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The 'List: 'Flashdance' 35 Years Later

The 'List goes to the movies and revisits a musical guilty pleasure on its 35th anniversary.

By Carlos GonzalezPublished 6 years ago 10 min read
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Marine Jahan in the iconic opening dance scene, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Hello, one and all.

The 1980s were a time of relatively simple pleasures. We could still buy 45 PRM singles and 33-1/3 vinyl LPs. We now had MTV as our other music source. We didn't have the internet, YouTube, iPads, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest - hell, even the thought of sending mail electronically hadn't been realized. Nope. We still had cassettes, Walkmans, and video arcades with everything from Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders etc. etc. It was a time of sweet, simple pleasures.

The same could be said of movies. I mean, sure; we had rough-and-tumble action pictures, gory, violent horror pictures, heartbreaking dramas, sexploitation comedies (Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds to cite examples) and yes, musical dramas; the most bizarre genre invented in which music and dance would be incorporated into the dramatic plot. In fact, I'm going to call it what it really was: The Musical Montage Movie.

Since musicals were pretty much considered a passing fancy and most people in the 1980s weren't up to seeing actors sing and dance on-screen; but just dance to pre-recorded pop/dance songs, it seemed that the musical montage movie was born and embraced. A few brief examples: Fame, Footloose, Fast Forward (is it me, or are there too many 'F's in this genre?) and 30 years ago, the last reigning champion, Dirty Dancing (a 'D' title; thank G-d!), was the last official picture to stick to this unusual formula.

But, for this 'list, we focus on another 'F' title. Flashdance was a little seen (yeah, I'm lying) picture released in April of 1983. It was a movie that was either a sink-or-swim project. It was with a mostly unknown cast and its main hook; sell the MTV-style video song-and-dance sequences (hence, the montage) and its Hi-NRG, post-disco, funky, synth-pop/new wave song soundtrack. Yes, Saturday Night Fever had created the formula; but Flashdance would be it's 80s post-pseudo-feminist cousin.

Just so this doesn't come off as a review; the basic plot gist is as follows. A pretty, female welder (Then 20-year-old Jennifer Beals in a star-making role) dances in a go-go bar by night, but dreams of making it in the Pittsburgh ballet scene. Her boss/suitor (Michael Nouri, a relative unknown at the time) becomes her Prince Charming and its happily ever after. The end. My brief two cents is, the film was pure utter nonsense and stretched the "suspension of disbelief" as far as Laffy Taffy could be pulled. Still, it's a movie that's a product of its time and I believe it filled a much-needed void. It was after all, the Reagan years.

The film's director, Adrian Lyne from the UK, (who gave us the seminal romantic horror/thriller, Fatal Attraction which made rabbit stew an eerie calling card for spurned lovers) was clearly not trying to re-write Shakespeare. But, make a sort of fun, sweet, fluff, time-filler that went in one ear and out the other. But he, and producers Don Simpson with Jerry Bruckheimer, admittedly were almost told to close down production fearing a major dud on their hands. Would audiences buy a woman welder who danced go-go, but wants to put on a tutu and dance like a swan?

As luck would have it, many did. It broke box-office records and it's hit soundtrack even bested superstar Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' on the album charts. Ballet classes filled up immensely and torn, crop T-shirts, leg warmers and aerobics became all the rage. The mega-smash soundtrack album yielded two number one hits by Irene Cara (the movie's theme) and Michael Sembello (an almost novelty song) and yes - made Beals, a star as previously mentioned.

Other facts:

  • Star Jennifer Beals had such a bad day that she almost blew her audition because she was so frazzled.
  • The film was supposed to be about three dancers from the bar - not one.
  • Director Adrian Lyne almost balked at directing the film, citing it as too much of a "fluff piece."
  • It was co-written by Basic Instinct scribe Joe Eszterhas from a story by Tom Hedley. Eszterhas was responsible for the 1995 NC-17 movie fiasco Showgirls.
  • It was purportedly based on a real woman who worked construction, but danced go-go nightly and had dreams of dancing on Broadway.
  • Beals' on-screen best friend, the ice skater; played by Sunny Johnson, died a year later from a brain aneyurism.
  • The main dance scenes were actually performed by French dancer/choreographer Marine Jahan, but was never actually credited, which caused a major rift between her, Paramount studios and the filmmakers.
  • Michael Nouri was 16 years Beals' senior in age. A bit too old to play her love interest.
  • The final "backspin" scene was done by a man in drag - a scene that he did literally kicking and screaming!

Finally, my three-and-a-half cents. I did enjoy the film immensely and still do. It was a product of its time and will still be a part of my 1980s mp3 repertoire. But, considering the current state of the world, this movie would be the absolute epitome of something the "me too" movement would cry foul upon. But, 2018 is clearly not 1983 by any means. And now...on to the music.

My Cherry Picks

She was a singer from upstate NY who won us over with her sweetness and sexy alluring beauty, but it was her full-throttle vocal prowess that set her apart from many female singers from the early 80s. This was an English cover of an Italian disco smash by Umberto Tozzi from 1979 and was one of the earliest examples of the post-disco-funk genre called "high energy" or stylized as Hi-NRG.

She sadly passed away in 2004, but another song of hers made the 'list. Featured in the late Sunny Johnson's skating routine that didn't fare so well. Read on.

