Speaker 1: I am all in. Oh that's just you. I am
Speaker 1: all in with Scott Patterson and I Hurt Radio podcast.
Speaker 1: So let me tell you something, man. Uh, I watched
Speaker 1: this movie and I was enchanted, delighted. Uh. I felt
Speaker 1: like it was a little short in some areas. It
Speaker 1: didn't really age well in some spots. Let's face it. Uh,
Speaker 1: but we're talking about flashdance, right, We're talking about flash dance.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you've got Adrian line Um directing a film, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's it's hard not to watch it.
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy really knows where to put a camera. Uh,
Speaker 1: he knows how to light a light a scene. It's
Speaker 1: I thought Jennifer Beals was an exciting, fresh, compelling talent,
Speaker 1: very gentle yet powerful performance. Um, a true movie star.
Speaker 1: I'm mystified as to why, or at the time when
Speaker 1: I was watching, I was mystified as to why she
Speaker 1: wasn't a bigger box office star. Um. But let me
Speaker 1: get your impressions of it, Scott. This is gonna be
Speaker 1: the first time you and I butt heads. I am
Speaker 1: not a fan of this movie. I I know, I know.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. This is where the frontier pushes back, uh,
Speaker 1: we we we You and I love the Goonies and
Speaker 1: we both saw The Beauty and the Wonder and Rosemary's Baby.
Speaker 1: But I'm not a dance I'm not a dance guy.
Speaker 1: I'm not a Broadway musical like. I don't like that
Speaker 1: show aspect. I like a good plot, I like good
Speaker 1: character develop I like twists here and there. And I
Speaker 1: saw this movie and the only thing that I took
Speaker 1: from it that that that I felt something was and
Speaker 1: again that this is maybe an unpopular opinion. I'm twenty
Speaker 1: two years old, I'm probably from a different time, but
Speaker 1: what a feeling by Irene Cara or care I don't
Speaker 1: know how to pronounce her name. That song, the Flash
Speaker 1: Dance song, is the only thing that I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, this is this is something. But and you know,
Speaker 1: the the final scene was cool, but I just didn't
Speaker 1: the movie didn't. It didn't speak to me. And maybe
Speaker 1: it could have, but maybe it just didn't speak to me. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's just, you know, it's a girl from a
Speaker 1: working class era part of Pittsburgh who was a welder,
Speaker 1: who didn't have money, but she had her dance and
Speaker 1: she had her passion and I just, you know, really
Speaker 1: root for somebody. And the thing I appreciate so much
Speaker 1: about her performance we're going to break down her performance
Speaker 1: a little bit, was that she didn't all into this
Speaker 1: sort of you know, putting on these affected um attitudes
Speaker 1: and accent of a working class girl, because you know,
Speaker 1: she's from south Side Chicago, so you know, some of
Speaker 1: the sweetest, most gentle, most loving and lovely people come
Speaker 1: from the inner city. It doesn't have to be this
Speaker 1: hard scrabbled, tough ass girl. It's like, here's this very vulnerable,
Speaker 1: very gentle girl. And she didn't have to play. She
Speaker 1: didn't play that. She just was that. So that's very
Speaker 1: difficult to do and it and it really comes down
Speaker 1: to the choice and how how smart a person she
Speaker 1: is and how smart an actress she is to know
Speaker 1: that to trust that, like, I'm from one of these areas, um,
Speaker 1: but I doesn't mean I have to be the stereotypical
Speaker 1: like tough chick who, like you know, has this sort
Speaker 1: of hard edge and attitude. Not at all. If anything,
Speaker 1: she removed that, and she became softer and softer and
Speaker 1: softer and more vulnerable, and she showed us who she was,
Speaker 1: which is really you know, the hard h of the
Speaker 1: character and and it was just a one I just
Speaker 1: I would have followed her through any situation, no matter
Speaker 1: how poorly written it was, no matter how dated it was,
Speaker 1: no matter how it didn't age well, you know, with
Speaker 1: the Michael Murray stuff, and you know, we have to
Speaker 1: depend on the rich guy who's connected to help help
Speaker 1: her out and all that kind of you know, contrived stuff.
Speaker 1: But um, um, I really appreciate the film, and I
Speaker 1: can see why it's an iconic film, um, And all
Speaker 1: the insecurities that she felt going into that audition to
Speaker 1: see all those you know, those upper crusty girls with
Speaker 1: their ballet shoes and their outfits, and then they looked
Speaker 1: down upon her and and sneered at her, and it's
Speaker 1: you know, it was. It was a very formulaic film
Speaker 1: with a very delightful, very compelling, fresh talent and Jennifer
Speaker 1: Beale's with a very gifted director who was saddled with
Speaker 1: this sort of a mediocre script. I'm sure you're familiar
Speaker 1: with Rotten Tomatoes, right They judge movies in the past,
Speaker 1: you know this this company is twenty one century and
Speaker 1: they judge movies in the past with the century film outlook.
