►►► Synopsis

When teenager Ren McCormick (Kevin Bacon) finds himself relocating to a small Midwestern town, his worse nightmare comes true, as the towns uptight leaders have banned his favourite pastime, dancing and anything else that the young people may enjoy doing. Determined to breathe life back into the small town, Ren, with the help of his new best friend Willard (Chris Penn) and the local minister's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer), start a revolt to allow all young people to enjoy what is rightfully theirs.

►►► Opinion

I honestly don't know why I like "Footloose" as much as I do as it is completely predictable, full of cheesy over the top scenes and compared to other films from the 80s seems pretty weak, but for some reason I do. The plot to "Footloose" is your typical teenagers rebelling against the adults who control their lives, which in this case is the over the top decision to ban the towns teenagers from enjoying loud music and dancing. It does seem a remarkably weak premise to build a film around but one which works remarkably well allowing the film to be studded with dancing sequences and typical teen angst. What is particularly nice is that the film cleverly builds into the story the reasoning behind the town's decision to ban teenage frivolity and although you still are drawn to champion the young rebels on, you hold a sort of sympathy towards the town's elders for making their decision.

One noticeable difference between "Footloose" and other films from the 80s teenage genre is the seemingly rawness of the whole production. Where many similar films would include a couple of scenes purely to raise a giggle from the audience, "Footloose" never seems to rely on these contrived sequences, the closest it ever gets to feeling contrived is when Ren teaches the terribly coordinated Willard to dance, which does make you laugh. But it is not just the lack of completely contrived scenes, but also the dialogue and acting, which again feels pretty raw which gives this a different feel to similar films.

Of course the key to success of any teenage movie is whether the viewer can associate themselves with the characters, and "Footloose" scores heavily is this area. I remember watching this in my teens and wanting to be Ren, because he was cool, he could dance, he attracted the girls and was a rebel, in fact even watching it now I still want to be Ren, but then I still want to live in the 80s. It's not just the character of Ren which drags you in and every single character has something about them that you can recognize in other people. But it's not only the characters which appeals to the audience but the situation of teenagers rebelling against parental rule which also attracts the target audience. In fact out of all the films I have watched which explore this scenario I have to say that the way "Footloose" develops it is one of the most enjoyable interpretations I have come across.

As already mentioned, for me one of the key factors as to why I enjoy "Footloose" so much is in its rawness and that is very evident in the performances of all the stars. Although not his first big screen performance, Kevin Bacon puts in a great performance as the lead Ren McCormick, and most of this is down to the fact that he was still a young, enthusiastic actor who had not fallen into a set style. At times you get a sense that he is terrified of being in front of the camera but this helps build an edgy character which fits that of the rebel perfectly. My only criticism comes down from his ability as a dancer, he maybe 1000 times better than me but it didn't feel completely natural although at times quite amusing. Also making an early appearance is a rather young and thin looking Chris Penn as Willard, who like Bacon appears to be a bit afraid of being in front of the camera. But then this is not really a criticism as he puts in a great performance as the teenager who is better with his fists than his feet. To be honest the film does have quite a remarkable list of stars, including Lori Singer, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Jim Youngs all of which put in pretty decent performances which all fit their characters perfectly. Out of all of them the one which stands out the most is Lithgow who is stunning as the town's controlling minister who goes on his own journey of understanding through out the film.

One of the key reasons why I still like "Footloose" as much now as I did back in the 80s is the brilliant soundtrack which is highly typical of the era. From the title track "Footloose" through songs such as Shalamars "Dancing in the Streets", Deniece Williams "Let's Hear it For The Boys", Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For a Hero" and "Waiting for a girl like you" by Foreigner, every single track gets your foot tapping and sometimes singing along with.

As with all films from the 80s, "Footloose" does feel a little bit dated, most notably with some of the fashions and haircuts. But the underlying story and issues which the teenagers deal with are still as current now as they were then. To be honest the film probably holds more charm for those who enjoyed it back in the 80s, but the again it may attract a newer younger audience, especially for those who enjoy films such as "Dirty Dancing".

►►► Film Summary

Despite some very major flaws I still really like "Footloose" and even though I don't rate it as highly as many other films from the 80s I still feel it has something to offer even today. Probably the biggest reason why I still like "Footloose" is the soundtrack which really does get your toe tapping, but there are other elements which all work together to make this film still enjoyable today. As with many films from the 80s I feel that it holds more appeal for those who saw it back then and doubt it would attract many new fans these days, but then I still feel it is a film everyone should watch at least once.

►►► DVD Package

► Special Features

Audio Commentary with Kevin Bacon - Recorded in retrospect, Bacon goes into a lot of personal detail about his experiences with the film and the difficulties he had with the dancing amongst other things. For most of the time Bacon delivers a scene specific, light hearted commentary but suffers from long periods of silence when Bacon has nothing to say.

Audio Commentary with producer Craig Zadan and writer Dean Pitchford - A much more detailed commentary comes from the producer and writer where they offer a wealth of information and personal opinion on all things "Footloose" related. Out of the two commentaries this is the superior one as it has a lot more information and a lot less moments of silence, but then it lacks the light heartedness of the first commentary.

Footloose: A Modern Musical - This is a half an hour feature which is basically a making of documentary covering the usual elements of how the film came to exist and the difficulties along the way, all of which is presented in the usual manner of interviews, behind the scenes footage and film clips. A surprisingly insightful feature which gives a lot more detail that I expected, what was particularly interesting was the references to a real life community which over-turned a ban on dancing.

Footloose: Songs That Tell a Story - Is a short feature which looks at the music which appears in the film. Presented in the same manner as the Modern Musical feature it is an interesting feature but not as informative as the other features.

► Picture and Sound Quality

Sadly the picture quality of this version is not great and most of the problems probably arise from the age of the original print. Whilst there has been some work done to clean the image up, it has a slight haziness which gives it the feel of watching a video. There are also problems with colours looking dull and faded which add to the problems with the sharpness. As with all old films there are plenty of moments where screen flicker and graininess appears but overall none of the problems really spoil the viewing experience.

The audio presentation is a slightly mixed bag as in some ways it was better than I expected but then failed in others. The audio relies solely on the front three channels with dialogue appearing across all three, but at times the dialogue appears to be muffled out by the background noise. The few special effects work nicely across the front channels and the songs appear clear and very enjoyable. Again I feel that most of these issues are to do with the age of the film rather than problems in the actual transfer.

►►► DVD Summary

The few features which appear on the DVD are of a surprisingly good standard with all of them adding something worth while to the mix. Out of all of them Footloose: A Modern Musical is probably my favourite due to the amount of information it covers. The picture and sound quality did let the package down but for the age of the film I was not overly surprised by the faults in both the visual and audio presentation.

►►► Price & Availability

Amazon.co.uk: £3.30

►►► Technical Details

Certificate: 15
Duration: 107 mins
Year of Release: 1984
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance

DVD Release: 2004
Subtitles: English
Audio: English, French
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Region: 1
Number of Discs: 1

Director(s): Herbert Ross
Writer(s): Dean Pitchford

Cast: Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Chris Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Laughlin, Elizabeth Gorcey, Frances Lee McCain, Jim Youngs

© Christianfilmcritic September 2007