Footloose (1984)

In addition to boasting one of the most popular movie soundtracks of all time, Footloose made a star of Kevin Bacon, the rebel with a cause at the center of this infectious celebration of dance that became a cultural phenomenon. Footloose is also one of the earliest movies to be clearly inspired by MTV, with its episodic narrative structure and songs staged as miniature emotional operas. When Bacon's bad boy pours out his angst through dance and aggressive gymnastics in a closed factory, swigging from a beer while blowing out plumes of smoke, all to the tune of "Holding out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler, his mythic posturing is made in music video heaven. But there's a lot more than teenage disobedience in Footloose. It's also a sensitive portrait of Midwestern values, which don't clash nearly so much as Bacon's dance proponents or John Lithgow's worried churchgoers think they do. Lithgow's performance is especially complicated and heartfelt; the reluctant villain because he stands between the teens and their desire to cut loose, he really only wants to save them from themselves, having personally experienced tragedy caused by recklessness. Dianne Wiest balances her husband's conscience with her daughter's desire to embrace youth, making for another stand-out performance. Genuinely rousing, if perhaps willfully naïve and formulaic, Footloose is most winning during its dance sequences, the specialty of director/choreographer Herbert Ross. The movie held such lingering appeal in the popular consciousness that it inspired a successful Broadway musical -- almost 15 years after its theatrical release. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide