Footloose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the musical, see Footloose (musical). For the title song from this movie, see Footloose (song). For the G.I. Joe character, see List of G.I. Joe ARAH characters.
| Footloose | |
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 Film poster for Footloose |
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| 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 Nigel Harrison Mark Mothersbaugh Jamshied Sharifi |
| Cinematography | Ric Waite |
| Editing by | Paul Hirsch |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 17, 1984 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8,200,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $80,000,000 (USA) (sub-total) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Footloose is a 1984 movie that tells the story of Ren McCormick (played by Kevin Bacon), a teenager who was raised in Chicago and moves to a small town where the town government has banned dancing and rock music. Ren and his classmates want to have a senior prom, with music and dancing, and so must figure out a way to get around the law and Reverend Shaw Moore (played by John Lithgow) who makes it his mission in life to keep the town dance- and rock-free. The movie was loosely based on events that took place in the tiny, rural farming community of Elmore City, Oklahoma. Much of the film was filmed in Payson, Utah and Lehi, Utah, with the Lehi Roller Mills featured finely.
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Dean Pitchford wrote the screenplay for Footloose, Herbert Ross directed, and Paramount Pictures co-produced and distributed the film. Footloose also starred Lori Singer as Reverend Moore's independent daughter Ariel and Dianne Wiest as Vi, the Reverend's devoted yet sympathetic wife. Footloose is one of the earliest film appearances of Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker as Ariel's friend Rusty – for which she was nominated for Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama at the Sixth Annual Youth in Film Awards – and Chris Penn as Willard Hewitt, Ren's best friend, who doesn't know how to dance until Ren teaches him.
Two songs from the movie, "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins and "Let's Hear It for the Boy" by Deniece Williams, both hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received 1985 Academy Award nominations for Best Music (Original Song). The song "Footloose" also received a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture.
The movie's soundtrack was released in compact cassette, gramophone record, and compact disc format. Furthermore, the soundtrack was re-released on compact disc for the 15th anniversary of the film. Also, the re-release included four new songs: "Bang Your Head {Mental Health}" by Quiet Riot, "Hurts So Good" by John Cougar Mellencamp, "Waiting for a Girl Like You" by Foreigner, and the extended 12" remix of "Dancing in the Sheets". The soundtrack includes two rock singles, the title song by Kenny Loggins and "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler, two R&B singles, "Let's Hear It For the Boy" by Deniece Williams and "Dancing In the Sheets" by Shalamar and the love theme "Almost Paradise" by Mike Reno from Loverboy and Ann Wilson from Heart. The film was later released in VHS, Laserdisc and DVD formats and the soundtrack went on to sell over 9 million copies in the USA.
A musical version of Footloose that features many of the same songs from the movie is currently playing at the Novello Theatre in London's West End. The musical is generally faithful to the film version, with some slight differences in the story and characters.
Taglines:
- The music is on his side.
- He's a big-city kid in a small town. They said he'd never win. He knew he had to.
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The film was, despite mixed critical reviews, a huge box-office hit, grossing roughly $80,000,000 in the United States alone [1]. It instantly became a culturally iconic film, with many of its songs remaining perennial favorites to this day. Kevin Bacon became a star largely on the basis of the film, and it helped launch the careers of Chris Penn and Sarah Jessica Parker as well.
- Footloose at the Internet Movie Database
- Footloose at Rotten Tomatoes
- Footloose Old School movie review at HoboTrashcan.com