Customer Reviews

Footloose

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I saw this movie in the theatre on opening night. I still enjoy watching it. The acting in this movie is great, and the storyline is top notch as well. I think the movie represents the attitudes in small town America as they were. I know of many cases in real life that were a lot like this plot, but in real life the protagonists faired worse than Kevin Bacon. I have heard a lot of bad reviews about this movie from people who watch it today. Mostly because it is a "white" film with almost no racial diversity considering the subject matter. Well, you have to look at the social and cultural context in which the film was made to begin with. I happened to live in a small colorado town during my teen years and HELLO we only had 1 black family in the town. That was reality, as it was in many small towns. And as for the music, mind you, this was about 4 years before the forthcoming of the rudimentary forms of rap and hip hop. Micheal Jackson had more white fans than black, and most blacks listened to rock and roll. You cannot judge this film by modern standards and do it justice. I think that if you keep an open mind you will enjoy this film a great deal.

Herbert Ross' "Footloose" is one of those feel good flicks from the 80s that has dated at about twice the rate of most films from other decades. Its story is based in fact: that of a town ordinance that banned any form of public dancing. When Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) arrives with his family he can barely contain his distemper over the outdated law. He's young, rebellious and full of energy that just needs to be expressed. Together with the rest of the town's high school brethren, Ren resolves to challenge the law and its most ardent supporter, Rev. Shaw Moore - who lost his only son after a night of drunken abandonment and a fatal car accident and thereafter blamed rock music for everything. Moore's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) is behind Ren's move to ditch the law. Actually, she's the model of good girl/bad girl, staying out late, smoking and making out with her studly boyfriend. The film also co-stars Chris Penn as Willard, a clutsy cowboy who becomes a high steppin' catch after Red teaches him all the right moves. And somewhere in this little trifle you'll find Sarah Jessica Parker as Rusty, another high school senior in desperate need of a better hairdo and a lot less lipstick.

Before you pull out you're wallet and cut loose you may want to consider that Paramount's new Special Edition of "Footloose" offers NO improvement over the previously issued DVD. The transfers are identical in their image and sound quality and a complete and thorough disappointment to watch. An incredible amount of film grain plagues many of the opening scenes. There's also more than ample digital grit and aliasing and edge enhancement problems to go around. Age related artifacts crop up everywhere and are distracting. Colors are muted and, at times, extremely muddy and dated. Black levels are never black but a tonal mess of brown and gray. Really, there's nothing to get excited about here. Extras include a three part documentary (it's beyond me why Paramount continues to take one documentary and chop it into three short featurettes that can't be simultaneously played) that includes interviews with the cast and crew and the film's theatrical trailer. Truthfully, though, this is not an outstanding or even ample effort for the folks on the mountain.

I loved footloose in the 80's and I still love it now! It is definitely a classic, along with Top Gun. This movie will always be one of the best - Kevin Bacon was wonderful! The soundtrack is great, too!

This movie does not leave anything to be desired. This movie will want to make you get up off the couch and DANCE. It is imposible to stand still while listening to this movie. It is exciting, brilliant and make you wish you were back in those good old days. Keven Bacon did it again with this awsome drama.

This movie always has a way of cheering me up. Not only is Kevin Bacon endearing and charming, but the movie itself is excellent and inspiring. Maybe I'm cheesy, but I love it.

Ren (Kevin Bacon) is a city boy who has moved to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned. Of course, since Ren is the new kid in town, he has some problems with some people accepting him and fitting in in general. But what bothers Ren a lot more than fitting in is not being able to dance or play music when he wants to. He then organizes a plan to try his best and convince the leaders of the town to have a dance in the high school for his senior year. But it won't be as easy as it sounds because Ren's main opponent is his girlfriend's father (John Lithgow), who is the town's pastor.

"Footloose" is a great all-around movie. I'm sort of surprised that I liked it because I myself don't like dancing, but this really is a good movie. Its plot and acting are well done, it's entertaining, and best of all, it has some great music. Another good thing about the movie is the speech that Ren makes concerning the dance, it's one of the best speeches ever in any movie. As a matter of fact, the Footloose soundtrack is the best soundtrack ever in my opinion, and it is just as classic as the movie itself.

"Footloose" was one of the movies that stood out in the 80s and it's still a standout and a great movie to watch today. I recommend anybody who likes great movies to get "Footloose."

Hey i just love this film footloose brings me back to those carefree days i had as youth. i just dug the story about an outsider from a big city shaking things up in a small town but for a good reason. not being allowed to dance come on! it's part of our culture so i found that law in the film a little silly and thought it was just made up for the film until i saw the bonus stuff on this disc recently. the film hasn't aged that much other than some of the fashions being what they were in 1984 and they're were artifacts left. but nothing that would take away from the enjoyment of watching the movie, but what i like most about it was the music, the classic tracks that i heard and did'nt realize they were in the film until i viewed it again. the reason why i gave it four stars is the fact that top gun special edition came with the music videos from the film, that would've been nice to see the music videos from this film on here but oh well, can't win e'm all.

This Film Was shot In Utah. Lehi , American Fork and few other places.
The Mill still stands but is surrounded by resturants and gas stations , once there was nothing there but the mill and few houses and school, oh how times have changed.

When I see the Mill it brings back some fond memories, May It always stand.

PG For language.

