Starring Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Sunny Johnson, and Lilla Skala
Directed by Adrian Lyne
Music and Lyrics by various
The cable channel MTV (Music Television) launched with much fanfare in 1981 and became an instant success, especially among teenagers and young adults who responded heavily to its fast-paced and flashy editing style. Suddenly, every movie in the 80's was being advertised with a music video for its big song, even if it wasn't a musical. Out-and-out musicals also briefly became popular...but they weren't like the musicals of old, with performers singing a showtune, then doing a dance number. Quick editing and dynamic routines were danced over pre-recorded songs, giving these movies a hip, gritty edge that the old-fashioned stories lack. How does this hit about a teen who badly wants to become a dancer look today? Let's meet Alex Owens (Beals) as she's about to go into her dance and find out...
The Story: Alex works as a welder in a Pittsburgh steel mill by day. At night, she does sexy dances at a local bar to make money for ballet school. Though she wants to join the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory, their application that asks for experience keeps scaring her off. She has no real experience besides her bar work and her dancing in her converted warehouse home. Her mentor, retired ballerina Hanna Long (Skala), encourages her dreams. So do her co-workers, wanna-be comic Richie (Kyle T. Heffner) and aspiring figure skater Jeanie (Johnson).
She first meets handsome 30-something Nick Hurley (Nouri), the owner of the steel mill where she works, at the bar. He's immediately smitten with her and keeps trying to ask her out, but it takes longer for her to warm up to him. Meanwhile, Jeanie's having her own problems after her first skating competition goes badly and Richie finally leaves for LA. Alex catches her working in a strip joint, and then, she's angry with Nick for pulling strings to get her an audition with the Conservatory. It takes the loss of Hanna and a story from a fellow dancer at the bar to make her truly understand the importance of taking chances on our dreams.
The Song and Dance: This is the second movie I've reviewed in a row featuring a romance between a much older man and a super-mature teenage girl. Jennifer Beals also turned 18 during filming...and while she's not as mature for her age as Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit, you still wouldn't peg her for a kid barely out of high school. I can see why she (and those famous ripped sweatshirts) became a star here. She reeks grit and determination. Nouri, as the rich mill owner who clawed his way from poverty and hopes to help Alex do the same, is the only one who comes close to her. Some location shooting in authentic Pittsburgh locations, including Alex riding her bike on actual streets, add to the gritty Steel City feel.
Favorite Number: We open with one of the two famous routines from this one, Alex's erotic dance in a brief red leotard around a chair and bare blue bulbs that ends with her sending water splashing over her, "He's a Dream." "Maniac" takes us to her warehouse home as she shows off her daily dancing routine. She also gets the bizarre Laura Brannigan number "Imagination," with her in white geisha makeup, stripping from a bulky glitter-covered kimono to a red dress to a t-shirt and blue leggings, dancing around a TV set as strobe lights go off. (Those of you who are sensitive to flashing lights will want to watch out for this one.)
Another dancer at the club gets to perform the kinkier "Manhunt" in scanty leather. The other big Laura Brannigan song, "Gloria," provides the backdrop for Jeanie's skating routine. It begins well...but ends with her sitting despondently on the ice after two flubs bring her dreams crashing to earth.
By far the most iconic number here is the Oscar-winning "What a Feeling!" in the finale. After a shaky start, Alex finally shows the judges - and the audience - what she can really do. We get everything from breakdancing moves to amazing back bends to ballet...and despite it being obvious that several different dancers were used (none of them Beals), you can still understand why the judges were so impressed.
Trivia: The famous cut-off sweatshirt Beals wears early in the film came about by accident. Beals had a sweatshirt that shrunk, and she had to cut off the collar to get it on. It later became a major mid-80's fashion trend and can be seen on the original poster.
There is a stage musical version that's played England, including the West End. It was to have played Broadway in 2013, but has been put "on hold."
What I Don't Like: Was it a requirement for every 80's dance movie to have an annoyingly melodramatic and old-fashioned plot? I found Alex's problems with Nick to be a huge bore as a kid, and they're not really that much more interesting today. There's also the age difference between Nick and Alex. Nouri really was 36 at the time, and it's sometimes creepy to watch him so ardently pursue her. Alex is no prize on occasion herself, insulting his ex-wife and whining over not having enough experience when she's already dancing in bars at 18. And couldn't they have found an actual dancer - and only one dancer - to play Alex? As in Footloose, the dance doubles are almost comically obvious, including the breakdancer with the mustache.
Oh, and despite the lead character being 18, heed the R rating here. Violence, lots of cursing, Alex's insinuation that she and Nick slept together, and topless dancers at the strip joint make this absolutely not for children.
The Big Finale: In the end, I found this to be slightly more enjoyable than the similar Footloose, thanks to Beals' mostly charming performance and those famous routines. If you love musical soap operas or the fast-paced film musicals of the 1980's, this one is still worth pushing through the bar crowd to check out.
Home Media: Easy to find in every format, often for under ten dollars. A new Blu-Ray with tons of extras was released a year ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment