Review of Footloose (1984) by Stuart K — 06 Feb 2015

Written by Oscar winning songwriter Dean Pitchford, (Fame (1980)), and directed by Herbert Ross (Play It Again, Sam (1972), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and The Goodbye Girl (1977)), this is an old fashioned David and Goliath tale set in small town America, and it was inspired by events that happened in Elmore City, Oklahoma.

It's an extremely cheesy film, a product of it's time, but it's proud of that. Teenager Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) moves from Chicago to the small town of Bomont in Utah, with his mother Ethel (Frances Lee McCain).

Ren gets the shock of his life when he discovers that dancing and rock music have been banned in Bomont after an accident that claimed the lives of youngers years ago. Ren soon finds himself at odds with the domineering Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow) a staunch supporter of the ban.

But Ren is determined to have the ban lifted, and he wants to see the school have a prom, despite the objections of Moore, Ren finds he has the support of Moore's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer), who is a rebel.

It's a very flashy film, but it's main plot feels like it came from a 1950's teen rock and roll film, and now it's been brought forwards to the 1980's. It also has some music video style sequences to the excellent Kenny Loggins theme tune, it's a good song and dance film, very corny, but it knows that and it's better for it.