Latest / I Am All In with Scott Patterson / I Am All In Minisode: Henry's Movie Review (S1, E3) “Flashdance"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I am all in. Oh that's just you. I am
- 0:17Speaker 1: all in with Scott Patterson and I Hurt Radio podcast.
- 0:20Speaker 1: So let me tell you something, man. Uh, I watched
- 0:24Speaker 1: this movie and I was enchanted, delighted. Uh. I felt
- 0:34Speaker 1: like it was a little short in some areas. It
- 0:36Speaker 1: didn't really age well in some spots. Let's face it. Uh,
- 0:42Speaker 1: but we're talking about flashdance, right, We're talking about flash dance.
- 0:45Speaker 1: I mean, when you've got Adrian line Um directing a film, Uh,
- 0:51Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's it's hard not to watch it.
- 0:54Speaker 1: I mean, the guy really knows where to put a camera. Uh,
- 0:58Speaker 1: he knows how to light a light a scene. It's
- 1:03Speaker 1: I thought Jennifer Beals was an exciting, fresh, compelling talent,
- 1:09Speaker 1: very gentle yet powerful performance. Um, a true movie star.
- 1:16Speaker 1: I'm mystified as to why, or at the time when
- 1:20Speaker 1: I was watching, I was mystified as to why she
- 1:22Speaker 1: wasn't a bigger box office star. Um. But let me
- 1:27Speaker 1: get your impressions of it, Scott. This is gonna be
- 1:31Speaker 1: the first time you and I butt heads. I am
- 1:35Speaker 1: not a fan of this movie. I I know, I know.
- 1:39Speaker 1: I'm sorry. This is where the frontier pushes back, uh,
- 1:42Speaker 1: we we we You and I love the Goonies and
- 1:45Speaker 1: we both saw The Beauty and the Wonder and Rosemary's Baby.
- 1:49Speaker 1: But I'm not a dance I'm not a dance guy.
- 1:53Speaker 1: I'm not a Broadway musical like. I don't like that
- 1:55Speaker 1: show aspect. I like a good plot, I like good
- 1:59Speaker 1: character develop I like twists here and there. And I
- 2:03Speaker 1: saw this movie and the only thing that I took
- 2:06Speaker 1: from it that that that I felt something was and
- 2:08Speaker 1: again that this is maybe an unpopular opinion. I'm twenty
- 2:11Speaker 1: two years old, I'm probably from a different time, but
- 2:14Speaker 1: what a feeling by Irene Cara or care I don't
- 2:18Speaker 1: know how to pronounce her name. That song, the Flash
- 2:20Speaker 1: Dance song, is the only thing that I was like, Okay,
- 2:23Speaker 1: all right, this is this is something. But and you know,
- 2:26Speaker 1: the the final scene was cool, but I just didn't
- 2:30Speaker 1: the movie didn't. It didn't speak to me. And maybe
- 2:33Speaker 1: it could have, but maybe it just didn't speak to me. Right. Well,
- 2:37Speaker 1: it's it's just, you know, it's a girl from a
- 2:40Speaker 1: working class era part of Pittsburgh who was a welder,
- 2:43Speaker 1: who didn't have money, but she had her dance and
- 2:47Speaker 1: she had her passion and I just, you know, really
- 2:52Speaker 1: root for somebody. And the thing I appreciate so much
- 2:55Speaker 1: about her performance we're going to break down her performance
- 2:58Speaker 1: a little bit, was that she didn't all into this
- 3:00Speaker 1: sort of you know, putting on these affected um attitudes
- 3:05Speaker 1: and accent of a working class girl, because you know,
- 3:09Speaker 1: she's from south Side Chicago, so you know, some of
- 3:13Speaker 1: the sweetest, most gentle, most loving and lovely people come
- 3:16Speaker 1: from the inner city. It doesn't have to be this
- 3:19Speaker 1: hard scrabbled, tough ass girl. It's like, here's this very vulnerable,
