FLASHDANCE at HOLLYWOOD TEEN MOVIES

When "Flashdance" burst into cinemas in 1983 it was the first major dance musical to ignite audience attention since Travolta's "Saturday Night Fever". "Flashdance" featured the very hip & ultra modern dance music that was very popular in the 1980's. The film runs like an MTV music video, full of chart topping hits & dazzling visuals. The catchy title song "What a Feeling" sung by Irene Cara was a number one hit around the globe & also won an Academy Award.

"Flashdance" tells the story of young dancer Alex Owens (the very beautiful Jennifer Beals) who dreams of being accepted into the Ballet Academy. She is a female welder by day, who rides to work on a bicycle & is an exotic club dancer at night. Along the way Alex falls in love with handsome contractor Nick Hurley (Michael Nouri) only to find out later that he is in fact her boss.

Chosen over 4000 other actresses for the role, Jennifer Beals' charm & freshness was a key factor in the success of this film. It wasn't until "Flashdance" become a world-wide smash hit, that audiences discovered that Jennifer Beals did not perform the dance routines. Her main dance double was Marine Jahan & in the final acrobatic, show stopping dance sequence there was supposedly even more than one dance double used to complete the scene.

The original screenplay, written by Tom Hedley & Joe Eszterhaus, struck the right chord with 80's audiences & the excellent dance choreography, arranged by Jeffrey Hornaday, left cinemagoers breathless.

British director Adrian Lyne (previously a commercial & music video maker) keeps the film moving at a crackling pace. He later went on to make "91/2 Weeks", "Fatal Attraction" & "Indecent Proposal", all successful at the box office. "Flashdance" is an up-tempo, crowd-pleasing classic, that had audiences revisting the cinema time & time again.

TITLE : Flashdance
YEAR OF RELEASE : 1983
CLASSIFICATION : M
DIRECTOR : Adrian Lyne

STARRING : Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Cynthia Rhodes, Belinda Bauer,
Lilia Skala, Sunny Johnson, Lee Ving.

TAGLINES :
* What a feeling.
* When the dancer becomes the dance.
* Take your passion... And make it happen!
* Something happens when she hears the music...it's her freedom. It's her fire. It's her life.

In Adrian Lyne's FLASHDANCE, a young woman, Alex (Jennifer Beals), strives to achieve success as a classical dancer, but economic forces require her to work as a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night. Standing in her way is an abundance of profound social obstacles, not the least of which is her boss at the welding factory, Nick (Michael Nouri), who is also her boyfriend. Alex strives to be accepted into a prestigious ballet academy, and she is furious when she realizes that her boyfriend might be pulling strings for her behind the scenes. Along the road to self-discovery and independence, Alex also struggles to accept love, come to terms with her own stubbornness, and find the inner strength to turn her lofty dreams into reality.

Edited for maximum rhythmic impact, FLASHDANCE is full of glistening bodies and metallic surfaces, powered by Giorgio Moroder's throbbing music and one hit song after another: Michael Sembello's "Maniac," Karen Karmen's "Manhunt," and, notably, Irene Cara's Oscar-winning theme song, "Flashdance...What a Feeling." FLASHDANCE marks the first coproduction between Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who geared the film toward the MTV generation.

Flashdance [DVD](1983) DVD
What a feeling! Jennifer Beals plays a beautiful young girl who works as a welder by day, but sexily dances at a smoky bar at night. Her dream: to become a ballet performer. Top-notch, hit-filled score; eye-opening dance numbers. With Michael Nouri, Marine Jahan. 94 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround, French Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English, Spanish.