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) (as Tom Hedley), Joe Eszterhas (screenplay)

Stars:

Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Lilia Skala

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 14 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:

cabaret | ballet | dancer | dance | cook | 

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Taglines:

Every day, she works in a man's world. Every night, she dances through the universe that is her dream.

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Flashdance

Filming Locations:

440 S June St, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$94,900,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$205,900,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

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

Marine Jahan was Jennifer Beals' body double for the dancing scenes. Jahan was kept hidden from the press because the filmmakers did not want to ruin the illusion. Alex's leap through the air in the audition scene was done by gymnast Sharon Shapiro and the break-dancing was done by Crazy Legs. Jahan appeared in the music video for "Maniac".

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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

[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.

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Connections

Referenced in NCIS: Identity Crisis (2007)

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Soundtracks

He's a Dream
Performed by Shandi Sinnamon (as Shandi)
Music and Lyrics by Shandi Sinnamon and Ronald Magness
Produced by Ronald Magness

User Reviews

Some may call it heavenly in its brilliance, others are just entertained

Although I've long known, generally speaking, what this movie is about, I never saw it when it came out in 1983 or 1984, because I was too busy "living" the 80's (yeah, right, whatever that means!). But I just saw it recently, in its entirety, the other night on TV.

I don't know, maybe it's the current sorry state of affairs of the world today that made me want to watch this film, just so I could revisit the "happy days(?)" of the eighties, when, although the world was also in a sorry state of affairs, at least there was an underlying pretense of hope and glory, a pervasive (albeit childlike) adherence to the belief that wishes DO sometimes come true, miracles CAN happen, and for every ugly frog there IS a beautiful princess waiting to kiss him...

This movie sucks, bigtime... but it also rocks! And that, people, is the honest to God truth. This movie is so bad it reeks of the stench of the very phoney-baloney on which it is based (and we all know how awful THAT is). BUT, it also rocks you to your very soul, and hey, how can you possibly fault a movie that dares to offer people (and not just young people, but ALL people) that little thing called HOPE???

I hope you don't take my "critique" the wrong way... Honestly, I don't think the movie is really all that good, but the message, and the feeling, and the spirit of this movie, are all very wonderful and infectious indeed and should NOT be discounted. It makes it a wonderful movie. Strange, isn't it? If those of you reading this are parents with up-and-coming kids, make them sit through this film!! Make them watch it!! I guarantee you, at least there is not a single scene in it where some teenager just HAS to have sex with a baked pastry object!!

Finally, let me comment on the fact that many in filmdom have dissed Jennifer Beals over the fact that a stand-in dancer performed various or several of her dance segments. Well let me just mention, that at the very end of the film, in the credit roll, there is a disclaimer that states: "The people and events in this film are fictional. Any similarity to actual people or events is unintentional." So, with this in mind… a stunt double performed some of the dance steps!?? I was shocked, shocked to find that stunt doubles are used in Hollywood!!