A Pittsburgh woman with two jobs as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school.
Jennifer Beals’ role as Alexandra “Alex” Owens, the 18-year-old who auditioned for one of the most prestigious roles in the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory is still one of the single most sexiest and unforgettable roles on the dance and music charts of all time. Although the film had a majority of negative reviews at the time, no one can ignore the infamy brought about by Alex’s riveting performance to the song “Flashdance” which sold over 700,000 copies in its first two weeks and went on to sell over six million copies over time. The self-taught dancer whose mentor Hannah Long (Lilia Skala) was a professional ballerina, fought against all of her financial, emotional, and physical imperfections in order to pursue her childhood dreams.
As the film opens, Alex is navigating through life with her nine-to-five job working in the steel mill as a welder, and her night job as an exotic dancer at Mawby’s. Her non-work hours are spent in her converted warehouse apartment practicing and teaching herself dance moves in front of her dog Grunt. As she listens to heartfelt motivational speeches from Hanna who tries to give her the courage to try out for the local conservatory, she finally gets the nerve to pay them a visit but gets discouraged by the intense line of ballerinas waiting for applications and the reality that she doesn’t possess the years of professional experience that the application requires. While contemplating her next move in life, she tries to remain supportive of her friends Richie (Kyle T. Heffner), the cook who wants to be a famous comedian, and Jeanie (Sunny Johnson), the figure skater who wants to dance like Alex.
Alex’s direction in life begins to change when her boss Nick (Michael Nouri) from the Steel Mill drops into the club one night and gets the hots for her, not realizing that she works for him. While she continues to ignore his advances because she has issues with dating her boss, Nick tries to find a way to get closer. When Alex and Richie get into a confrontation one night with another local club owner, Nick saves them both and the relationship begins to flourish until Nick finds out about her dream of joining the conservatory and he uses his pull to get her an audition. While Alex fights tooth and nail to resist the offer, she eventually caves in when her mentor Hannah suddenly passes away and Nick makes her realize she is using her wrath against him as an escape from the fear of not being good enough. In the end, Alex’s audition is nothing short of a miracle as she introduces “breakdancing” and other alternative forms of dance that have the entire panel mesmerized while tapping their toes to the new fusion of dance moves. Her ability to break through the audition cycle is a major turning point while she has Nick and Grunt right there by her side to cheer her on.
Director Adrian Lyne did an excellent job of putting together a cast of formidable underachievers while using their support of one another to catapult them into their own personal stratosphere of achievement. With first-time collaborators Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, he transformed the basic foundation of music and dance to incorporate the biases of society and the healing of brokenness from the lack of acceptance. While the film may not have had a heartwarming plot, the songs such as “Flashdance” and “Maniac” transformed sexy moves and creativity into the highest-grossing film of 1983 in the United States and even today, the undisputable fire that raged over thirty-seven years ago, still ignites joy and passion.
Available on Special Edition Blu-ray May 19th
