Footloose (1984)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Herbert Ross

Writer:

Dean Pitchford (written by)

Release Date:

17 February 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

One kid. One town. One chance.

Plot:

A city boy comes to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned.

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Dancing | City | Dance | Teen

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Kevin Bacon	...	Ren McCormack
Lori Singer	...	Ariel Moore
John Lithgow	...	Reverend Shaw Moore
Dianne Wiest	...	Vi Moore
Chris Penn	...	Willard Hewitt (as Christopher Penn)
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Rusty
John Laughlin	...	Woody
Elizabeth Gorcey	...	Wendy Jo
Frances Lee McCain	...	Ethel McCormack
Jim Youngs	...	Chuck Cranston
Douglas Dirkson	...	Burlington Cranston
Lynne Marta	...	Lulu Warnicker
Arthur Rosenberg	...	Wes Warnicker
Timothy Scott	...	Andy Beamis
Alan Haufrect	...	Coach Roger Dunbar

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 | USA:PG (re-rating) (1983) | USA:R (original rating) | UK:12A (re-rating) (2007) | UK:PG (cinema rating) (cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

American Fork, Utah, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

John Travolta was offered the role of Ren, but turned it down.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Ren and Willard are driving away from the gas station (before they're pulled over by the police), you can see one of their heads in the rear view mirror. They're having a conversation, but their lips never move.

Quotes:

Reverend Shaw Moore: It's not that we don't talk, it's just that sometimes people run out of things to say.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Friends: The One with the Fake Party (#4.16)" (1998)

Soundtrack:

Waiting for A Girl Like You

Silly, but lighthearted caper

"Footloose" is a fun and very lighthearted motion picture that promises a good time and delivers.

The film has a simple, if unlikely, plotline. Streetsmart but gentle teenager Ren MacCormack(Kevin Bacon) arrives from the big city with his mother in the backwater town of Bomont. Enrolling at the local high school, he is appalled to discover the town's adults have imposed a law on "public dancing" and rock music, as enforced and practiced by the local preacher(John Lithgow). Ren quickly sets about changing things, falling in love with the preacher's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) in the process.

The story is a little unlikely yet it is perfectly suitable for the teenaged audience at which it is pitched. The script takes some time to explore its simple theme - dancing and rock music, and what they symbolise for young people. Three scenes help to lay this out. The first sees Ren dancing by himself in a barn; the town meeting where Ren presents his case to the townspeople and explains to them the meaning of the dance; and the final prom sequence in which the teens of Bomont revel in their newfound liberation.

As the leading man, Kevin Bacon carries off his role very well. Ren isn't really a macho hero revelling in coolness, he's a down-to-earth young man trying to the right thing by his peers. His romance with Lori Singer's character Ariel is formulaic but perfectly inoffensive.

The film could have perhaps done with a little more nastiness to fully contrast against Ren's earnest intentions. Even Ariel's brutish boyfriend(Jim Young) fails to inject much tension in this respect and the final fistfight between him and Ren comes across as being a bit lame.

John Lithgow's characterisation is very good but it is a little too subtle. As the town Reverend and preacher of all things pure and holy, his extreme views come across not so much as puritanical, just merely uptight. The change that eventually occurs in his attitudes is hinted at very early on. The result is that he is nowhere near is frightening or intimidating a character as he could have been. At the same time his troubled relationships with his rebellious daughter and quiet wife(Dianne Wiest) are very well written and acted. In these scenes he excels and his character's development seems very natural.

On the technical side, the film is well-shot and the gloriously Eighties soundtrack complements the proceedings very well, bringing the necessary exhuberance and bounce to the whole movie.

Whilst "Footloose" is certainly no masterpiece, it succeeds in being a lighthearted knockabout caper, and as such is a very enjoyable movie.