If you can ignore the basic absurdity of the plot: welder performs avant garde dance routines in blue collar bar at night while dreaming of being a ballerina, a very enjoyable film but more for the songs than the story.

Although the overall film still left quite a bit to be desired, it's still a memorable 1980s film staple for several reasons. Its soundtrack spawned a couple of big hits - namely, Irene Cara's title song and Michael Sambello's "Maniac", with the former winning for Best Original Song, and the choreography of its dance sequences are fantastic. The film is bookended with two iconic sequences in particular; it begins with the one that spawned the image of Alex basically getting rained on, and ends with the equally-famous audition sequence - which also happens to be my personal favorite. This is just another feel-good film all around, and definitely worth checking out.

Terrific movie, I grew up in the 80s and this is a great feel good movie, people today are way too uptight...I suggest people from the smartphone era dying for a great story to go watch a marvel movie instead....The dancing, music, drama was great and very nostalgic, I love it...

Awesome dancing and Jennifer Beals is beautiful. Not much of a story though.

A vontade de vencer através da dança leva uma jovem bailarina a percorrer o caminho mais difícil para chegar longe e conquistar uma chance. E nessa jornada, ela tem os cinéfilos como torcida garantida. Absolutamente incrível e cheio de ritmo.

Fun 80s feel good movie. Strong vibes, great shots.

Some movies have a legacy for reasons beyond me. While the dancing in this and soundtrack is great (and I guess that's all that really matters) the rest is corny and melodramatic.

Forty years later, good or bad doesn’t even apply. You watch this like you go see the Mona Lisa…not because you like it or not, but because of its place in history! THIS was the milestone movie where critics rightly pointed out that it was the first movie length “music video” ala the brand-new cultural phenomenon, M온라인카지노추천. It is hard to see things thru the eyes of another era but this is worth the effort. M온라인카지노추천 was so new and huge that motels added to their “Air Conditioned Rooms” signs the phrase “Free M온라인카지노추천”. A flashy (pun intended) new visual style was being pioneered by a new generation of music video directors. Just like John Williams who composed every movie sound track ever (ok exaggeration) cut his teeth writing themes for 60s 온라인카지노추천 shows, directors like David Fincher went from winning best music video awards on to a lifetime of directing big movies starting with Alien3, Seven, Fight Club, etc, etc. So, was this movie the harbinger of the downfall of Hollywood or not? At the time, people didn’t care since the eye-candy of this new style for the new BIG EIGHTIES decade was enough.

Movie is so ass, no real couple is that happy fake movie , just makes your wife question your love because your not waiting for her with her stolen dog and huge bow while she "stuns" the judges with energy only true love can give. If you want a divorce see this movie together

Sixteen when I first saw this. Loved the music and didn't think much of the story. Viewing it recently, I considered more of the story and would say while disjointed, I enjoyed the dichotomy of vulnerability and independence in Jennifer Beals' performance, and imagined middle and high school girls seeing it today. Downright trashy in some aspects, but overall a nice example of a young woman's pursuit of her dream despite the odds.

One more time the critics are idiots

Dripping in pure 80's sizzle, sounds & decadence 🍿🍿🍿🍿1/2

This is basically Rocky but with dancing instead of boxing. The only thing on par with Rocky is the soundtrack which is incredibly memorable, catchy, and just awesome. However nothing else is up to that level of quality. The acting is just ok, especially Beal's who is softspoken throughout doesn't really have any charm or charisma to match her dancing which is really good. It's a shame because her backstory at first is really interesting and had me at first. She just doesn't really have any chemistry with anyone that much and honestly can come off as whiny. The supporting cast is just ok also. The cinematography is ok, while there are some well framed shots and lighting throughout along with a good ending, there is so many soft core porn shots in the dancing that isn't needed and in every scene the acting isn't anything special overall. The editing also along with pacing is just ok. The storyline with her best friend feels unneeded and takes up a good chunk of the first half, the dance scene with flashing strobe lights is seizure inducing, the backstory and romance doesn't really get any traction until the second half and we really don't see much of her growing into a dancer. I understand she's already good but even Rocky needed to train to go to the next level and we don't really see that. We just get her when her Mom dies brooding around and than shows up for the audition. This needed a bit more focus, better acting, less soft core porn shots, and more development of Alex's dancing with her personal life and it BARELY does it. I would say just watch it for the iconic soundtrack but honestly, just download it on Spotify and skip the film or watch the ending on Youtube. There isn't much else here honestly.

Flashdance is dumb, but entertaining.

