"Flashdance" was one of those lighting-in-a-bottle movies that somehow perfectly captured its moment. Directed by Adrian Lyne, the movie's atmospheric, neon-saturated style, brisk pacing, infectious music, dynamic dancing and a starmaking performance by Jennifer Beals — whose off-the-shoulder sweatshirt became an immediate fashion sensation — all helped to define the early 1980s.
From the first dance number, in which Beals' character douses herself with water onstage, the film captured audiences' attention, as did the charged moments when Beals removed her bra from underneath her shirt or took off a suit jacket in a restaurant to reveal only a dickey and cuffs underneath. And it all turned "Flashdance" into a surprise hit. It became 1983's No. 3 movie at the domestic box office, sold nearly 20 million copies of its Grammy-winning soundtrack album and earned four Academy Award nominations, winning original song for the eternally catchy "Flashdance… What A Feeling," written by Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forsey and Irene Cara.
The movie was the first starring role for Beals, who was a 19-year-old freshman at Yale when the movie was released. In the film she plays Alex, a young woman who works as a Pittsburgh welder by day while dancing in a cabaret at night, with dreams of formally studying ballet. She gets into a romantic relationship with her boss Nick (Michael Nouri), but their differences in age and class present numerous hurdles to their happiness. The movie had quite a lineup behind the scenes too, with a script co-written by a relatively unknown Joe Eszterhas and producer credits for Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson (in their first collaboration) and Lynda Obst.
