User reviews

Prior to seeing this movie, all I had heard suggested that I was better off not watching it unless it was to ridicule. I looked at my uncle dancing round his living room to some of its music and asked myself if anybody expected me to take that seriously. It's got a place in movie history even for the title song alone, though, so I decided I couldn't live with myself unless I gave it a chance. It was definitely worth it.

The style is reminiscent of a whole host of other '80's teen flicks, but only a handful are better. Most of the cast do great things with their roles. Kevin Bacon actually manages to make the clichéd concept seem kinda cool, here showcasing an easy charm that was to become the hallmark of much of his later work. Crucially, the music is actually pretty good too! (Even if I am torn between wanting to cringe and dance when I hear the theme!)

On reflection it's no cheesier than something like "All the Right Moves" (which has a great cast doing their best but suffers from a plodding story) In fact, it's miles better! At least the music in "Footloose" gave the makers a viable way to pep things up whenever the story begins to flag. This film is much, MUCH better than I had been led to believe, so give it a chance if you ain't seen it yet but thought you knew the score. Chances are, you don't...

Teenager Ren (Kevin Bacon) moves to a small mid Western town with his mom after his parents divorce. It seems the Reverend Moore (John Lithgow), of the town's only church, has totally banned rock and roll music from the entire town. He has a daughter named Ariel (Lori Singer) who is basically a hell-raiser--yet loves her father. Rem decides to stop the ban and bring the town back to life.

OK--we're not dealing with reality here at ALL! A town banning rock music entirely is ridiculous and the town only has ONE church? And the game of chicken using tractors was just silly. And don't get me started on how Bacon, Singer, Chris Penn and Sarah Jessica Parker look WAY too old to be high school students--Singer was THIRTY when she did this! And how the heck did all the kids from the town learn how to dance so quickly? But, as a no brain musical, this does work.

The opening sequence alone is great (it shows various feet dancing to the title tune). Also the acting helps a lot. Bacon is just great--he doesn't take the movie too seriously and gives out a very good performance. He also has a big dance number (to a song called "Never") which is him and THREE different stuntman doing the more unrealistic moves. Singer is too old for her role but she tries. Penn is pretty good as Bacon's best friend--his learning how to dance sequence is a highlight. Parker did this before she was known and she's not bad. Lithgow and Wiest are just great as the Reverend and his wife--Wiest has a great scene where she calmly tells him off and Lithgow (wisely) does not play the Reverend as a one-note character. You see him trying to understand his daughter and slowly realizing that music isn't bad.

So--this is no "Singin in the Rain" but for a 1980s teen musical it's lots of fun. Great songs too. Just turn off your brain and enjoy!

Small town America where dancing is banned. New kid in town conquers high school, catches the eye of the preacher's daughter and attempts to plan a school dance.

Such fantastic music! Kenny Loggins in his prime!!

"Footloose" is a fun and very lighthearted motion picture that promises a good time and delivers.

The film has a simple, if unlikely, plotline. Streetsmart but gentle teenager Ren MacCormack(Kevin Bacon) arrives from the big city with his mother in the backwater town of Bomont. Enrolling at the local high school, he is appalled to discover the town's adults have imposed a law on "public dancing" and rock music, as enforced and practiced by the local preacher(John Lithgow). Ren quickly sets about changing things, falling in love with the preacher's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) in the process.

The story is a little unlikely yet it is perfectly suitable for the teenaged audience at which it is pitched. The script takes some time to explore its simple theme - dancing and rock music, and what they symbolise for young people. Three scenes help to lay this out. The first sees Ren dancing by himself in a barn; the town meeting where Ren presents his case to the townspeople and explains to them the meaning of the dance; and the final prom sequence in which the teens of Bomont revel in their newfound liberation.

As the leading man, Kevin Bacon carries off his role very well. Ren isn't really a macho hero revelling in coolness, he's a down-to-earth young man trying to the right thing by his peers. His romance with Lori Singer's character Ariel is formulaic but perfectly inoffensive.