"Flashdance" has a super fun soundtrack and some enjoyable dance numbers. The problem is that those two things are literally all the movie has to offer. The story is pretty flat and uninteresting and it makes the movie a slog as it continued to develop. I can see how someone might like this movie as a cheesy 80s movie but I can't see myself doing anything besides listening to songs from the soundtrack every now and then. Overall, it is an interesting movie because it's a part of pop culture, but it is still a bad one that has too many negative qualities to recommend.

Pauline Kael hilariously called "Last House on the Left" the "best horror movie ever made in Pittsburgh". That's setting the bar pretty low Pauline! So this must be called "the best musical ever made in Pittsburgh" by default. Not as bad as everyone thinks; this is a nice wish-fullfillment musical for girls; lots of nice moments including the waterlogged performance scene at the bar and the end-scene audition which have both become iconic. (Look fast for Eliza Jane Wilder's Lucy Lee Flippin from Little House on the Prairie as one of the judges; going bananas when Alex does the helicopter at the ending!) I think these would-be strippers want this to be Cabaret or something. (Maybe Adriane Lyne wishes this was Cabaret too; some of these numbers belong more in that movie than this one...) I mean it's a little weird the exotic dancers never take their clothes off, and do these glitzy/sexy Star Search type numbers in this strip bar where nobody ever gets naked... Another major problem; not enough dialogue. Lynne should have allowed more dialogue between music numbers here. But still watchable.

The soundtrack alone makes it worth to watch. But the movie itself seems a bit flat.