Speaker 1: And so I think someone like on Rotten Tomatoes, like
Speaker 1: staff like critique because they gave the movie. It's interesting.
Speaker 1: They gave the movie the critics say, and the audience say,
Speaker 1: now here's here's here's here's where I'm coming. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna see both lenses of this film. I think
Speaker 1: anyone if you ask my parents or my aunts and uncles,
Speaker 1: or anyone who grew up in the eighties and was
Speaker 1: it youth, or just anyone who was very familiar with
Speaker 1: the culture, they would say, Oh my god, this is
Speaker 1: this is a show stopper, This is incredible, this is
Speaker 1: this is iconic, this is this is the movie of
Speaker 1: my time, of the decade. Because you had to be there.
Speaker 1: It was kind of one of those movies in the
Speaker 1: age you just had to be there to understand. Is
Speaker 1: is that? That's my understanding of it, because I think
Speaker 1: I'm the outside looking in. This movie is just compared
Speaker 1: to the other movies like this, uh you know where.
Speaker 1: It's about an underdog who overcomes adversity and and it
Speaker 1: tries and tries and fails and fails until he or
Speaker 1: she gets her his or her big shot and succeeds.
Speaker 1: I think you had to be there to really love
Speaker 1: this film. Otherwise a guy like me who sees and goes,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, it's just like whatever, I mean it it's
Speaker 1: okay or it's fine. Does that make sense that I
Speaker 1: don't feel like I'm rooted to it right? Well, no,
Speaker 1: there's I mean, it's like asking you know, when I
Speaker 1: was your age, it's like asking me to go back
Speaker 1: going on, you know, to to watch a film that was,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of lukewarm received, and yeah, I I
Speaker 1: totally got it, you know, but I you know, that's
Speaker 1: when I was, you know, I was what twenty four
Speaker 1: years old in three So it wasn't a film that
Speaker 1: I went to see. Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 1: It wasn't in my It didn't check my boxes at
Speaker 1: the time. So I never saw Flashdance. I never saw
Speaker 1: the film when I was a kid or when I
Speaker 1: was in my early twenties, and I never really wanted to.
Speaker 1: It wasn't ye know, but a you know a lot
Speaker 1: of people liked it. A lot of women loved it,
Speaker 1: and now I can see why, and I watched it.
Speaker 1: I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did. And I look, I
Speaker 1: not all films age well and uh this was one
Speaker 1: of them, but a lot of it did age. And
Speaker 1: you know, I thought, I thought some of those you know,
Speaker 1: those uh you know those strip club owner beating him
Speaker 1: up in the parking lot scenes and and then coming
Speaker 1: you know, then he would be back and you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of scenes later back in the club saying
Speaker 1: he was sorry and all this. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: just like, you know, if if this guy pulled this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff today, he'd be he would be canceled
Speaker 1: or east and arrested, and right exactly. I also want
Speaker 1: to say that, you know, I Michael Nourri was a
Speaker 1: very prominent actor back then on television, and um I
Speaker 1: found him to be particularly delightful in this film because
Speaker 1: he you know, he was very gentle with her. He
Speaker 1: he was obviously older. I mean, she was what eighteen
Speaker 1: years old, nineteen years old in this film, and he
Speaker 1: was divorced with I think a kid, and you know,
Speaker 1: he he screwed up his life and then he got
Speaker 1: it together and then he started this company where she
Speaker 1: works at and now he's like, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the wealthiest guys in town. But you know, he played
Speaker 1: it like a very sensitive soul who was you know.
Speaker 1: I kind of like them together because he made it
Speaker 1: easy for her to fall in love with him. He
Speaker 1: wasn't hard edged. He was just sort of open and
Speaker 1: charming and lovely and understanding. And and even though it
Speaker 1: didn't you know, a lot of the scenes didn't age well,
Speaker 1: his attitude toward her. I mean, he treated her with respect,
Speaker 1: he really did. He really really cheated her very gently,
Speaker 1: and no meant no, and you know, he was not
Speaker 1: pulling any of this macho stuff. And um, I I
Speaker 1: liked watching these two together. I thought they were magical together.
Speaker 1: I really really liked it. And I especially liked how
Speaker 1: he handled the scene when his ex wife came in
Speaker 1: when they were having dinner, when she was wearing the
Speaker 1: tails um uh, you know, the the tuxedo shirt at
Speaker 1: the dinner and looking so great and and he just
Speaker 1: sort of kind of, you know, that's okay, hon, you
Speaker 1: know whatever. I mean. He really he never gave away
Speaker 1: his power, uh, and he never tried to have too
Speaker 1: much power. And I just it was just two actors
Speaker 1: working on a very high level, I thought, with a
Speaker 1: limited script, and I thought they did a wonderful job.
