Footloose (1984 film)

Footloose (1984)
Picture of Footloose (1984) movie poster
Directed by	Herbert Ross
Produced by	Lewis J. Rachmil Craig Zadan
Written by	Dean Pitchford
Starring	Kevin Bacon Lori Singer Dianne Wiest John Lithgow
Music by	Tom Snow Jim Steinman Kenny Loggins
Cinematography	Ric Waite
Editing by	Paul Hirsch
Studio	IndieProd Company Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	February 17, 1984 (1984-02-17)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8.2 million
Box office	$80,035,402 (USA)

Footloose is a 1984 American musical-drama film directed by Herbert Ross. It tells the story of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), an upbeat Chicago teen who moves to a small town in which, as a result of the efforts of a local minister (John Lithgow), dancing and rock music have been banned.

The film is loosely based on events that took place in the small, rural, and religious community of Elmore City, Oklahoma.

Plot

After his father leaves, Chicago-raised teenager Ren McCormack (Bacon) moves with his mother to live with his aunt and uncle in the small Rocky Mountain town of Bomont. Soon after arriving, Ren makes a friend named Willard, and learns the city council banned dancing and rock music after several teens were killed in an accident six years earlier. He soon begins to fall for a rebellious girl named Ariel, who has a boyfriend, Chuck Cranston, and an overprotective father, Rev. Shaw Moore (Lithgow), a powerful member of the town council. Rev. Moore's son--and Ariel's older brother--died in the crash.

After trading insults with Ariel's boyfriend, Ren is challenged to a game of chicken involving tractors. Despite not knowing how to drive a tractor, he wins. Rev. Moore mistrusts Ren, forbidding Ariel to see him and using his influence to have Ren kicked off the gymnastics team. Ren and his classmates want to do away with the ban on dancing and have a senior prom. He presses on despite gaining a reputation as a "troublemaker"; his efforts cause his mother to get fired on the pretense that she isn't being a good mother, and also cost his uncle business. Moore's wife is supportive of the movement, and explains to Moore he cannot be everyone's father, and that he is hardly being a father to Ariel. She also says that dancing and music are not the problem.

Ren goes before the city council and reads several Bible verses provided to him by Ariel in order to cite scriptural support for the worth of dancing to rejoice, exercise, or celebrate. Although Rev. Moore is moved, he and the other council members vote to keep the ban. Ren initially gives up, but his boss at a flour mill tells him that the mill is located just outside the town limits, and offers to let the kids use it for their prom. Meanwhile, Moore has a change of heart after seeing some of the townsfolk burning books that they think are dangerous to the youth. Realizing the situation has gotten out of hand, Moore stops the burning.

On Sunday, Rev. Moore asks his congregation to pray for the high school students putting on the prom. Moore and his wife are seen outside, dancing for the first time in years. Cranston and several of his friends show up and challenge Ren and Willard to a fight, but Ren and Willard easily fend them off and go back inside. Ren triumphantly yells, "Let's dance!"

Cast

• Kevin Bacon as Ren McCormack
• Lori Singer as Ariel Moore
• Dianne Wiest as Vi Moore
• John Lithgow as Reverend Shaw Moore
• Christopher Penn as Willard Hewitt
• Sarah Jessica Parker as Rusty
• Frances Lee McCain as Ethel McCormack
• Jim Youngs as Chuck Cranston
• John Laughlin as Woody
• Lynne Marta as Lulu Warnicker

Production

Dean Pitchford wrote the screenplay (and most of the lyrics) for Footloose, Herbert Ross directed the movie, and Paramount Pictures co-produced and distributed it.

Michael Cimino was hired by Paramount to direct the film when negotiations with Ross initially stalled. After four months working on the film, the studio fired Cimino, who was making extravagant demands for the production, including demanding an additional $250,000 for his work, and ended up rehiring Ross.

Casting

Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were both slated to play the lead. The casting directors were impressed with Cruise because of the famous underwear dance sequence in Risky Business, but he was unavailable for the part because he was filming All the Right Moves. Lowe auditioned three times and had dancing ability and the "neutral teen" look that the director wanted, but injury prevented him from taking the part. Bacon had been offered the main role for the Stephen King movie Christine, at the same time that he was asked to do the screen test for Footloose. He chose to take the gamble on the screentest. After watching his earlier movie Diner, the director had to convince the producers to go with Kevin Bacon.