- 3:22Speaker 1: very gentle girl. And she didn't have to play. She
- 3:25Speaker 1: didn't play that. She just was that. So that's very
- 3:29Speaker 1: difficult to do and it and it really comes down
- 3:33Speaker 1: to the choice and how how smart a person she
- 3:37Speaker 1: is and how smart an actress she is to know
- 3:40Speaker 1: that to trust that, like, I'm from one of these areas, um,
- 3:45Speaker 1: but I doesn't mean I have to be the stereotypical
- 3:47Speaker 1: like tough chick who, like you know, has this sort
- 3:50Speaker 1: of hard edge and attitude. Not at all. If anything,
- 3:52Speaker 1: she removed that, and she became softer and softer and
- 3:55Speaker 1: softer and more vulnerable, and she showed us who she was,
- 3:59Speaker 1: which is really you know, the hard h of the
- 4:02Speaker 1: character and and it was just a one I just
- 4:06Speaker 1: I would have followed her through any situation, no matter
- 4:09Speaker 1: how poorly written it was, no matter how dated it was,
- 4:12Speaker 1: no matter how it didn't age well, you know, with
- 4:14Speaker 1: the Michael Murray stuff, and you know, we have to
- 4:17Speaker 1: depend on the rich guy who's connected to help help
- 4:20Speaker 1: her out and all that kind of you know, contrived stuff.
- 4:23Speaker 1: But um, um, I really appreciate the film, and I
- 4:28Speaker 1: can see why it's an iconic film, um, And all
- 4:33Speaker 1: the insecurities that she felt going into that audition to
- 4:37Speaker 1: see all those you know, those upper crusty girls with
- 4:40Speaker 1: their ballet shoes and their outfits, and then they looked
- 4:43Speaker 1: down upon her and and sneered at her, and it's
- 4:48Speaker 1: you know, it was. It was a very formulaic film
- 4:52Speaker 1: with a very delightful, very compelling, fresh talent and Jennifer
- 4:56Speaker 1: Beale's with a very gifted director who was saddled with
- 4:59Speaker 1: this sort of a mediocre script. I'm sure you're familiar
- 5:02Speaker 1: with Rotten Tomatoes, right They judge movies in the past,
- 5:06Speaker 1: you know this this company is twenty one century and
- 5:08Speaker 1: they judge movies in the past with the century film outlook.
- 5:11Speaker 1: And so I think someone like on Rotten Tomatoes, like
- 5:15Speaker 1: staff like critique because they gave the movie. It's interesting.
- 5:18Speaker 1: They gave the movie the critics say, and the audience say,
- 5:25Speaker 1: now here's here's here's here's where I'm coming. I'm gonna
- 5:28Speaker 1: I'm gonna see both lenses of this film. I think
- 5:32Speaker 1: anyone if you ask my parents or my aunts and uncles,
- 5:34Speaker 1: or anyone who grew up in the eighties and was
- 5:37Speaker 1: it youth, or just anyone who was very familiar with
- 5:40Speaker 1: the culture, they would say, Oh my god, this is
- 5:43Speaker 1: this is a show stopper, This is incredible, this is
- 5:45Speaker 1: this is iconic, this is this is the movie of
- 5:48Speaker 1: my time, of the decade. Because you had to be there.
- 5:51Speaker 1: It was kind of one of those movies in the
- 5:53Speaker 1: age you just had to be there to understand. Is
- 5:57Speaker 1: is that? That's my understanding of it, because I think
- 6:00Speaker 1: I'm the outside looking in. This movie is just compared
- 6:03Speaker 1: to the other movies like this, uh you know where.
- 6:07Speaker 1: It's about an underdog who overcomes adversity and and it
- 6:11Speaker 1: tries and tries and fails and fails until he or
- 6:14Speaker 1: she gets her his or her big shot and succeeds.
