Flashdance

Flashdance is a 1983 American romantic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her elder suitor and the owner of the steel mill where she works by day in Pittsburgh. It was the first collaboration of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and the presentation of some sequences in the style of music videos was an influence on other 1980s films including Footloose, Purple Rain, and Top Gun, Simpson and Bruckheimer's most famous production. It was also one of Lyne's first major film releases, building on a reputation for making popular television commercials.[3] Alex's elaborate dance sequences were shot using body doubles (Beals' main double was the uncredited[4] French actress Marine Jahan, while a breakdance move was doubled by the male dancer Crazy Legs).[5]

Flashdance
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAdrian Lyne
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story byTom Hedley
Starring
Music byGiorgio Moroder
CinematographyDonald Peterman
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • April 15, 1983 (1983-04-15) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million
Box office$201.5 million[2]

The film opened to negative reviews by professional critics, including Roger Ebert, who panned it as "great sound and flashdance, signifying nothing" (and eventually placed it on his 'most hated' list).[6] Nevertheless, it was a surprise box-office success, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1983 in the United States.[7] Its worldwide box-office gross exceeded $200 million.[8] The soundtrack, compiled by Giorgio Moroder, spawned several hit songs, including "Maniac" (performed by Michael Sembello), and the Academy Award-winning "Flashdance... What a Feeling", which was written for the film by Moroder, with lyrics by Keith Forsey and the singer Irene Cara. Flashdance is also often remembered for its film poster featuring Beals sporting a sweatshirt with a large neck hole (according to the actress, her look in the scene came about by accident after she simply cut a large hole at the top of one that had shrunk in the wash).

Plot
Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri star in Flashdance

Alexandra "Alex" Owens (Jennifer Beals) is an eighteen-year-old welder at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who lives with her dog, Grunt, in a converted warehouse. Although she aspires to become a professional dancer, she has no formal dance training, and works as a sensual dancer by night at Mawby's, a neighborhood bar and grill that hosts a nightly cabaret.

Lacking family, Alex forms bonds with her coworkers at Mawby's, some of whom also aspire to greater artistic achievements. Jeanie (Sunny Johnson), a waitress, is training to be a figure skater, while her boyfriend, short-order cook Richie (Kyle T. Heffner), hopes to become a stand-up comic.

One night, Alex catches the eye of customer Nick Hurley (Michael Nouri), the owner of the steel mill where she works. After learning that Alex is one of his employees, Nick begins to pursue her on the job, though Alex turns down his advances at first. Alex is also approached by Johnny C. (Lee Ving), who wants Alex to dance at his nearby strip club, Zanzibar.

After seeking counsel from her mentor, retired ballerina Hanna Long (Lilia Skala), Alex attempts to apply to the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory. Alex becomes intimidated by the scope of the application process, which includes listing all prior dance experience and education, and she leaves without applying. Leaving Mawby's one evening, Richie and Alex are assaulted by Johnny C. and his bodyguard, Cecil. Nick intervenes, and after taking Alex home, the two begin a relationship.

In a skating competition, Jeanie falls twice during her performance and sits defeated on the ice and has to be helped away. Later, feeling she will never achieve her dreams, and after Richie has left Pittsburgh to try his luck in Los Angeles, Jeanie begins going out with Johnny C. and works for him at Zanzibar. Finding out that she is working as a stripper, Alex drags her out while she protests and cries.

After seeing Nick with a woman at the ballet one night, Alex throws a rock through a window of his house, only to discover that it was his ex-wife (Belinda Bauer) whom he was meeting for a charity function. Alex and Nick reconcile, and she gains the courage to apply to the Conservatory. Nick uses his connections with the arts council to get Alex an audition. Alex is furious with Nick, as she did not get the opportunity based on her own merit, and decides not to go through with the audition. Seeing the results of others' failed dreams and after the sudden death of Hanna, Alex becomes despondent about her future, but finally decides to go through with the audition.