The film could have perhaps done with a little more nastiness to fully contrast against Ren's earnest intentions. Even Ariel's brutish boyfriend(Jim Young) fails to inject much tension in this respect and the final fistfight between him and Ren comes across as being a bit lame.

John Lithgow's characterisation is very good but it is a little too subtle. As the town Reverend and preacher of all things pure and holy, his extreme views come across not so much as puritanical, just merely uptight. The change that eventually occurs in his attitudes is hinted at very early on. The result is that he is nowhere near is frightening or intimidating a character as he could have been. At the same time his troubled relationships with his rebellious daughter and quiet wife(Dianne Wiest) are very well written and acted. In these scenes he excels and his character's development seems very natural.

On the technical side, the film is well-shot and the gloriously Eighties soundtrack complements the proceedings very well, bringing the necessary exhuberance and bounce to the whole movie.

Whilst "Footloose" is certainly no masterpiece, it succeeds in being a lighthearted knockabout caper, and as such is a very enjoyable movie.

Aw, come on IMDb'ers, why the low rating? Where's your sense of loyalty? I can't hear that Kenny Loggins title song and see those pairs of dancing feet during the opening credits without sitting down to watch this whole movie. And even if it's largely to make fun of it, I still love it for old times' sake.

Kevin Bacon is the tough city kid stuck in some podunk Midwest town where dancing has been outlawed. John Lithgow is the preacher who serves as Bacon's arch nemesis; Lori Singer is the preacher's daughter who has a hankering for the new dangerous kid. Dianne Wiest is the reasonable mom who acts as referee between dad and daughter. The whole thing is sillier than an episode of "Laugh-In," but many of the actors (particularly Lithgow, Wiest and Bacon) are good enough to actually sell the material. And come on, admit it, you know you like the music.

Grade: B+

'Footloose', despite being an enormous hit back in the 80s, seems to be a very divisive love it/hate it film critically now.

This reviewer neither loves or hates 'Footloose', from personal opinion it falls short of being great but the immense appeal is definitely understandable.

Its biggest weak point is the story. Conceptually it's daft, and further hampered by laying it on too thick with the ridiculousness (the drug scene and the basic concept) and over-sentimentality (the Reverend's somewhat tacky reform that didn't really ring true compared to how his character was written in general). Ren's dance routine in the abandoned warehouse was far too randomly placed, coming at an unrealistically weird point in the film.

Lori Singer being too old didn't bother me as much as it did other reviewers, but the overacting, constantly looking as if she was trying too hard, was less forgivable. The script is uneven, sometimes it's humorously light-hearted and feel good and there is a laudable attempt at providing depth with some more mature themes but too much of it is also cheesy and flimsy.

However, the songs are toe-tappingly great, especially the title song "Footloose" and "Let's Hear it for the Boy". The dancing is spirited, and apart from that one scene with Ren the choreography and dance numbers are finger-snappingly infectious. 'Footloose' is a good-looking film too, beautifully shot and smartly photographed with some inventive visuals in the title song, while the direction is solid enough and the pacing sharp and energetic constantly.

Singer aside, the cast are simply terrific, with Kevin Bacon in the role that made him a star making for a good free-spirited lead and the sadly late Chris Penn proving that he had the talent to make it bigger than he did. Dianne Wiest doesn't seem capable of giving a bad performance, while John Lithgow is effectively subtle and wisely reigns in in a role that could easily have been the opposite.

Overall, falls short of being a great film but the appeal is definitely understandable, because there are a lot of good elements that outweigh the still quite big flaws. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Ah, yes, I did travel back to the 80's this morning watching the film Footloose starring then new comer, Kevin Bacon. The funny thing is that I performed Footloose in my high school, it's now like 5 years later and I realized when I bought this film yesterday that I had never seen the movie. I figured since it was so cheap for 5 bucks on DVD, I'd buy it for fun and I watched it this morning. Footloose is an absolute blast of a movie that I'm sure that anyone could get into. Yes, it's a bit of a time capsule, but it's still all in good fun. I liked how this wasn't necessarily your typical musical, it just had an awesome soundtrack with the movie. The story is just so much fun and original, you just fall in love with Ren McCormick from the start.