Speaker 1: And I just don't think you could have found two
Speaker 1: more appealing people to put together. And you know, both
Speaker 1: very attractive people. Um, but I just think that very
Speaker 1: pleasant people to be around. And I enjoyed the hour
Speaker 1: and a half or hour forty because I got to
Speaker 1: be around these two people. Um, I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think I think you're dead. You're dead right with
Speaker 1: the casting and just kind of how the couple made
Speaker 1: you feel. Because part of the whole ambiguous nature of
Speaker 1: this movie is is this guy shady, is dark? What's
Speaker 1: going on with this other mistress? And and I guess
Speaker 1: the big plots of the movie was, yeah, it's his
Speaker 1: ex wife and there their interaction was at a charity
Speaker 1: event and when Alex chucked the brick through his window
Speaker 1: and kind of thinking this is okay, this is when
Speaker 1: this is when everything started. The crab is gonna hit
Speaker 1: the fan. Uh No, he's just really just a good guy.
Speaker 1: It was a misunderstanding and it's a genuine relationship and
Speaker 1: you kind of root for it. You root for her,
Speaker 1: you root for him, and then you you root for
Speaker 1: them together. And then at the end, like I said,
Speaker 1: it's a great ending because you know, she gets another
Speaker 1: chance at the dance in front of the judges, got
Speaker 1: a great song, and we have a great love, very combustible,
Speaker 1: passionate romance between these two unlikely lovers. As you said,
Speaker 1: the age difference is a little unsettling at first, but
Speaker 1: then you kind of just grow with it and you
Speaker 1: kind of ignore it because it's true of and it's genuine,
Speaker 1: and it's great to watch. She's just a young young
Speaker 1: girl who was not getting any support from home, who
Speaker 1: had a father who didn't understand either either, one of
Speaker 1: his daughters, who kind of came around with his ice
Speaker 1: skating daughter. And you know, it was the good guy
Speaker 1: and the stand up guy when she lost the competition
Speaker 1: and she fell and made her know, there was some
Speaker 1: nice moments there, but they they didn't get her. They
Speaker 1: didn't get that she was welder and a dancer, and
Speaker 1: you know, I was like, what is going on? And
Speaker 1: and he was just so checked out. And so here
Speaker 1: you have this very lovely, very sensitive, talented young girl
Speaker 1: on her own, working as a welder in Pittsburgh, living
Speaker 1: in this loft with her dog, and you know, having
Speaker 1: dreams and it's just it's such a it's such a
Speaker 1: magnetic story. It's just such a um you know, there's
Speaker 1: so many people in and it doesn't matter what year
Speaker 1: it is or how many decades ago it was. There's
Speaker 1: so many people in the same circumstances that are it's aspirational.
Speaker 1: And I thought, what a what a wonderful example, and
Speaker 1: what a wonderful piece of casting to choose Jennifer Beals
Speaker 1: to represent all of the people who aspire to be UM.
Speaker 1: And I just I just think if they'd pick somebody
Speaker 1: else that wouldn't have had the impact. I just think
Speaker 1: it was all about are the star power of Jennifer
Speaker 1: Beale's and the magical configuration between Jennifer Beals and Michael
Speaker 1: nourri Um. Yeah, I just and this is the this
Speaker 1: is why it's iconic. It is it is It is
Speaker 1: the casting of these two and the performances that they
Speaker 1: give UM. And I think Adrian Line helped a lot
Speaker 1: because there was some really kind of avant garde um
Speaker 1: scenes in the beginning of the dancing, especially very racy dancing,
Speaker 1: and it was it was, you know, it let you
Speaker 1: know that this this film has a hard edge. This
Speaker 1: is this is what these girls do, this is how
Speaker 1: they earn a living. This is how tough it can
Speaker 1: get in the inner city sometimes. You know, this is
Speaker 1: what they are that there are no other options for
Speaker 1: these women, and this is what they're doing to get
Speaker 1: ahead to to fund their you know, ballet classes and
Speaker 1: shoes and you know, I mean it's not cheap. It
Speaker 1: doesn't pay for itself, right, So, um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was just I was very moved by the whole thing.
Speaker 1: And it's a film that I will watch again and
Speaker 1: enjoy again because there was a lot of art in
Speaker 1: it and there was a lot of very positive stuff
Speaker 1: coming out of that film. I really enjoyed that film. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what would you rate the film out of ten? Including decimals?