At the audition, Alex initially falters, but begins again, and she successfully completes a dance number composed of various aspects of dance that she has studied and practiced, including breakdancing, which she has seen on the streets of Pittsburgh. The board responds favorably, and Alex is seen joyously emerging from the Conservatory to find Nick and Grunt waiting for her with a bouquet of roses.

Cast

Music
Main article: Flashdance (soundtrack)

"Flashdance... What a Feeling" was performed by Irene Cara, who also sang the title song for the similar 1980 film Fame. The music for "Flashdance... What a Feeling" was composed by Giorgio Moroder, and the lyrics were written by Cara and Keith Forsey. The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as a Golden Globe and numerous other awards. It also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1983. Despite the song's title, the word 'Flashdance' itself is not heard in the lyrics. The song is used in the opening title sequence of the film, and is the music Alex uses in her dance audition routine at the end of the film.

Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky. A popular urban legend holds that the song was originally written for the 1980 horror film Maniac, and that lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so the song could be used in Flashdance. The legend is discredited in the special features of the film's DVD release, which reveal that the song was written for the film, although only two complete lyrics ("Just a steel town girl on a Saturday night" and "She's a maniac") were available when filming commenced. Like the title song, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1983.[9][10]

Other songs in the film include "Lady, Lady, Lady", performed by Joe Esposito, "Gloria" and "Imagination" performed by Laura Branigan, and "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is", performed by Kim Carnes.

The soundtrack album of Flashdance sold 700,000 copies during its first two weeks on sale and has gone on to sell over six million copies in the U.S. alone. In 1984, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.

Production

Adrian Lyne was not the first choice as director of Flashdance. David Cronenberg had turned down an offer to direct the film, as had Brian De Palma, who instead chose to direct Scarface (1983).[11] At the time, Lyne's background was primarily in directing television commercials, such as his 1970s UK commercials for Brutus Jeans (which may conceivably be seen as anticipating the visuals and style of Flashdance).[3] Executives at Paramount were unsure about the film's potential and sold 25% of the rights prior to its release.[11] The film was shot between October 18, 1982 and December 30, 1982.[12]

Flashdance is often remembered for the sweatshirt with a large neck hole that Beals wore on the poster advertising the film. Beals said that the look of the sweatshirt came about by accident when it shrank in the wash and she cut out a large hole at the top so that she could wear it again.[13]

Casting

Three candidates, Jennifer Beals, Demi Moore, and Leslie Wing, were the finalists for the role of Alex Owens. Two different stories exist regarding how Beals was chosen. One states that then-Paramount president Michael Eisner asked women secretaries at the studio to select their favorite after viewing screen tests. The other: the film's scriptwriter Joe Eszterhas claims that Eisner asked "two hundred of the most macho men on the [Paramount] lot, Teamsters and gaffers and grips ... 'I want to know which of these three young women you'd most want to fuck'".[14]

The role of Nick Hurley was originally offered to Kiss lead man Gene Simmons, who turned it down because it would conflict with his "demon" image. Pierce Brosnan, Robert De Niro, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, and John Travolta were also considered for the part. Kevin Costner, a struggling actor at the time, came very close for the role of Nick Hurley, which went to Michael Nouri.

Crew

Flashdance was the first success of a number of filmmakers who became top industry figures in the 1980s and beyond. The film was the first collaboration between Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who went on to produce Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Top Gun (1986). Eszterhas received his second screen credit for Flashdance, while Lyne went on to direct 9½ Weeks (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987), Indecent Proposal (1993), and Lolita (1997). Lynda Obst, who developed the original story outline, went on to produce Adventures in Babysitting (1987), The Fisher King (1991), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993).

Filming

The dimly lit cinematography and montage-style editing are due in part to the fact that most of Jennifer Beals' dancing in the film was performed by a body double.[15] Her main dance double is the French actress Marine Jahan,[16][17] while the breakdancing that Alex performs in the audition sequence at the end of the film was doubled by the male dancer Crazy Legs.[18] The shot of Alex diving through the air in slow motion during the audition sequence was performed by Sharon Shapiro, who was a professional gymnast.[19] The producers of the film stated they had made no secret of having used a double for Beals, and that Jahan's name did not appear because Paramount Pictures shortened the closing credits.[15]

Locations

Much of the film was shot in locations around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

  • The ice skating rink on which Jeanie falls was filmed at Culver Ice Rink in Culver City, California.
  • The fictional Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory was filmed inside the lobby and in front of Carnegie Music Hall, a part of the Carnegie Museum of Art, located near the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
  • Alex's apartment was located in the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The interior of the apartment was filmed in Los Angeles at what was the Feit Electric Building on Los Angeles Street in downtown LA.
  • Alex is seen riding one of the Duquesne Incline cable cars when she goes to visit Hannah.
  • Hannah's apartment is located at 2100 Sidney Street at the southeast corner of South 21st Street. The entrance to the apartment is from South 21st Street.
  • The opening sequence of scenes with Alex riding her bicycle starts on Warren Street at its intersection with Catoma Street. She rides south on Warren Street to Henderson Street, makes a hairpin turn from Henderson Street onto Fountain Street, and is next shown riding south on Middle Street. The last scene of the sequence shows Alex riding east over the Smithfield Street Bridge, which is a continuity error.

Release

Flashdance was released in the United States on April 15, 1983.[20]

Home media

Flashdance has been issued originally on VHS with a Paramount Pictures DVD release on October 8, 2002 and a Special Collector’s Edition DVD in 2010.[21][22] It was first released on Blu-ray Disc on August 13, 2013 by Warner Bros. with seven special features including a 15-minute featurette The History of Flashdance, a 9-minute featurette The Look of Flashdance, Flashdance The Choreography and teaser and theatrical trailers.[23] The film was re-released on Blu-ray in the U.S. on May 19, 2020 by Paramount Presents with a new 4K remaster and packaging. It includes a new Filmmakers Focus interview with the director but excludes a few special features from the previous Blu-ray release.[24]

Reception

Critical response

Flashdance has received mostly unfavorable reviews from professional critics. It holds a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 36%, based on 44 reviews with the consensus: "All style and very little substance, Flashdance boasts eye-catching dance sequences—and benefits from an appealing performance from Jennifer Beals—but its narrative is flat-footed".[25]

Roger Ebert placed it on his list of Most Hated films, stating: "Jennifer Beals shouldn't feel bad. She is a natural talent, she is fresh and engaging here, and only needs to find an agent with a natural talent for turning down scripts".[26] Halliwell's Film Guide gave it one star out of four while The New Yorker described the film as "Basically, a series of rock videos." The Guardian described it as "A preposterous success." Detractors of the film argue that in addition to the shallow plot, the film represents the worst excesses of 1980s film making with its emphasis on short sequences and rapid editing between shots. The screenplay of the film was nominated for a Razzie Award, where it lost to The Lonely Lady. A common criticism was directed toward the on-screen partnership between Jennifer Beals and Michael Nouri, largely due to the significant age difference between the two (at the time of filming, Beals was 18 while Nouri was 36). Critics have also questioned whether an 18-year-old woman would have been given a job as a welder in an old-fashioned steel mill.

Accolades
Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards Best Cinematography Donald Peterman Nominated
Best Film Editing Bud S. Smith and Walt Mulconery Nominated
Best Original Song "Flashdance... What a Feeling" – Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey and Irene Cara Won
"Maniac" – Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky Nominated
American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic Bud S. Smith and Walt Mulconery Nominated
Blue Ribbon Awards Best Foreign Film Adrian Lyne Won
British Academy Film Awards Best Editing Bud S. Smith and Walt Mulconery Won
Best Sound Don Digirolamo, Robert Glass, Robert Knudson and James E. Webb Nominated
Best Film Music Giorgio Moroder Nominated
Best Original Song "Flashdance... What a Feeling" – Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey and Irene Cara Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer Nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Jennifer Beals Nominated
Best Original Score – Motion Picture Giorgio Moroder Won
Best Original Song – Motion Picture "Flashdance... What a Feeling" – Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey and Irene Cara Won
"Maniac" – Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Screenplay Tom Hedley and Joe Eszterhas Nominated
Grammy Awards Album of the Year Flashdance Nominated
Best Pop Instrumental Performance "Love Theme from Flashdance" – Helen St. John Nominated
Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special Flashdance – Various Artists Won
Hochi Film Awards Best International Picture Adrian Lyne Won
Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Foreign Language Film Flashdance Nominated
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Jennifer Beals Won
National Music Publishers Association Best Song in a Movie Irene Cara Won
People's Choice Awards Favorite Theme/Song from a Motion Picture "Flashdance... What a Feeling" Won
Satellite Awards Best DVD Extras Flashdance Nominated

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Legacy

Sequel

There were discussions about a sequel, but the film was never made. Beals turned down an offer to appear in a sequel, saying: "I've never been drawn to something by virtue of how rich or famous it will make me. I turned down so much money, and my agents were just losing their minds."[29]

Musical adaptation

In March 2001, a Broadway musical version was proposed with new songs by Giorgio Moroder, but failed to materialize.[30]

In July 2008, a stage musical adaptation Flashdance The Musical premiered at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, England. The book is co-written by Tom Hedley, who created the story outline for the original film, and the choreography is by Arlene Phillips.[31]

Flashdance and the MTV connection

Flashdance is not a musical in the traditional sense as the characters do not sing, but, rather, the songs are presented in the style of self-contained music videos. Its success has commonly been attributed in part to the recent launch (in 1981) of the cable channel MTV (Music Television), based on the contention that it was the first feature film to exploit the new popularity of music videos effectively.[32] By excerpting segments of the film and running them as music videos on MTV, the studio benefited from extensive free promotion, and thus established the new medium as an important marketing tool for movies.

In the mid-1980s, it became almost obligatory to release a music video to promote a major motion picture—even if the film was not especially suited for one.[33] An example from the era is the song and music video "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun (1986), also from Flashdance producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Giorgio Moroder composed "Take My Breath Away" and several of the songs for Flashdance.

Other media

Singers Jennifer Lopez and Geri Halliwell paid homage to "Flashdance" in their music videos. Lopez' "I'm Glad" from her album This Is Me… Then was heavily based on the film, while Halliwell's version of "It's Raining Men", the first single from her sophomore album Scream If You Want to Go Faster, takes inspiration from the audition scene.

A promotional poster for the 2018 film Deadpool 2 paid homage to Flashdance, with Deadpool recreating the scene where Jennifer Beals is showered with water while outstretched over a chair. Deadpool is showered with bullet casings rather than water.[34]

Suit against the filmmakers

Flashdance was inspired by the real-life story of Maureen Marder, a construction worker/welder by day and dancer by night in a Toronto strip club. Like Alex Owens in the film, she aspired to enroll in a prestigious dance school. Tom Hedley wrote the original story outline for Flashdance, and on December 6, 1982, Marder signed a release document giving Paramount Pictures the right to portray her life story on screen, for which she was given a one-off payment of $2,300. Flashdance is estimated to have grossed more than $200 million worldwide. In June 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco affirmed a lower court's ruling that Marder gave up her rights to the film when she signed the release document in 1982. The panel of three judges stated in its ruling: "Though in hindsight the agreement appears to be unfair to Marder—she only received $2,300 in exchange for a release of all claims relating to a movie that grossed over $150 million—there is simply no evidence that her consent was obtained by fraud, deception, misrepresentation, duress or undue influence." The court also noted that Marder's attorney had been present when she signed the document.[35]

