[1] The soundtrack has two versions of the song "Jumpin' Jack Flash": the original by the Rolling Stones, and a remake by Aretha Franklin in the end credits.

Late one night, Terry is messaged by "Jumping Jack Flash," someone who claims to be a British Intelligence agent trapped in Eastern Europe and pursued by the KGB.

Unable to make contact with his superiors, Jack asks Terry for help after she demonstrates her intelligence by cracking his encryption password based on their shared like of rock band The Rolling Stones.

Jack asks Terry to recover from his apartment a frying pan on which is concealed contact information for fellow agents, Mark Van Meter, Peter Caen, Archer Lincoln, and Harry Carlson.

Jack asks Terry to undertake a high-risk mission by breaking into the consulate and accessing the computer system during the Queen's anniversary ball.

She infiltrates the event disguised as a singer and Liz helps distract Talbot while Terry connects a device to the computer so she can access it remotely.

The following night, Terry remotely accesses the consulate computer to secure an exit route for Jack but Talbot disables the device before she finishes.

After just ten days of filming in New York City, production was shut down and moved to Hollywood, due to creative differences between the studio and director Howard Zieff, who left the project, as did producer Marvin Worth.

The original versions of "Set Me Free" (by the Pointer Sisters) and "Rescue Me" (by Fontella Bass) are heard in the film, rather than the covers on the soundtrack album.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised Goldberg's performance but felt that she was harnessed to "an exhausted screenplay—an anthology of old ideas and worn-out clichés.

"[7] Vincent Canby of The New York Times blamed the failures of the film on its director, stating "Miss Marshall directs Jumpin' Jack Flash as if she were more worried about the decor than the effect of the performance.