- 6:18Speaker 1: I think you had to be there to really love
- 6:22Speaker 1: this film. Otherwise a guy like me who sees and goes,
- 6:24Speaker 1: oh yeah, it's just like whatever, I mean it it's
- 6:27Speaker 1: okay or it's fine. Does that make sense that I
- 6:31Speaker 1: don't feel like I'm rooted to it right? Well, no,
- 6:34Speaker 1: there's I mean, it's like asking you know, when I
- 6:36Speaker 1: was your age, it's like asking me to go back
- 6:42Speaker 1: going on, you know, to to watch a film that was,
- 6:47Speaker 1: you know, sort of lukewarm received, and yeah, I I
- 6:51Speaker 1: totally got it, you know, but I you know, that's
- 6:53Speaker 1: when I was, you know, I was what twenty four
- 6:57Speaker 1: years old in three So it wasn't a film that
- 7:02Speaker 1: I went to see. Let's just put it that way.
- 7:06Speaker 1: It wasn't in my It didn't check my boxes at
- 7:10Speaker 1: the time. So I never saw Flashdance. I never saw
- 7:14Speaker 1: the film when I was a kid or when I
- 7:17Speaker 1: was in my early twenties, and I never really wanted to.
- 7:20Speaker 1: It wasn't ye know, but a you know a lot
- 7:24Speaker 1: of people liked it. A lot of women loved it,
- 7:26Speaker 1: and now I can see why, and I watched it.
- 7:28Speaker 1: I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did. And I look, I
- 7:32Speaker 1: not all films age well and uh this was one
- 7:36Speaker 1: of them, but a lot of it did age. And
- 7:38Speaker 1: you know, I thought, I thought some of those you know,
- 7:40Speaker 1: those uh you know those strip club owner beating him
- 7:44Speaker 1: up in the parking lot scenes and and then coming
- 7:48Speaker 1: you know, then he would be back and you know,
- 7:50Speaker 1: a couple of scenes later back in the club saying
- 7:53Speaker 1: he was sorry and all this. I mean, it was
- 7:54Speaker 1: just like, you know, if if this guy pulled this
- 7:57Speaker 1: kind of stuff today, he'd be he would be canceled
- 7:59Speaker 1: or east and arrested, and right exactly. I also want
- 8:05Speaker 1: to say that, you know, I Michael Nourri was a
- 8:11Speaker 1: very prominent actor back then on television, and um I
- 8:18Speaker 1: found him to be particularly delightful in this film because
- 8:22Speaker 1: he you know, he was very gentle with her. He
- 8:25Speaker 1: he was obviously older. I mean, she was what eighteen
- 8:29Speaker 1: years old, nineteen years old in this film, and he
- 8:32Speaker 1: was divorced with I think a kid, and you know,
- 8:36Speaker 1: he he screwed up his life and then he got
- 8:38Speaker 1: it together and then he started this company where she
- 8:41Speaker 1: works at and now he's like, you know, one of
- 8:43Speaker 1: the wealthiest guys in town. But you know, he played
- 8:48Speaker 1: it like a very sensitive soul who was you know.
- 8:51Speaker 1: I kind of like them together because he made it
- 8:55Speaker 1: easy for her to fall in love with him. He
- 8:58Speaker 1: wasn't hard edged. He was just sort of open and
- 9:01Speaker 1: charming and lovely and understanding. And and even though it
- 9:05Speaker 1: didn't you know, a lot of the scenes didn't age well,
- 9:09Speaker 1: his attitude toward her. I mean, he treated her with respect,
- 9:14Speaker 1: he really did. He really really cheated her very gently,
- 9:18Speaker 1: and no meant no, and you know, he was not
- 9:22Speaker 1: pulling any of this macho stuff. And um, I I
- 9:27Speaker 1: liked watching these two together. I thought they were magical together.
- 9:30Speaker 1: I really really liked it. And I especially liked how
- 9:34Speaker 1: he handled the scene when his ex wife came in
- 9:36Speaker 1: when they were having dinner, when she was wearing the
- 9:38Speaker 1: tails um uh, you know, the the tuxedo shirt at
- 9:45Speaker 1: the dinner and looking so great and and he just
- 9:49Speaker 1: sort of kind of, you know, that's okay, hon, you
- 9:52Speaker 1: know whatever. I mean. He really he never gave away
- 9:55Speaker 1: his power, uh, and he never tried to have too
- 9:59Speaker 1: much power. And I just it was just two actors
- 10:04Speaker 1: working on a very high level, I thought, with a
- 10:06Speaker 1: limited script, and I thought they did a wonderful job.
