Movies
`Footloose' has a lot of loose footage
A Movie Review
By Don Strausburger
It has been billed as the street
dancer's version of Flashdance;
however, Footloose never quite
fulfills its advance publicity.
The film stars Kevin Bacon as
Ren McCormick, a "hot shot
from the big city," and Lori
Singer, formerly of the TV series
Fame, as Ariel, the local
Colonial Inn
Restaurant Bar
Thursday is Taco Night!
On the square in
Middletown, Pa.
Phone 944-9971
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minister's daughter. The movie
takes place in a small midwestern
town in which loud music, drink
ing and dancing have been banned
by law. Ren moves into the town
finding the typical amount of
resistance to the new kid, and is
instantly labeled as a threat by
the entire population. With the
help of Ariel, he tries to influence
the town council to let the town's
teenagers have a dance. The
leader of the opposition is Ariel's
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Capitol Times Friday, March 16, 1984
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father, played by John Lithgow
of Terms of Endearment. The
town's adults are finally convinc
ed that the morals of the
teenagers will not be broken by
the activity and allows the dance
to take place.
The subplots of this movie
prove to be the saving feature.
The first of the subplots involves
the development of a relationship
between Ariel and Ren. The two
seem destined to get together
through the early part of the film;
however, they desperately try to
fight the obvious affection. Final
ly, after nearly half of the movie,
they realize their passion for each
other.
The second subplot involves
teaching Ren's best friend how to
dance. The friend in the begin
ning has no idea of what to do
and through a crash course
becomes a good dancer.
Footloose, as presented, unfor
tunately suffers badly in its script
and technical production. The
film is filled with meaningless
dialogue as well as senseless reac
tions to emotions. For example,
in the early part of the film, Ren
shows his anger by driving into a
warehouse, pounding on the steer
ing wheel and then breaking into
the film's best dance sequence.
The next problem is that there
is no sense of progression
throughout the movie. Scene tran-
sition from beginning to end is
fair at best. Most of the scene
changes are very choppy, while
some make no sense at all. And
speaking of problems, little more
was offered in regards to quality
dancing than can be seen on any
afternoon on American
Bandstand.
Although all of these problems
hinder the movie, there are some
redeeming qualities. John
Lithgow's performance as the
bigoted town preacher is
stimulating since his character is
the only one able to develop
within the strict boundaries
presented by the script. The se
cond highlight is the music used
in the film. Footloose, with the ti
tle song by Kenny Loggins, in
cludes music by Bonnie Tyler and
several other major recording
stars. This film could be another
example of the "no, but I bought
the soundtrack" collection of
movies, which seem to have filled
the theater screens in the last few
years.
When it comes to the decision
for seeing Footloose, think twice
about disregarding the movie and
going straight to the record dealer
for the album.
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