I love this movie. The music is great, and it captures an innocent teenage love story. Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer are both terrific. The dancing is wonderful. Although the story is a bit unrealistic and cheesy at times, it's still a great movie. In an age where every teenage movie is either violent or sex-saturated, this is a refreshing change.

This film is an example of early-1980s films at their best. FOOTLOOSE stars a young Kevin Bacon as Ren McCormick, a teenager from Chicago, who relocates to a small, bible thumping town with his mother, when his father walks out on the family. This is a town where rock and roll and dancing are illegal--a law enforced by the local reverand (John Lithgow). Ren is determined to challenge this law, and bring dance back to the community. He gets some help from Willard (Chris Penn) and the reverand's rebellious teenage daughter, Ariel (Lori Singer).

Yes, people, this really is an example of when 1980s films (and dance movies, for that matter) go refreshingly right. Kevin Bacon is simply exhuberant and glowing as Ren. The best sequences are when we see Kevin cut loose and dance up a storm. One of the greatest scenes that lingers in my mind (and the minds of many) is when Ren teaches Willard how dance to "Let's Hear It For the Boy" by Deniece Williams (one of the catchiest and most joyous dance songs from that time). The cast is great here, and it's really a trip to see the (usually) comedic John Lithgow play straight man, as the buttoned down preacher. This film truly sucks you in from the opening credits with shots of dancing feet (yes, feet in flashy 1980s pumps, ratty old sneakers and someone wearing leg warmers) and doesn't let go until the final dance number at the end. A lot of fun.....

After hearing that "Footloose" was being remade (just in time for its 25th anniversary; god I feel old) with Zac Effron of "High School Musical" fame in the lead role made famous by Kevin Bacon, I couldn't resist revisiting a movie that was a huge a part of my own high school years. No doubt about it, "Footloose" is a film that screams EIGHTIES, defining its era in the same way that "Saturday Night Fever" defined the disco days of the Seventies (and perhaps the way that the HSM films will be seen to define this decade in the future.) It's all here: big hair, tight sweaters, tighter jeans, legwarmers (in a brief opening montage) and super-slick Eighties pop music...it was the golden age of MTV, and in many ways, "Footloose," like "Flashdance" before it, is a glorified, movie-length music video, especially in it's tightly choreographed dance scenes. To the credit of the makers of "Footloose," they tried to give the film some dramatic heft, rather than let it become just another of the fluffy, insubstantial teen exploitation flicks of the time. The problem with that is the juxtaposition of drama and dance is so jarring at times that the movie seems to suffer from a split personality, not sure whether it wants to be a hard-hitting message movie or little more than a live-action cartoon (kids who supposedly have never danced before suddenly cutting a rug with the best of them at the prom? Please. And the type of dancing that Bacon's character seems to favor is far more artistic than you would see on the dance floors of big-city clubs, despite what he says.)

In his star-making role, Bacon plays Ren McCormick, a Chicago kid who finds himself the proverbial fish out of water when he loses his father (Death? Divorce? We're never quite told) and his mother moves the family back to her hometown, a small, rural, red-state community somewhere in the midwest. (At least that's what we're supposed to believe but the Rocky Mountains in the distance say otherwise; the film was shot in Utah.) The pastor of the local church (an excellent John Lithgow in his pre-"3rd Rock" days) wields a disproportionate amount of influence in the community--he also serves on the town council--and at his direction, the town has banned dancing. There hasn't been a prom in six years. Not surprisingly this doesn't sit well with the new arrival, so Ren sets out to change the ordinance while teaching his classmates about the forbidden thrills of dancing, and romancing the pastor's daughter, the strong-willed Ariel, who feels stifled by her family and the town. (She's also in a relationship with a local boy that is disturbingly abusive; the movie is ahead if it's time in portraying the problem of dating violence and abuse in teen relationships.) Not surprisingly Ren is quickly labeled a troublemaker and will face a variety of obstacles before he makes an impassioned speech (complete with Bible quotes) to persuade the council to overturn the ban, allowing the Senior class to have a prom and even bringing a much-needed healing to the pastor's family.

In lesser hands the dramatic content of "Footloose" could fall into maudlin TV movie territory; thanks to a talented cast of actors (including Bacon, Lithgow, Lori Singer as Ariel and an almost unrecognizable Sarah Jessica Parker in an early role as Ariel's best friend) it rises above that level and the characters have some complexity. Ren is no saint; in the name of introducing his friends to dancing, he takes them over the county line, sneaks them into a bar and manages to get in a fight. Lithgow's character is revealed as not so much a rigid moralist than a father whose unresolved anger and grief over the death of his only son (after a night of music- and dance-inspired drunken revelry) prompted the infamous ban. Indeed it is the pastor who talks some of the townsfolk out of conducting a book burning at the local library. Diane Wiest portrays the pastor's wife as a woman who secretly sympathizes with the kids, and whose meek exterior hides a spine of steel.

It will be interesting to see how "Footloose" fares as a remake; will they keep it true to the original and maintain its gritty dramatic edge (the film drew a PG rating when it came out but would likely be PG-13 today), or, given Effron's popularity, will they be tempted to turn it into another "High School Musical" type production that's all sweetness and light? Hopefully not, because in the end what makes "Footloose" appealing is its reality and humanity, not just it's dance numbers.