Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals) is a steel worker. She does it to pay the bills. What she really wants to be is a dancer. To fill her desire, she works at a strip club. She doesn’t have the nerve to try out for a prestigious dance company, since she has no formal training. Instead, she comes up with elaborate dance routines for her stripping.

Her boss, Nick Hurley (Michael Nouri), goes to the gentlemen’s club where Alex works one night with another coworker. The coworker points out that Alex works for Nick. Nick is so entranced by Alex’s dancing that he decides to ask her out.

Alex and Nick start dating. Nick is very supportive (and protective) of Alex and her dreams. Her grandmother is constantly prodding her to try out for the dance company. Can Alex work up the nerve to apply and audition for the dance troupe?

Flashdance came out in 1983. My wife was shocked that I had never seen it, so we sat down and watched it before Netflix removed it from their list.

Flashdance attempts to be a dance movie. It is full of strippers who are more into a dramatic dance masterpiece than stripping. It seems to have been aimed at teenage boys in the early 80s. Had I watched it when I was in its apparent target demographic, perhaps it would have been a better movie. As it stands, it comes off as a cheesy early 80s chick flick full of dancers whose next move was more revealing than their clothing.

I had seen both of the iconic dance scenes, the water dropping dance scene at the club and Alex’s audition dance, various times over the years, but I had never had the desire to sit through the entire film for some reason. Having sat through it as an adult, I have to say that it doesn’t hold up well, especially against today’s dance movies (See: The Step-Up franchise), unless you count Battle of the Year. In that case, Flashdance isn’t so bad.

Still, if you haven’t seen it, it is one of those movies that you have to see to cross it off your list. I can’t promise that you’ll get much from it, other than a nostalgic feeling for what life in the 80s was like.

Considered this one checked off.