodes	...	Tina Tech
Durga McBroom	...	Heels

Storyline

Alex Owens is a female dynamo: steel worker by day, exotic dancer by night. Her dream is to get into a real dance company, though, and with encouragement from her boss/boyfriend, she may get her chance. The city of Pittsburgh co-stars. What a feeling!

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Plot Keywords:

dancer | dance | ballet school | steel worker | footsie under the table | 

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Taglines:

When the dancer becomes the dance.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Music

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Electrodanza

Filming Locations:

Bob Hope Patriotic Hall - 1816 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$94,900,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Adrian Lyne turned down the project twice.

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Goofs

During the first dance number ("He's a Dream"), there is a three-second cutaway to the audience, and when we return to Alex, the pull chain for the water-dump has appeared from nowhere. Later in the dance, another shot from a similar angle shows that it has disappeared again. We know that Mawby's Bar didn't go to the unlikely trouble of elevating the chain out of sight except for the time when it was needed, because if they had, the sudden movement would set it swinging, and we don't see that.

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Quotes

Nick: When I was a kid all I wanted was to be able to afford to eat in restaurants like this.
Alex Owens: Were you poor?
Nick: I was so poor I had hand-me-down lunches.

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Connections

Referenced in The Plight of Clownana (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Adagio for Strings"
By Tomaso Albinoni (as Albinoni)
Arranged and Conducted by Lee Holdridge
Performed by London Symphony Orchestra
Courtesy of Varèse Sarabande Records

User Reviews

The Soundtrack, the Performers, the Heat, the Cool, the Shirt With No Shoulder....

Pittsburgh welder (Jennifer Beals, easily the best looking welder I have ever seen)/night-time exotic dancer dreams of a better life by becoming a ballet dancer. She has nervousness and inferiority complexes galore, but she is a good person with a good heart and soul. Soon she finds love from her day-time boss (Michael Nouri, who knows she is a stripper) and constant encouragement from him and an elderly German lady (the priceless Lilia Skala of "Lilies of the Field" fame some 20 years before this was released). Typical situations occur with soap opera-styled results and a smashing soundtrack that represents the very best the 1980s had to offer in the way of cinematic music dominates the action. What a feeling! "Flashdance" is pretty tame by director Adrian Lyne's standards (think "9 1/2 Weeks", "Fatal Attraction" and "Unfaithful"). This fact does not really benefit or take away from the picture though. The characters are likable, but seem so phony and under-developed. For a time though every girl of the age wore those shirts that hung off one shoulder and every man wanted to be cool like Nouri and be with a hot woman like Beals (ah, the 80s). And of course naturally everyone had to have that soundtrack (which of course was highlighted by "What a Feeling"---the runaway Best Original Song Oscar winner for 1983). The movie is full of pop icon aspects, hot sounds and hotter songs. But when watching the film, you will wonder when is that song I love so much going to be played. Well don't fear, after about 110 minutes of drivel-heavy dialogue your wish will come true. The microcosms of the 1980s in the motion picture business---what a feeling! 2.5 out of 5 stars.