Speaker 1: Here we go the question of the day. I mean,
Speaker 1: I want to give it, gosh. I mean, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be generous. I really love the film. You've been
Speaker 1: quite generous. I know, I know, I know, I know
Speaker 1: I didn't need a ten out of ten something. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I could ever home run home run
Speaker 1: of a film, home run of a film should have
Speaker 1: been nominated for an Oscar. But Flash Dance, I mean,
Speaker 1: I want to give it. I'm so fond of that film,
Speaker 1: and I'm so fond of her performance in Michael Norri's performance. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it a nine poet six interesting six,
Speaker 1: you know what, everyone is in the title to their
Speaker 1: own opinion, and it's beautiful that way. I will say,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give this a six point seven, you know,
Speaker 1: and and here's and it's because it's out of respect
Speaker 1: for my elders, because they have been the feelings of
Speaker 1: nostalgia from this era, something I don't have, and I
Speaker 1: can't respect the film the same. I just don't have it.
Speaker 1: I thought it was beautiful with the dancing, and I
Speaker 1: thought Jennifer Beales was awesome and Michael Neury we we
Speaker 1: talked about the relationship. I thought that was great. But
Speaker 1: for me, you know me, I love a good plot,
Speaker 1: I love good twist, character development. I'm a big dialogue guy,
Speaker 1: and of course I like stuff that ages well and
Speaker 1: it's fresh day after day after day. So yes, it
Speaker 1: is above a five, meaning it is watchable. In my eyes,
Speaker 1: it's in the six cregory meaning it's okay. Six point
Speaker 1: seven means it's okay going on good because it is
Speaker 1: right there, and I have respect for the film as
Speaker 1: a whole, and you have to respect how iconic it is.
Speaker 1: So yes, six point seven of tend you're come to
Speaker 1: pitch forks and knives from everyone who grew up in
Speaker 1: the time. It's just it's just what what I The
Speaker 1: way I think about it is maybe it wasn't a
Speaker 1: perfect film. I thought that dialogue was handled very well.
Speaker 1: It was minimal If it wasn't right on the nose,
Speaker 1: it was minimalist, and I appreciated that. I like the
Speaker 1: fact that she didn't say too much, and I like
Speaker 1: the fact that he didn't say too much and they
Speaker 1: got their point across. I like those scenes. Um. But
Speaker 1: the way I think about this film historically is how
Speaker 1: it's inspired so many people, especially women, to go for it.
Speaker 1: And there aren't a lot of really great films that
Speaker 1: do that, and a lot of films attempt to do it,
Speaker 1: but I think this film actually did it be because
Speaker 1: it's hard to really it's hard to get an audience
Speaker 1: to fall in love with a lead character. Hard to
Speaker 1: do it. They picked the right actress, they put her
Speaker 1: with the right director, they teamed her with the right
Speaker 1: male star. And as far as comfort food or support
Speaker 1: for your dreams, if you're feeling down in the mouth,
Speaker 1: and you want to go back and get inspired. You
Speaker 1: watch you know, you could you could go back to
Speaker 1: Flashdance and you could watch that and get some strength. So,
Speaker 1: you know, what, what is the meaning of film? What purposes?
Speaker 1: Film service society? What you know? It means different things
Speaker 1: to different people. So from that perspective, I'm giving it
Speaker 1: a nine point What did I say? Six or seven?
Speaker 1: Nine points? That was beautiful, by the way, that was
Speaker 1: that was right from the heart. I appreciate that. That
Speaker 1: was awesome. You know, there are there are sort of
Speaker 1: junkie films sometimes that inspire people. This this was not
Speaker 1: a junkie film. I thought this was a it had
Speaker 1: it had some very fine moments. Um. Anyway, I'll leave
Speaker 1: it at that. Awesome, Scott, here's the here's the word
Speaker 1: from the producers is a tease for next episode. We
Speaker 1: actually get to review something, a movie that I'm very
Speaker 1: passionate about. So maybe this is what you get a
Speaker 1: chance to dive into my psyche and what what what
Speaker 1: gets me out of the bed every morning as a
Speaker 1: film lover. We get to analyze the sixth sense good, yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm fired up. Mentioned in the fabulous Sinnamons
Speaker 1: Wake episode of The Gilmour Girls. But the sixth sense
Speaker 1: I I can't even stand on. I'm ecstatic about revealing
Speaker 1: that we're gonna break that down out okay, good, I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to that one. But to that was a
Speaker 1: great episode today. And I love to hear your heart
Speaker 1: really pour out in the microphone coming out from the
Speaker 1: movie because I could see how it. I can see
Speaker 1: the inspiration and it gives you and and and many
Speaker 1: people that from your generation. I think that's beautiful. Um,
Speaker 1: you get to see that sixth cents inspires me a
Speaker 1: little bit next week. Deal, good deal, buddy, all right man, um, alright, Henry,
Speaker 1: I guess that's gonna do it for this episode. So
Speaker 1: uh so, thanks everybody for for downloading. And uh I'm
Speaker 1: Scott Patterson and this is my buddy Henry, and we
Speaker 1: are breaking we are we are breaking down films for
Speaker 1: you flashdance and we'll see you next time. All the best,