This L.A. born/bred singer/songwriter broke into the big time in the late-70s as a country/pop artist. As new wave began to flourish, she would shift into that genre with her strong, raspy voice. A Smokey Robinson cover of "More Love" would cement her as an artist to look out for; but her eerie and pungent 1981 cover of Jackie DeShannon's "Bette Davis Eyes" would be her eternal bread and butter, spending nine weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. This was an album cut and was featured towards the end of the movie.

One of the most iconic rock jams from the early-80s was featured in a gym montage when the Mawby go-go girls work out their aggressions about the male dating scene. The artist was a loud, brazen, in-your-face hard rock/punk rocker; a one-time frontwoman for the punk band, The Runaways. She and her band, The Blackhearts would stay atop the Hot 100 for eight cool weeks!

A soundtrack cut by the prolific singer/songwriter/producer and founder of the disco/pop group, Brooklyn Dreams. He would actually carve out a career as a perennial movie soundtrack contributor for such 80s classics as The Karate Kid and Coming to America. He also sang with artists as diverse as Donna Summer and Brenda Russell, and the late Laura Branigan.

The Bostonian disco queen, who sadly left us in 2012, went new wave/rock for this soundtrack cut, featured in a Halloween party scene at the Mawby's Bar. It would be her second soundtrack contribution since the 1978 disco comedy, Thank God It's Friday. Sadly, she didn't appear in this one.

Very little is known about singer/songwriter Shandi Sinnamon, except that she was native of Miami. But, her soundtrack cut set the tone for the Jennifer Beals (Alex Owens) character in the iconic opening dance number which was also known for some rather dubious edits as to how did a clothes rack, a chair and even a water pail lever made its way to the stage!

Mawby's must've had some great stage hands! Dance double Marine Jahan was the clear star of the dance piece who even douses herself onstage a la Carrie! But, the song adds the killer sex appeal and establishes the future relationship between Alex and her boss, Nouri. Mooooving on....

A classical piece used in a montage where we sense Alex (Beals') longing to become a ballet dancer. Not featured in the soundtrack (for obvious reasons), but a nice breather from all the rock trappings. Albinoni was a Baroque composer and it took 232 years for his music to be featured in an 80s music montage flick. Wow!

An early funk/disco piece from the early-70s made its way into the film in a sequence that showcased one of the 80s biggest dance fads: breakdancing. The ability to pop-n-lock, headspin, backspin, robot, moonwalk and look cool doing it was a big 80s spiel. Castor was a multi-faceted musician whose claim to fame was a 1972 soul novelty hit, "Troglodyte." He passed away in 2012.

A rock/dance cut from the soundtrack featured in another dance sequence where dance double Jahan was heavily made up in Japanese geisha-style to conceal any questions that it wasn't Beals. It would also make an epileptic overuse of the "strobe" light. As mentioned, Branigan, who enjoyed a hit-making career in the 80s, died suddenly in 2004 of a brain aneurism. She was one of my all-time favorites. Still sad.

All we know about this artist is that she was a songwriter/pianist and this is her one known contribution. A slow instrumental aided by German/Italian producer phenom, Giorgio Moroder.

The award for "Best Pat Benatar soundalike" goes to this mostly unknown session singer (it was researched that she worked closely with the late Karen Carpenter) and was featured in a memorable dance sequence with dancer/choreographer/actress/singer Cynthia Rhodes who was married to singer/songwriter Richard Marx. She also appeared in Dirty Dancing, as what else? A dancer.

If a song could be a movie star, this would be it. The NYC singer/songwriter, who already was affiliated with the 1980 dance drama Fame, gave it her all with this movie theme. It's Hi-NRG beat and earnest lyrics about finding one's passions still resonate to this day. It won the Oscar for Best Song and Cara herself would have two of those under her belt for Fame as well. Now, the cake-topper...!

This Philadelphia, PA born/bred singer/songwriter/producer/musician wins the "chutzpah" award for this composition. Originally, it was envisioned as a Hi-NRG novelty dance song inspired by a violent exploitation horror film from 1980 that starred the late Joe Spinnell as a NYC serial killer. When it was submitted to Phil Ramone, he flipped for the demo, but asked Sembello to tweak the lyrics to suit the movie's dancing theme and take out the violent lyrics. The result was his only number one hit and a song used in a shitload of aerobics classes!

It was to his disappointment that when it received a nomination for Best Original Song, the Academy caught wind of the song's original theme and retracted the nomination. A fact that burns Sembello to this very day. But, as per this 'list, it wins hands down as the best soundtrack cut/hit of all time. I still hoof to it to this very day! A fact you can do with what you wish!

Fire up the boom box, headbands, leg warmers and the ballet slippers. The 80s will always rock!

Final Thought: My apologies to Cycle V for not adding "Seduce Me Tonight" to the 'list. I frankly didn't find it that memorable to begin with.

Next 'List Pending.

The Iconic 1983 Movie Poster!

playlist
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About the Creator

Carlos Gonzalez

A passionate writer and graphic artist looking to break into the BIG TIME! Short stories, scripts and graphic art are my forte! Brooklyn N.Y. born and raised. Living in Manchester, Connecticut! Working on two novels now!

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