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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - F 2 Mins Read

    Flashdance (1983)

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    Jennifer Beals stars as Alex Owens, an 18-year-old welder in a Pittsburgh steel mill who moonlights as an exotic dancer in the dive bar her co-workers frequent.

    She is having an affair with her boss, Nick (Michael Nouri), who helps her strive to achieve her dream to be a ballerina.

    The girls who dance with Alex at the club all have some kind of new wave performance art aspect to what they do and the set pieces are hilariously elaborate (one girl goes for a zany kabuki effect!)

    Director Adrian Lyne (9½ Weeks; Fatal Attraction) cut his teeth directing TV commercials – and it shows in his reliance on slick cutting and sumptuous visuals here.

    But while it was one of the most successful movies of 1983, Flashdance is really nothing but glossy fluff.

    The film is like sitting through a long rock video or aerobics tape, with Beals (and a lot of stand-ins by dancing body-double Marine Jahan) doing frenzied water (or sweat) drenched dances to a pounding beat in skimpy outfits.

    And why is it that people in movies always live in houses they couldn’t possibly afford on their incomes? Alex has a loft apartment and she’s a WELDER for chrissakes . . .

    Several hits came off the soundtrack album, including Flashdance – What a Feeling (sung by Fame‘s Irene Cara), which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song Maniac, the cinematography, and the film editing also received nominations.

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

    Director
    Adrian Lyne

    Video

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