Ren is a new guy from the big city of Chicago coming into a small town and now this small town has banished dancing since a big accident that happened years ago that killed several teens after a dance, there were drugs and alcohol involved, so naturally these folks think that it's all apart of dancing. But Ren's getting a hard time from everyone because of his fun loving nature, but he makes friends with a wanna be cow boy, Willard. Soon he also becomes the preacher's rebellious daughter, Ariel's love interest. He wants the kids to have fun though and wants a big dance thrown for the town and must convince them to cut their foot loose.

Footloose is just a fun movie that I'm sure you'll have fun with. It's charming, it's funny, it's just a blast to watch, and it's an 80's classic. The acting was actually pretty good, we have a great cast that looked like they enjoyed themselves. Of course we'll always question how the kids just managed the skills of dancing, you'll see what I mean when you watch it, but it's all good. I would highly recommend this film, it's a fun one to watch. Kevin Bacon is totally cool and a must see for Footloose.

6/10

This drama/musical tells the story of young man who moves into a very religious community . The young man is played by Kevin Bacon. He finds out that the local preacher does not allow any music, dancing , fun in his town. Eventually with the help of some friends, he manages to talk the citizens to allow the teens to have a dance. This movie also stars John Lithgow from 3rd Rock from the Sun!!Footloose has awesome sound track , is full of great songs!!!This is one great musical along with Grease in the 1970's!!

Based on a true incident that happened in a small Oklahoma town, young Kevin Bacon arrives at a small town in one of the reddest parts of the USA. This small town is positively crimson because they've actually outlawed dancing except maybe in the privacy of your own home.

This extreme and probably unconstitutional law started when a few years ago Reverend John Lithgow and Dianne Weist's son was killed after one of these dances. Lithgow himself is not an extremist, but he's letting some of the more extreme rednecks in the town to start in on book burning. As Robert Preston said in The Music Man, "Gotta keep the young ones moral after school".

Of course Bacon takes up with Lori Singer who is Lithgow and Weist's other child when he arrives and she's quite the wild child. But his standing up to her old man impresses her like none of the other young men in the town.

Footloose has a nice liberal message about the excesses of religious zeal which is certainly pertinent for today. But it's the musical score in the film that really makes it special, one of the best scores of the Eighties. The title song and Let's Hear It For The Boy both received Oscar nominations for Best Original Song.

This film proved to be Kevin Bacon's breakout role as an actor. Although he never was quite leading man material as his subsequent career has proved, he's certainly had staying power in playing a nice variety of roles of both good and bad and mixed individuals. No question here he's the good guy outsider. Best scene for me is him teaching Christopher Penn how to dance to Let's Hear It For The Boy.

A film quite ground in the Eighties, Footloose still has much relevance for today's audience.

'Footloose (1984)' very much follows in the footsteps of 'Flashdance (1983)', designed specifically to trap teens in a cycle of pop songs and popcorn as the film sells the soundtrack and the soundtrack sells the film. Unlike that earlier piece, though, this actually seems to have had some effort put into its narrative. The story is set around the overtly religious residents of a small town who believe rock music, dancing and, even, certain books to be the work of the devil. It focuses on a transfer student who tries to rally against the system and legalise dancing - because, yes, dancing is literally illegal - so that he can host an end-of-year prom. The set-up is promising, a tried-and-tested 'young against old'/ 'boy against the system' sort of thing, but it isn't really capitalised on. The meat-and-potatoes of the picture doesn't start until far too late, meaning that the movie only really picks up towards its final movement. It's not bad but it's all rather basic, with simple characterisations and no real sense of elapsing time. It doesn't feel like a high-school movie. It doesn't feel like a dance movie, either, because there are actually only a few proper dancing sequences (including a montage that may just be the most singularly eighties thing I've ever seen). The segments in which John Lithgow's reverend has to contend with the fact that his daughter is growing up are probably the most engaging, even if they aren't exactly deep and don't really entertain. As a whole, the film is just fine. It has a few enjoyable moments but it's typically a rather passive experience. There are a number of genuinely great songs on its soundtrack, which are easily the best thing about the entire affair. It's just a shame that the film itself can't live up to these. 5/10

