Footloose (1984)

Love this film! Great music and dancing. A great classic from the eighties! Highlyed recommend!

Great movie!!! I bought this for my daughter to watch. Oldie but still good. 🤗

I grew up in the eighties, but I was born about the time the eighties started, so I don't think this particular movie was one that I grew up watching because I was too young. No matter. I came to find it one day on HBO or something and fell in love with it. Kevin Bacon is charming and so are the other fresh faced actors who were probably just getting their start. The parents acted their part with conviction and didn't seem embarrassed or uncomfortable playing a preacher and his wife and quoting scripture as the ones on the newer version seemed to. I only watched the newer version once and it was embarrassingly weak compared to the eighties version. Amazon does sell the two movie versions package for a deal, but I didn't even want the newer version in my collection. The original will suffice. It's great and heartfelt, with a mix of religion splashed in. I think the kids respected the religious aspect of their day, it was just that as teenagers, they wanted to be able to explore and live the other parts of their world and it was nothing evil or nothing that most teenagers haven't done. They just wanted to dance and dance they did!

Classic movie.

Good buy

I bought this to give as a gift.

This Paramount musical drama that was released on Friday February 17, 1984 is about an upbeat Chicago teen Ren McCormack(Kevin Bacon)who moves to a small rural town called Bomont, Utah to live with his aunt & uncle and discovers that dancing & rock music have been restricted by Bomont's city council and falls in love with the rebellious popular girl Ariel Moore(Lori Singer)who has a sleazy boyfriend Chuck Cranston(James Youngs)and an overprotective religious father Rev. Shaw Moore(John Lithgow)whom is also a big authority figure in Bomont, but then at the conclusion, Rev. Moore has a change of heart just before everybody gets down at the high school Senior prom and everybody lives happily ever after.This is also the movie that launched Kevin Bacon's acting career too, but Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were considered to play the role of Ren McCormack since Cruise's famous underwear dance scene in RISKY BUSINESS in the Summer of 1983, but was unavailable for the part since he was already doing ALL THE RIGHT MOVES.Rob Lowe had auditioned for the part of Ren McCormack 3 times and had the dancing ability & "neutral teen" look that the director wanted, but Lowe was declined for the role, due to injuries.Additionally; Kevin Bacon had also been offered the role of Arnold Cunningham in John Carpenter's CHRISTINE in 1983 at the same time he was asked to audition for the Ren McCormack character on FOOTLOOSE, but Bacon chose to take the gamble on a screen test for FOOTLOOSE and the director(Herb Ross)had convinced the producers & directors to hire Bacon after watching Kevin Bacon in his previous flick DINER back in the Summer of 1982.In addition to some interesting facts on the making of this musical drama; Madonna, Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Heather Locklear, Liz Montgovern, Melanie Griifith, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosanna Arquette, Meg Tilly, Meg Ryan, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bridget Fonda, Lori Loughlin, Diane Lane, Phoebe Cates, Tatum O'Neal, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss were all considered for the role of the reckless, but independent Ariel Moore.*Madonna had auditioned for the Ariel Moore character, but was rejected.*Daryl Hannah had declined the offer to play Ariel in order to portray the cheif character Madison in the comedy/drama flick SPLASH with Tom Hanks in the Summer of 1984*Liz Montgovern turned down the role of Ariel to play Deborah Gelly in ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICAFOOTLOOSE was also a stepping stone for Chris Penn(Willard Hewitt)and Sarah Jessica Parker(Rusty)since Penn and Parker weren't even famous when they co-starred in this movie.This movie also had a lot of cool hit songs like*FOOTLOOSE by Kenny Loggins*ALMOST PARADISE by Mike Reno & Ann Wilson*DANCING IN THE SHEETS by Shalamar*I'M FREE by Kenny Loggins*HURTS SO GOOD by John Couger Mellencamp*WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU by ForeignerOverall, FOOTLOOSE grossed $80,035, 403 at the box office when it was released back in the Winter of 1984 on Presidents Day weekend.

Forget the 2011 Footloose reboot, this 1983 original is the only choice for me. Kevin Bacon delivers one of his finest performance as Ren McCormick- the teenage rebel with a cause who is transplanted in a small town, who's repressive somewhat tyrannical Rev. Shaw Moore (John Lithgow) has convinced everyone in town to discard and destroy books, movies, and dancing because they are all a sign of immoral behavior. McCormick runs afoul of the older more conservative generation who believe much like the reverend that certain books and movies confuse the soul and lead to immoral behavior. Going stir crazy in such a small town were he's labeled as a dangerous outsider, Ren decides to fight against the conservative order to get a Senior Prom for the students of Beaumont High School. He finds an unlikely collection of allies including Ariel (Lori Singer), the reverends rebellious and free minded daughter and Willard (Chris Penn), a tough guy prone to getting into fights who really can't dance at all. The cast is topped off by a wonderful, if understated performance by Diane Wiest as Rev. Moore's wife Vie.Footloose has always stood out for me because it had the depth that most movies geared towards teenagers today don't have. In Ren McCormick, there's a youthful adolescent still smarting over the perceived abandonment by his father, which causes him to be troublemaker to the small town residents of Beaumont, leading him to become this unlikely rebel with a cause character. Ariel Moore acts out because ever since her older brother died in a car crash while playing highway tag, she has been acting out trying to forget her brother on one level, while seeking to connect with her father who became more conservative after his son died. The greatest plot-line is Lithgow as Shaw Moore, who on one hand has appointed himself the spiritual light of the community, but delivers a sympathetic portrayal on the grounds that he was doing much of this because he was aroused by the tragic death of his son. Footloose speaks on issues of censorship, coming of age, and toleration.The extras here are interesting: You can watch the movie with commentary from Kevin Bacon or Producer/Writer Craig Zaden. There's also a series of short features that discuss the making of Footloose and the process of crafting the soundtrack that's on equal footing with the movie in my eyes. However, I noticed that much of the DVD content was aired as part of AMC's DVD on TV version of the movie in 2005 or 06. But since I'm probably one of the few people who have a tape of the AMC airing, true fans of Footloose will not notice anything.