As someone from Pittsburgh, it's kind of amazing that I've never watched this movie, perhaps the most famous movie shot here not in the horror or action genre. Adrian Lyne was not the first choice to be the director, as both David Cronenberg and Brian De Palma turned it down. But Lyne came from commercials - his ads for Brutus Jeans are pretty much proof of concept for this movie - and he knew the right look for the film. Paramount was so unsure of the movie's potential that they sold 25% of the rights before it came out. Joke was on them - it made over $200 million worldwide and was the third highest-grossing film of 1983. For the lead, there were three front-runners: Jennifer Beals, Demi Moore and Leslie Wing. As this was the first collaboration of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, they were quite hands-on. Writer Joe Eszterhas* - oh man, I need to do a week of his films - claims that Eisner took a survey from "two hundred of the most macho men on the Paramount lot, Teamsters and gaffers and grips." He asked one very important question: "I want to know which of these three young women you'd most want to f***." Lyne used dark cinematography and montage music video editing to hide one important fact: that isn't Beals dancing. Her body double is Marine Jahan and also male dancer Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón, a member of the Rock Steady Crew who is also in Style Wars, Wild Style and Beat Street. Gymnast Sharon Shapiro also doubled during the audition scene. Alexandra "Alex" Owens (Beals) works as a welder in a steel mill by day - kids, learn a trade because welders are seriously always in demand and Alex is pretty smart to know this - and a dancer at Mawby's by night. She dreams of being a professional ballet dancer, but dreams are in currency at that establishment, with Jeanie (Sunny Johnson, who sadly died not long after making this from a brain hemmorage) wants to be a figure skater and her short-order cook boyfriend Richie (Kyle T. Heffner) wants to become a comedian. Alex is in demand. Her boss Nick (Michael Nouri) is smitten with her while Johnny C. (Lee Ving!) wants her to dance at his strip club Zanzibar. She keeps thinking about applying to the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory, but is too afraid of the tryout. And then, one night, she and Richie are attacked by Johnny C. And one of his henchmen, Cecil (Malcolm Danare). Nick saves the day and they finally fall in love. Things get tough, though. Richie makes it to Los Angeles, but Jeanie falls twice in her big skating competition and decides that Zanzibar is where her future is. Alex drags her out at the two cry in the rain. And Nick's ex-wife (Belinda Bauer) complicates the love story for some time, but things work out and Alex nails her audition, using the rough edge of dance she did on stage mixed with the classical form. Pittsburgh is just as much a character as anyone else in this movie. Alex rides the Duquesne Incline like a good Yinzer, which also doesn't make sense because her apartment is miles away and nearthe home of her mentor at 2100 Sidney Street. Kind of like how she rides her bike all through Fineview and somehow ends up on the Smithfield Street Bridge, as close to a "Take Bigelow" moment as Flashdance gets. The Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory is obviously the Carnegie Museum, which is one of my favorite places (the nearby Carneige Library is gigantic, has a hidden window to check out the dinosaurs in the history museum, is heated with old radiators and has an amazing DVD collection with so many out of print films). Sadly, Alex's loft is actually Los Angeles. And Mawby's was a vacant warehouse on the corner of Boyd Street and Wall Street, even if it looks a lot like Jack's on East Carson Street. The idea of Mawby's is wild to me. It's obviously a working class shot and a beer bar, yet it has dancers on stage who bring their own props and dance some incredibly intricate dancers of sultry near performance art whereas you'd expect gyrations and nudity. There was never a place like this in 1983 Pittsburgh that I know of - to be fair, i was 11 and would have been kicked out of the Edison Lounge, so maybe it was the Moon Township-based Fantasy's Showbar while Zanzibar is closer to the Edison, Casino Royale or the frankly intimidating Chez Kimberly - but hey just add it to the list of strip club establishments in movies where no one gets naked. That said, Tina Tech (Cynthia Rhodes, who is also in Staying Alive, Runaway and plays Penny in Dirty Dancing) dancing to the song "Manhunt" is pretty incredible. Zanzibar** is really Star Strip Gentlemen's Club on 365 North La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood - thanks Movie-Locations.com - which is gone. You can also see a lot of Pittsburgh, like the Southside clock - once owned by Duquesne Brewing - as well as a lot that's gone, like the mills, the once glitzy world of Station Square which is mostly office space now (I spent years of my life working there and the nightclub Chauncy's would blast bass into our advertising office while we worked all night, I was a maniac, maniac pasting up ads) and Vic Cacana, a Pittsburgh icon who was a dancing traffic cop who conducted the gridlock of dahntahn like it was a symphony. When he retired, The Pittsburgh Press - also gone - said "A downtown traffic jam without Vic Cianca is a traffic jam with no redeeming qualities." Debra Gordon, who was Rita in Effects is a ballet dancer in this. And always, a movie cannot be made in Pittsburgh without Chef Don Brockett being in the cast. Never change, City of Bridges. The music of Flashdance is the last character we need to discuss. Bruckheimer had collaborated withGiorgio Moroder on American Gigolo and sent him the script as soon as he had received it to give him a sense of the music they needed. The composer was busy while the movie was being shot and only had time to do a rough version of the theme song. Moroder had not committed to the project by the end of filming, but when he watched the movie, he decided to work on the score. Moroder wrote the "Love Theme from Flashdance," "Lady, Lady, Lady" and "Seduce Me Tonight," as well as the movie's main theme, "Flashdance... What a Feeling." Session drummer Keith Forsey was assigned to write the lyrics and had help from Irene Cara after they watched the audition scene. Moroder wanted Joe Esposito to sing the theme, but Paramount wanted a well-known female singer. And after all, Cara had stipulated that if she wrote the lyrics, she would get to sing the song. So many of the lyrics match how Alex feels about dancing in front of the drunks at Mawby's. She says, "I never see them. You go out there, and the music starts, and you begin to feel it. And your body just starts to move. I know it sounds really silly. But something inside you just clicks, and you just take off. You're gone. It's like you're somebody else for a second." This freedom she describes is reflected in the lyrics, "When I hear the music, close my eyes, feel the rhythm wrap around, take ahold of my heart, what a feeling." Another song that was a big deal in the movie is "Maniac" by Michael Sembello. It was written with Dennis Matkosky and inspired by a story about a serial killer on the news and had some of its original lyrics written after a viewing of Maniac. Lyne heard a demo and wanted to use the song, saying "One of the tunes I'd heard had a kind of a chime in it, that kind of 'bing-bong-bing-bong-bing-bong', like that, and I said, "Let's use that. Let's use that as a kind of a motive, as a kind of a driving thing for a dance."" *Flashdance was inspired by the real-life story of Maureen Marder, a construction worker and welder by day and dancer by night at Gimlets, a Toronto strip club who wanted to be a professional dancer. Tom Hedley wrote thestory outline and Marder signed a release giving Paramount Pictures the right to portray her life story on screen for $2,300. Sadly, her attorney was present for that and despite the movie making so much money, she was not entitled to more when she sued. Paramount also went to court over the movie as the Jennifer Lopez video "I'm Glad," which was directed by David LaChapelle, went a bit further on the side of ripoff than tribute. Her label, Sony, agreed to pay a licensing fee for the video. **Monique Gabrielle is one of the dancers there.

Hard to watch a movie about a woman who wants to be a dancer knowing she has a double. Yes the music is good, the movie all in all is so so

The best dancing and music ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!