- 10:08Speaker 1: And I just don't think you could have found two
- 10:10Speaker 1: more appealing people to put together. And you know, both
- 10:14Speaker 1: very attractive people. Um, but I just think that very
- 10:17Speaker 1: pleasant people to be around. And I enjoyed the hour
- 10:21Speaker 1: and a half or hour forty because I got to
- 10:23Speaker 1: be around these two people. Um, I agree with you.
- 10:28Speaker 1: I think I think you're dead. You're dead right with
- 10:30Speaker 1: the casting and just kind of how the couple made
- 10:33Speaker 1: you feel. Because part of the whole ambiguous nature of
- 10:37Speaker 1: this movie is is this guy shady, is dark? What's
- 10:40Speaker 1: going on with this other mistress? And and I guess
- 10:43Speaker 1: the big plots of the movie was, yeah, it's his
- 10:46Speaker 1: ex wife and there their interaction was at a charity
- 10:50Speaker 1: event and when Alex chucked the brick through his window
- 10:55Speaker 1: and kind of thinking this is okay, this is when
- 10:58Speaker 1: this is when everything started. The crab is gonna hit
- 11:00Speaker 1: the fan. Uh No, he's just really just a good guy.
- 11:04Speaker 1: It was a misunderstanding and it's a genuine relationship and
- 11:07Speaker 1: you kind of root for it. You root for her,
- 11:09Speaker 1: you root for him, and then you you root for
- 11:11Speaker 1: them together. And then at the end, like I said,
- 11:14Speaker 1: it's a great ending because you know, she gets another
- 11:17Speaker 1: chance at the dance in front of the judges, got
- 11:19Speaker 1: a great song, and we have a great love, very combustible,
- 11:24Speaker 1: passionate romance between these two unlikely lovers. As you said,
- 11:28Speaker 1: the age difference is a little unsettling at first, but
- 11:31Speaker 1: then you kind of just grow with it and you
- 11:34Speaker 1: kind of ignore it because it's true of and it's genuine,
- 11:38Speaker 1: and it's great to watch. She's just a young young
- 11:43Speaker 1: girl who was not getting any support from home, who
- 11:46Speaker 1: had a father who didn't understand either either, one of
- 11:49Speaker 1: his daughters, who kind of came around with his ice
- 11:52Speaker 1: skating daughter. And you know, it was the good guy
- 11:55Speaker 1: and the stand up guy when she lost the competition
- 11:57Speaker 1: and she fell and made her know, there was some
- 12:00Speaker 1: nice moments there, but they they didn't get her. They
- 12:03Speaker 1: didn't get that she was welder and a dancer, and
- 12:06Speaker 1: you know, I was like, what is going on? And
- 12:07Speaker 1: and he was just so checked out. And so here
- 12:11Speaker 1: you have this very lovely, very sensitive, talented young girl
- 12:15Speaker 1: on her own, working as a welder in Pittsburgh, living
- 12:18Speaker 1: in this loft with her dog, and you know, having
- 12:22Speaker 1: dreams and it's just it's such a it's such a
- 12:26Speaker 1: magnetic story. It's just such a um you know, there's
- 12:31Speaker 1: so many people in and it doesn't matter what year
- 12:34Speaker 1: it is or how many decades ago it was. There's
- 12:36Speaker 1: so many people in the same circumstances that are it's aspirational.
- 12:41Speaker 1: And I thought, what a what a wonderful example, and
- 12:43Speaker 1: what a wonderful piece of casting to choose Jennifer Beals
- 12:46Speaker 1: to represent all of the people who aspire to be UM.