Suit against Jennifer Lopez and filmmakers over music video

In 2003, following the use of dance routines from the film by Jennifer Lopez in her music video "I'm Glad" (directed by David LaChapelle), Marder sued Lopez, Sony Corporation (the makers of the music video), and Paramount in an attempt to gain a copyright interest in the film. Although Lopez argued that her video for "I'm Glad" was intended as a tribute to Flashdance, in May 2003 Sony agreed to pay a licensing fee to Paramount for the use of dance routines and other story material from the film in the video.[36][37]

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See also
Films of a similar genre in the 1980s

References
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  2. Box Office Information for Flashdance. The Numbers. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
  3. Delaney, Sam (August 23, 2007). "The British admen who saved Hollywood". The Guardian. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  4. "Marine Jahan". Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2019 – via www.imdb.com.
  5. DeFrantz, Thomas F (2014). "Hip-Hop in Hollywood: Encounter, Community, Resistance". In Melissa Blanco Borelli (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Dance and the Popular Screen. Oxford University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-19-989783-4.
  6. Ebert, Roger. "Roger Ebert's Most Hated list". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  7. "1983 Yearly Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  8. Box Office Information for Flashdance. The Numbers. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  9. "Maniac by Michael Sembello Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  10. "Billboard Charts Archive - 1983". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  11. "Flashdance (1983)". Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
  12. "AFI|Catalog". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  13. Rob Salem (February 16, 2011). "Jennifer Beals: From ripped sweats to dress blues - thestar.com". www.thestar.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  14. Thomas, Mike (January 20, 2011). "Jennifer Beals returns to Chicago with new cop drama". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  15. Dancer not getting credit for work in "Flashdance" The Ledger April 22, 1983
  16. "Hoofers Hidden in the Shadows Dream of the Limelight". People. April 2, 1984.
  17. Maniac on the Floor, Entertainment Weekly issue #956 dated September 28, 2007
  18. Phull, Hardeep (August 22, 2015). "Meet the man who impersonated Jennifer Beals in 'Flashdance'". New York Post. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  19. "'Flashdance,' 30 Years Later: B-Boy Recalls Girling Up for Final Scene". yahoo.com.
  20. "Flashdance (1983)". American Film Institute. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  21. "Flashdance DVD". Blu-ray.com. October 8, 2002. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  22. "Flashdance Special Collector's Edition DVD". Blu-ray.com. October 8, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  23. "Flashdance Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. August 13, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  24. "Flashdance Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. May 19, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  25. "Flashdance". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  26. "Roger Ebert's review of Flashdance". Chicago Sun-Times. July 23, 2007. Archived from the original on June 23, 2010.
  27. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs" (PDF). American Film Institute. 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 13, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  28. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers Nominees" (PDF). 2005. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  29. Beals Turned Down Flashdance Sequel Archived October 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine contactmusic.com, August 18, 2003.
  30. Hofler, Robert (March 22, 2001). "What a feeling: 'Flashdance' fever". Variety.
  31. Atkins, Tom (February 8, 2008). "Flashdance Debuts in Plymouth, Sweeney Shouts". WhatsOnStage. Archived from the original on October 19, 2008.
  32. Calavita, Marco (2007). ""MTV Aesthetics" at the Movies: Interrogating a Film Criticism Fallacy". Journal of Film and Video. 59 (3): 15–31. ISSN 0742-4671. JSTOR 20688566.
  33. Litwak, p. 245
  34. White, James (February 7, 2018). "Deadpool Does Flashdance In A New Sequel Poster". Empire Movies.
  35. Herel, Suzanne (June 13, 2006). "SAN FRANCISCO / Inspiration for 'Flashdance' loses appeal for more money". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  36. "Flashdance (1983) - News". Retrieved May 2, 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
  37. "D A V I D * L A C H A P E L L E". Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved June 28, 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
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