Anxious about his future after high school, a 19 year old Italian American from Brooklyn tries to escape the harsh reality of his bleak family life by dominating the dance floor at the local disco.
Director:
John Badham
Stars:
John Travolta,
Karen Lynn Gorney,
Barry Miller
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!Written by
Stewart M. Clamen <clamen@cs.cmu.edu>
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. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Nick:
l'll tell you what. l'll give you the Cowboys and three.
Pete:
Three and a half.
Nick:
Take three, be happy.
Pete:
Three and a half. l'm ecstatic.
See more »
As other users have said this film is very dated, but not necessarily bad. It was looked upon as a bit of fluff that was very successful in the box office. So now, it would come across as nostalgic (in the same vein as Dirty Dancing). But the thing I do like about it, is just that. Adrian Lyne perfectly captured the time, a post disco era when Break-dancing and Synth Pop were all the rage - Who could forget the FANTASTIC theme song, sung by Irene Cara (Fame) and composed by Synth Pop genius Giorgio Moroder (I feel love - Donna Summer among many others). So what if Jennifer Beals wasn't a great actress? So what if it wasn't her dancing? (Think one of them was a break dancer from "The Rock Steady Crew" - see? All about the era!) she was a good looking girl, and this was a harmless bit of fun at the time.
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As other users have said this film is very dated, but not necessarily bad. It was looked upon as a bit of fluff that was very successful in the box office. So now, it would come across as nostalgic (in the same vein as Dirty Dancing). But the thing I do like about it, is just that. Adrian Lyne perfectly captured the time, a post disco era when Break-dancing and Synth Pop were all the rage - Who could forget the FANTASTIC theme song, sung by Irene Cara (Fame) and composed by Synth Pop genius Giorgio Moroder (I feel love - Donna Summer among many others). So what if Jennifer Beals wasn't a great actress? So what if it wasn't her dancing? (Think one of them was a break dancer from "The Rock Steady Crew" - see? All about the era!) she was a good looking girl, and this was a harmless bit of fun at the time.