- 12:53Speaker 1: And I just I just think if they'd pick somebody
- 12:56Speaker 1: else that wouldn't have had the impact. I just think
- 12:58Speaker 1: it was all about are the star power of Jennifer
- 13:01Speaker 1: Beale's and the magical configuration between Jennifer Beals and Michael
- 13:06Speaker 1: nourri Um. Yeah, I just and this is the this
- 13:12Speaker 1: is why it's iconic. It is it is It is
- 13:15Speaker 1: the casting of these two and the performances that they
- 13:17Speaker 1: give UM. And I think Adrian Line helped a lot
- 13:21Speaker 1: because there was some really kind of avant garde um
- 13:27Speaker 1: scenes in the beginning of the dancing, especially very racy dancing,
- 13:31Speaker 1: and it was it was, you know, it let you
- 13:34Speaker 1: know that this this film has a hard edge. This
- 13:37Speaker 1: is this is what these girls do, this is how
- 13:39Speaker 1: they earn a living. This is how tough it can
- 13:41Speaker 1: get in the inner city sometimes. You know, this is
- 13:44Speaker 1: what they are that there are no other options for
- 13:47Speaker 1: these women, and this is what they're doing to get
- 13:50Speaker 1: ahead to to fund their you know, ballet classes and
- 13:55Speaker 1: shoes and you know, I mean it's not cheap. It
- 13:57Speaker 1: doesn't pay for itself, right, So, um, I don't know.
- 14:01Speaker 1: I was just I was very moved by the whole thing.
- 14:04Speaker 1: And it's a film that I will watch again and
- 14:06Speaker 1: enjoy again because there was a lot of art in
- 14:09Speaker 1: it and there was a lot of very positive stuff
- 14:11Speaker 1: coming out of that film. I really enjoyed that film. Yeah,
- 14:19Speaker 1: what would you rate the film out of ten? Including decimals?
- 14:24Speaker 1: Here we go the question of the day. I mean,
- 14:27Speaker 1: I want to give it, gosh. I mean, I'm I'm
- 14:29Speaker 1: gonna be generous. I really love the film. You've been
- 14:33Speaker 1: quite generous. I know, I know, I know, I know
- 14:35Speaker 1: I didn't need a ten out of ten something. I
- 14:38Speaker 1: don't know if I could ever home run home run
- 14:40Speaker 1: of a film, home run of a film should have
- 14:44Speaker 1: been nominated for an Oscar. But Flash Dance, I mean,
- 14:47Speaker 1: I want to give it. I'm so fond of that film,
- 14:51Speaker 1: and I'm so fond of her performance in Michael Norri's performance. Um,
- 14:58Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it a nine poet six interesting six,
- 15:07Speaker 1: you know what, everyone is in the title to their
- 15:10Speaker 1: own opinion, and it's beautiful that way. I will say,
- 15:14Speaker 1: I'm going to give this a six point seven, you know,
- 15:19Speaker 1: and and here's and it's because it's out of respect
- 15:23Speaker 1: for my elders, because they have been the feelings of
- 15:26Speaker 1: nostalgia from this era, something I don't have, and I
- 15:29Speaker 1: can't respect the film the same. I just don't have it.
- 15:32Speaker 1: I thought it was beautiful with the dancing, and I
- 15:35Speaker 1: thought Jennifer Beales was awesome and Michael Neury we we
- 15:40Speaker 1: talked about the relationship. I thought that was great. But
- 15:42Speaker 1: for me, you know me, I love a good plot,
- 15:45Speaker 1: I love good twist, character development. I'm a big dialogue guy,
- 15:49Speaker 1: and of course I like stuff that ages well and
- 15:51Speaker 1: it's fresh day after day after day. So yes, it
- 15:56Speaker 1: is above a five, meaning it is watchable. In my eyes,
- 15:59Speaker 1: it's in the six cregory meaning it's okay. Six point
- 16:02Speaker 1: seven means it's okay going on good because it is
- 16:04Speaker 1: right there, and I have respect for the film as
- 16:07Speaker 1: a whole, and you have to respect how iconic it is.
- 16:09Speaker 1: So yes, six point seven of tend you're come to
- 16:13Speaker 1: pitch forks and knives from everyone who grew up in
- 16:15Speaker 1: the time. It's just it's just what what I The
- 16:18Speaker 1: way I think about it is maybe it wasn't a
- 16:21Speaker 1: perfect film. I thought that dialogue was handled very well.