OK, maybe I'm giving in to nostalgia here but I rented "Footloose" recently and thought it was great. Yes, it's definitely a teen flick, similar to "Dirty Dancing", and aging a little now.

But the music is great and the plot and themes do as much for me as "Grease" ever did. As teen movies go, it is somewhat original and interesting.

Who should see this film:

-- Teens with nothing better to do on a rainy day

-- People reliving the 1980s, you won't be disappointed to

see this one again

I'll give Footloose a 9 out of 10 because it cheered me up on a day I needed it.

(1984) Footloose DRAMA/ MUSICAL

I used to like this film, when I was like, a lot younger, but since then, after watching it again after many years, suddenly feels extremely simplistic, tame and self indulgent, despite the catchy soundtrack, has Kevin Bacon as a rebellious teenager, Ren MacCormack against the towns strict rules, especially against dancing and rock n' roll music etc...May be better appreciated by people who're anti-conservative, but for the rest of us, it's way too long with it's point seen a mile away, way before the film is even over. What is the point watching the future remake.

Footloose is a brilliant film. Kevin Bacon gives as usual an amazing performance as he plays Ren MacCormack here. Other great performances come from Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Chris Penn and Sarah Jessica Parker. The music is really good and the dance sequences are amazing. Footloose is a must see and it deserves a 10/10

This charming, cheese-tastic 80s teen flick is packed full of great songs. The soundtrack alone is enough to make it worth a watch. But on top of the fabulous soundtrack, the story is surprisingly good and its actually well acted. Lori Singer's character is rather intriguing and her progression throughout the film is possibly the best thing about this film, despite Kevin Bacon obviously getting all the credit as the main character, Ren. Chris Penn is an exceptional supporting actor and this film really does not deserve some of the hatred it gets. It's almost 'cool to hate'. As long as you're not expecting too much and just want a fabulously 80s, uplifting, feel-good film, then you can't go too far wrong with footloose.

A city teenager (Kevin Bacon) moves to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned, and his rebellious spirit shakes up the populace.

There is really no need to review a film that everyone has already seen, but I will just say this: it is rightfully a classic. Great characters, great actors, great story, great dance moves. The soundtrack alone makes the movie worth watching.

Two things of note: one, Chris Penn was really thin and physically fit when he appeared in this film. What the heck happened? Two, why is Ariel supposed to be desirable? She is full of herself, far too head-strong, and openly flaunts her infidelity. There is nothing admirable in her character... surely Ren could do better.

A film of enormous charm. It's about dancing but unlike many films about dancing it doesn't take itself seriously. It's loose-limbed and goofy and it lifts you up. It's set in a high school in a small mid-western town where dancing has been banned; (it reminds me of a joke I heard here in Ulster; 'Why do Free Presbyterians disapprove of making love standing up?' 'It might lead to dancing').

Kevin Bacon is the new kid in town who wants the ban lifted. Indeed, this boy seems to live to dance and he's immensely likable. He uses his killer smile to great effect. In this movie the dancing is integral to the plot and it evolves from it naturally and, for once, the director Herbert Ross takes things easy. As well as Bacon, the film has Lori Singer, (the obligatory love interest), and John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest as her parents. He's the bible-thumper who thinks that dancing is sinful and Wiest, with her wan, other-worldly smile, is the wife who doesn't as well as a very young Chris Penn as the over-weight farm boy Bacon teaches to dance in a wonderful sequence choreographed to Denise Williams' 'Let's hear it for the boy'

Modern audiences may look back on this film as simplistic and childlike and so they should...it is. In comparison, the remake is completely brainless so I don't know.