Footloose also starred Lori Singer as Reverend Moore's independent daughter Ariel, a role for which Madonna also auditioned. Daryl Hannah turned down the offer to play Ariel in order to play Madison in Splash. Elizabeth McGovern turned down the role to play Deborah Gelly in Once Upon a Time in America. Melanie Griffith, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosanna Arquette, Meg Tilly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Heather Locklear, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jodie Foster, Phoebe Cates, Tatum O'Neal, Bridget Fonda, Lori Loughlin, Diane Lane and Brooke Shields were all considered for the role of Ariel. Dianne Wiest appeared as Vi, the Reverend's devoted yet conflicted wife.

Footloose featured an early film appearance by Sarah Jessica Parker, as Ariel's friend Rusty, for which she received a Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama nomination at the Sixth Annual Youth in Film Awards. It was also an early role for Chris Penn as Willard Hewitt, who is taught how to dance by his friend Ren.

Filming

The film was made at various locations in Utah County. The high school and tractor scenes were filmed in and around Payson, Utah and Payson High School. The church scenes were filmed in American Fork, Utah. The steel mill was the Geneva Steel mill. The final sequence was filmed in Lehi, Utah, with the Lehi Roller Mills featured in the final sequence.

For his dance scene in the warehouse, Bacon said he had four stunt doubles: "I had a stunt double, a dance double [Peter Tramm] and two gymnastics doubles."

Soundtrack

Main article: Footloose (soundtrack)

The soundtrack was released in cassette, 8-track tape, vinyl, and CD format. The soundtrack was also re-released on CD for the 15th anniversary of the film in 1999. The re-release included four new songs: "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)" by Quiet Riot, "Hurts So Good" by John Mellencamp, "Waiting for a Girl Like You" by Foreigner, and the extended 12" remix of "Dancing in the Sheets".

The soundtrack includes five rock singles - the title song and "I'm Free", both by Kenny Loggins, "Holding Out for a Hero" by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, "Girl Gets Around" by Sammy Hagar, and "Never" by Australian rock band Moving Pictures (the song played during Bacon's solo dance scene); three R&B singles - "Let's Hear It for the Boy" by Deniece Williams, "Somebody's Eyes" by Karla Bonoff, and "Dancing In the Sheets" by Shalamar; and the love theme "Almost Paradise" by Mike Reno from Loverboy and Ann Wilson of Heart. Some of the songs were composed by Eric Carmen and Jim Steinman and the soundtrack went on to sell over 9 million copies in the USA.

The first two tracks both hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received 1985 Academy Award nominations for Best Music (Original Song). "Footloose" also received a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews, currently holding a 58% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert called it "a seriously confused movie that tries to do three things, and does all of them badly." Dave Denby in New York rechristened the film "Schlockdance", writing: "Footloose may be a hit, but it's trash - high powered fodder for the teen market... The only person to come out of the film better off is the smooth-cheeked, pug-nosed Bacon, who gives a cocky but likeable Mr. Cool performance."

Jane Lamacraft reassessed the film for Sight and Sound's 'Forgotten pleasures of the multiplex' feature in 2010, writing "Nearly three decades on, Bacon’s vest-clad set-piece dance in a flour mill looks cheesily 1980s, but the rest of Ross’s drama wears its age well, real song-and-dance joy for the pre-Glee generation."

Despite critical reviews, the film grossed $80,035,403 domestically.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • Footloose - #96
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - Nominated

Musical version

Main article: Footloose (musical)

Starting in 1999 a musical version of Footloose, that features many of the same songs from the movie, has been presented on London's West End, on Broadway, and elsewhere. The musical is generally faithful to the film version, with some slight differences in the story and characters.

Remake

Main article: Footloose (2011 film)

Paramount Pictures announced plans to fast-track a musical remake of Footloose. The remake was written and directed by Craig Brewer.

Paramount revealed the full cast on June 22, 2010, with Kenny Wormald as Ren McCormick, Julianne Hough as Ariel, and Dennis Quaid as Rev. Shaw Moore. It is set in the fictional town of Bomont, Georgia, and was filmed in Georgia.

Filming started in September, 2010. It was budgeted at $25 million. The release date was October 14, 2011.

External links

• Footloose at AllRovi
• Footloose at Box Office Mojo
• Footloose at the Internet Movie Database
• Footloose at Rotten Tomatoes
• Footloose Review, history and filming locations