- 16:25Speaker 1: It was minimal If it wasn't right on the nose,
- 16:28Speaker 1: it was minimalist, and I appreciated that. I like the
- 16:32Speaker 1: fact that she didn't say too much, and I like
- 16:34Speaker 1: the fact that he didn't say too much and they
- 16:36Speaker 1: got their point across. I like those scenes. Um. But
- 16:41Speaker 1: the way I think about this film historically is how
- 16:44Speaker 1: it's inspired so many people, especially women, to go for it.
- 16:50Speaker 1: And there aren't a lot of really great films that
- 16:55Speaker 1: do that, and a lot of films attempt to do it,
- 16:57Speaker 1: but I think this film actually did it be because
- 17:00Speaker 1: it's hard to really it's hard to get an audience
- 17:03Speaker 1: to fall in love with a lead character. Hard to
- 17:05Speaker 1: do it. They picked the right actress, they put her
- 17:07Speaker 1: with the right director, they teamed her with the right
- 17:10Speaker 1: male star. And as far as comfort food or support
- 17:16Speaker 1: for your dreams, if you're feeling down in the mouth,
- 17:19Speaker 1: and you want to go back and get inspired. You
- 17:21Speaker 1: watch you know, you could you could go back to
- 17:23Speaker 1: Flashdance and you could watch that and get some strength. So,
- 17:26Speaker 1: you know, what, what is the meaning of film? What purposes?
- 17:30Speaker 1: Film service society? What you know? It means different things
- 17:33Speaker 1: to different people. So from that perspective, I'm giving it
- 17:36Speaker 1: a nine point What did I say? Six or seven?
- 17:39Speaker 1: Nine points? That was beautiful, by the way, that was
- 17:42Speaker 1: that was right from the heart. I appreciate that. That
- 17:45Speaker 1: was awesome. You know, there are there are sort of
- 17:49Speaker 1: junkie films sometimes that inspire people. This this was not
- 17:53Speaker 1: a junkie film. I thought this was a it had
- 17:56Speaker 1: it had some very fine moments. Um. Anyway, I'll leave
- 18:00Speaker 1: it at that. Awesome, Scott, here's the here's the word
- 18:05Speaker 1: from the producers is a tease for next episode. We
- 18:09Speaker 1: actually get to review something, a movie that I'm very
- 18:12Speaker 1: passionate about. So maybe this is what you get a
- 18:15Speaker 1: chance to dive into my psyche and what what what
- 18:18Speaker 1: gets me out of the bed every morning as a
- 18:20Speaker 1: film lover. We get to analyze the sixth sense good, yeah, yes,
- 18:25Speaker 1: I know, I'm fired up. Mentioned in the fabulous Sinnamons
- 18:29Speaker 1: Wake episode of The Gilmour Girls. But the sixth sense
- 18:32Speaker 1: I I can't even stand on. I'm ecstatic about revealing
- 18:36Speaker 1: that we're gonna break that down out okay, good, I'm
- 18:39Speaker 1: looking forward to that one. But to that was a
- 18:42Speaker 1: great episode today. And I love to hear your heart
- 18:45Speaker 1: really pour out in the microphone coming out from the
- 18:47Speaker 1: movie because I could see how it. I can see
- 18:49Speaker 1: the inspiration and it gives you and and and many
- 18:52Speaker 1: people that from your generation. I think that's beautiful. Um,
- 18:56Speaker 1: you get to see that sixth cents inspires me a
- 18:58Speaker 1: little bit next week. Deal, good deal, buddy, all right man, um, alright, Henry,
- 19:05Speaker 1: I guess that's gonna do it for this episode. So
- 19:08Speaker 1: uh so, thanks everybody for for downloading. And uh I'm
- 19:13Speaker 1: Scott Patterson and this is my buddy Henry, and we
- 19:16Speaker 1: are breaking we are we are breaking down films for
- 19:20Speaker 1: you flashdance and we'll see you next time. All the best,