1983 Flashdance

Flashdance is so 80's you could almost forgive it for being a pastiche. We continue the trend for romantic drama and as such, we have another hit on our hands with a song to go with it.

Directed by Adrian Lyne, who sort of found fame as a soft porn director with the likes of Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal, it stars Jennifer Beals in her one big movie. She plays a down and out of luck odd-job person who dreams to become a ballet dancer. The man she falls in love with helps her and...

well, you can guess the rest.

It's the sort of plot that was popular during this decade, and, to aid that, audiences flocked to the theatres in droves. See also the plots to An Officer and a Gentleman and Top Gun.

The movie did have a hit song, What A Feeling by Irene Cara, and it has style and sass that a director like Lyne brings. He was an ad director, and like others in his like, he does bring his own style and directs with confidence. Jennifer Beals didn't really recover from this movie, she remained in the shadows while others took the acclaim. This was common in the 80's for women in movies, and sadly still today. While the likes of Tom Cruise and Eddie Murphy made it big, women actors had their role to play and vehicles for their talents were not there.

This is well worth a watch, simply because it is so 80's. It is a shame that Jennifer Beals has not got further in the public psyche, while Kevin Bacon has carved a career out of a similar movie, Footloose.