Footloose (Collector's Box Set) (+CD) (DVD)

Ren is the new kid in town. He's tough, he drinks, he wears the danger of the city like a cloak... and all he wants to do is dance!

Well, in actual fact, what he really wants to do is join the gymnastics team, but when he can't do that, all he wants to do is dance! (And get the preacher's daughter to take of those red cowboy boots and get down in the haystacks!)

This really is a piece of 80's schmaltz, but despite that, ...
...with the material, infusing his scenes with a barely contained simmering anger that electrifies the screen.

John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest touchingly convey the hurt and bitterness of a couple torn apart by the death of a child, and it is the family dynamics of the Moore household that give the film it's real dramatic edge.

In peripheral 'comedy' roles are a young Chris Penn and a gawky Sarah Jessica Parker who, in her ... more

Ren is the new kid in town. He's tough, he drinks, he wears the danger of the city like a cloak... and all he wants to do is dance!

Well, in actual fact, what he really wants to do is join the gymnastics team, but when he can't do that, all he wants to do is dance! (And get the preacher's daughter to take of those red cowboy boots and get down in the haystacks!)

This really is a piece of 80's schmaltz, but despite that, it's incredibly endearing. Kevin Bacon as Ren does his best with the material, infusing his scenes with a barely contained simmering anger that electrifies the screen.

John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest touchingly convey the hurt and bitterness of a couple torn apart by the death of a child, and it is the family dynamics of the Moore household that give the film it's real dramatic edge.

In peripheral 'comedy' roles are a young Chris Penn and a gawky Sarah Jessica Parker who, in her pre 'Sex and the City' days, plays second fiddle to Lori Singer in the sex symbol stakes.

The film engages with issues of social exclusion, estrangement between generations and the stifling atmosphere of small-town America well, though it does get a little preachy as the kids 'do the right thing' and engage with adults on an official level.

That said, any film which combines Kenny Logins, angry dancing in an agricultural warehouse courtesy of Kevin Bacon and a good, old-fashioned game of chicken on tractors deserves a night in with a bowl of popcorn.

Cheesy hokum and fantastic fun! 

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