Its pretty paint by numbers with the kids rebelling against the moral authority to gain control over their lives, this time through dance.

The characters are as deep as a sheet of paper but it doesn't really matter.

The music is the star of this film. The songs are fun, catchy and are 100 percent responsible for all the movie's good bits.

Bacon plays the role of rebel rouser well, using his charm to win over the movie characters and the audience alike :)

There is no doubt about it, this film is pure cheese.

You absolutely must see this film if only for the unbelievable scene in which Kevin Bacon "works out some emotions" in the warehouse. The soundtrack is fierce! Let's hear it for the boy??? This film is what the 80s were all about.

EVERYBODY CUT FOOTLOOSE As we all know 1984 produced a lot of great things. One of the best was "Footloose". Here's my thoughts on this timeless masterpiece which I brought on DVD this week

-Most good movies have a great opening and Footloose is no exception. A bunch of feet dancing showcasing the great footwear of the 80's to the soundtrack song "Footloose". Immediately gets you in -Kevin Bacon's character has one of the all-time great movie names: "Ren McCormack" -Funny how this is probably Kevin Bacon's greatest role, maybe only challenged by "Flatliners". It's amazing how so many actors never repeat their efforts of their first breakthrough movie (See Lou Diamond Phillips, Chris Rock and Madonna for starters) -Also starring in this movie is one of Hollywood's greatest lesser known brothers, Sean Penn's brother Christopher. He's way better than Dan Swayze or Charlie Murphy. -Kenny Loggins will go down as one of the greatest contributors to movie hit songs ever. Footloose's "Footloose" and Top Gun's "Danger Zone". -This is another one of those movies built around a town's overzealous pastor's. Reverand Shaw (John Lithgow) is even more intense than that guy in "Chocolat" -Great action scene at the start with Lori Singer car surfing (watch the slightly impossible way she gets back in the car) -Also look for the great David Hasselhoff 2 second cameo -Great scene where the Rev turns off Lor Singer's ghetto-blaster. Everyone stops talking, eating and dancing. Possibly slightly dramatic -Will (Christopher Penn) tells us several other towns have also banned dancing. How wasn't that fact used as the premise for heaps more sequels with Ren going from town to town and reviving dance? Each time he'd face a new obstacle. -Ren mentions his love for "Men at Work" and "The Police", yet he only listens in his car to bad 80's electric rock. Strange. -Weird town. Here a face off equals a tractor fight. -One of the funniest moments is when Chuck gets onto his tractor and puts "I need a hero" on on his ghetto-blaster. That would be awesome to do at a basketball game when you sub in. -Another great Dianne Weist performance. That girl can just capture the whole audience when she wants. Underrated actress. -"Moment I regret now"- Christopher Penn's dance sequence to "Let's Hear It For The Boy" (although it's a great sequence in the movie) -Kevin Bacon's speech to the council was possibly the greatest speech up until that time in cinema history. That is until Sly Stallone raised the bar with his "If I Can Change...." in Rocky 4. Which was then overtaken by Matthew McConaghuey's "Can you see her..." speech in "A Time To Kill"

Yes, the plot is predictable. Yes, the characters are each wearing a gallon of Aquanet to hold their 80s hairdos in place. Yes, the premise is dopey.

But it's fun.

Plot is silly and somewhat predictable, with multiple major holes. I laughed once or twice, but other than that it was extremely boring. Some scenes only produced in order fill in time. The cast was alright but wasn't enough to save it, although some characters were really annoying they only appear briefly. Honestly it's probably not worth it, but I think it is a bit of a love/hate situation.