Dear reader,
I can't dance and don't
have much interest in dance movies, although I've seen some of them
out of interest and watch some of the older films like “Flashdance”
and quite enjoy them. On the other side there are the newer films,
which somehow seem pretty much the same mostly: a teenager/young
adult, first a kind of outsider, dreamy and/or misjudged by the end
of the film has a breakthrough and is accepted at the dance school or
established as the dance genius that they have been from the
beginning. The film “Footloose” from the year 1984 however is
different, which makes it interesting for me, others are criticising
precisely that. But more about that later. Here's the story first:
Ren MacCormack (Kevin
Bacon) comes from the metropolis Chicago to the town of Bomont. Due
to certain circumstances of the past, alcohol, rock music as well as
dancing are forbidden. Especially Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow)
wants to keep it that way very much. The Reverend lost his son in an
accident, which he believes came because drugs and alcohol come with
rock music and are therefore the cause of his son's death. So dancing
of any kind is forbidden in the city. Ren likes to dance as well as
listening to loud music, which gets him into conflict with the
conservative people in town shortly after his move there. Ren also
falls in love with the daughter of the Reverend, Ariel (Lori Singer).
Ren wants the dance ban to
be lifted for the prom of his school. He prepares a speech for the
city council, with quotes from the Bible, which moves the Reverend,
but the council votes to keep the ban. The wife of the Reverend
(Diane Wiest) makes her husband even more thoughtful. When some town
members want to burn books, because they think of them as dangerous
for the youth, the Reverend can just about stop the book burning and
realises that the banings and rules in this town have gone too far.
Will the students be able
to dance at their prom? You've got to watch and see that for
yourself. Chris Penn (the brother of Sean Penn), can be seen in an
young role as a friend of Kevin Bacon. Reportedly Chris Penn couldn't
dance, but had to for the film. Probably this is what lead to the
short montage in which Kevin Bacon's character desperately, but
ultimately successfully teaches Chris Penn how to dance. A quite
amusing montage, I find. Speaking of young actors: Sarah Jessica
Parker plays Rusty, one of Ariel's friends and has one of her first
film roles, for which she was also nominated with the “Young Artist
Award”.
Strange as it may seem,
but the story of a dance ban in a city has some true story behind it.
In Elmore City, a town in Oklahoma, dancing was indeed forbidden from
1861 until a rebellion of the youth in 1980 led to the ban to be
lifted at last.
Roger Ebert wrote in the
Chicago Sun-Times about “Footloose” that the film tries to depict
a conflict situation in a small town, as well as showing some glowing
teenage characters and wants to be a music video, failing with all
three. Certainly “Footloose” isn't a dance film like the new ones
I described earlier. But with the background of a true dance ban in a
town, I enjoy watching it anyway. Contrary to many modern dance
films, this one isn't exclusively about dancing and showing others
how well the students can dance, but it's about the right to dance
and the montage with Kevin Bacon teaching Chris Penn to dance, for
me, is worth watching time and again. Dance enthusiastic viewers, who
expect many dance parts, will certainly be disappointed. I however
enjoy watching “Footloose” every once in a while.
In 2011 a remake of it
came out. The remake is close to the original story, sometimes even
word-for-word in dialogues and a bit more modern and with more
overall energy than the original. For me however the spirit of the
original is lost and it touches me close to not at all compared to
the original. It is, for me anyway, just a modernised, bad remake.
Until next blog,
sarah
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