'Flashdance' Turns 40: Blockbuster Hit Was Filmed In Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, PA — If you were around in 1983, this was a movie from which it was impossible to escape.

"Flashdance," which was filmed in Pittsburgh and released on April 15, 1983, not only was a blockbuster hit. It also spawned two hit singles -- "What a Feeling," sung by the late Irene Cara and Michael Sambellos's "Maniac" -- that were omnipresent radio presences nationwide.

The movie grossed $200 million worldwide and was the third-highest grossing film of 1983. It even inspired a Peanuts-themed special in 1984, "It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown."

The film also launched actress Jennifer Beals to stardom. She later starred in such films as "The Bride," "Devil in a Blue Dress," "The Last Days of Disco," Rodger Dodger," "The Book of Eli" and Before I Fall." On TV she went on to star in "The Chicago Code" and appeared on Showtime's "The L Word."

If you weren't a Pittsburgh native you probably didn't notice, but geographically the movie made no sense. People take the Duquesne Incline up to go down to the South Side flats. The plot is equally unbelievable: Beals stars as a gorgeous young woman who works in a steel mill during the day and dances at a bar at night while waiting for the end of the movie, when she gets accepted into a prestigious Pittsburgh dance conservatory.

But the film featured the legendary late Pittsburgh police officer Vic Cianca, whose real-life moves while directing traffic Downtown rivaled anything a Hollywood choreographer could concoct.