FOOTLOOSE (1984) An Appreciation

 When my congregation, the gorgeous Emanu-El of New York City, announced they would close out their summer movie series with FOOTLOOSE, I was of two minds. I mean, this was FOOTLOOSE, an 80's movie classic with a top-notch cast, a ton of Billboard Hot 100 hits, and the inspiration for a musical that sold out night after night on Broadway before flying across the Big Pond and bringing   West End audiences to their feet, I mean, what's not to love?

I thought, plenty. The bad guy, played by John Lithgow who plays them the way Louis Armstrong played the trumpet (like a master), is your standard Bible-thumping fire and brimstone preacher, and his daughter, played by Lori Singer with the sturm und drang that was also perfected by Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and the Brat Packers of the day,is a rebel who prefers the degenerate rock and roll of the time to Reverend Daddy's lessons from Scripture.

But then, I had an epiphany, while we're using religious analogies: This movie was a stinging, scathing, and well-produced indictment of the conservatism that had swept the USA since Ronald Reagan took office. The hold Lithgow's character. the Rev. Shaw Moore, had upon the local school and the library, was not only very real back then, but also reminiscent of the Louisiana government making posters of the Ten Commandments mandatory in every school, religious or public, and banned books (and,in a few areas, book burnings), are still a thing. (If I may digress, #VelshiBannedBookClub has a lot of, as the kids say, awesome recommendations of books that Louisiana and Florida deem too hot to handle.You can also get them on Ali Velshi's self-titled MSNBC weekend gabfest, or wherever you get your podcasts.) Kevin Bacon, of Six Degrees fame, delivers one of his all-time great performances as Ren McCormick, a Chicago kid who moves with his mom to this boring town, and his best performance in the entire movie, bar none, is when he makes a case for dancing and rock and roll by quoting Scripture, i.e., Ecclesiates. ("It's OUR time to dance.")

While FOOTLOOSE is one of the quintessential 80's movies, it also resonates with today's audiences, as evidenced by the kids who were brought along to the screening at Emanu-El last night who couldn't help but move while sitting. (As one of the big kids in attendance, I certainly agreed.)

You can get loose with FOOTLOOSE on Paramount +, Freeform (ironically, formerly CBN Family Channel. That's a tale for another time.)or Prime Video. Don't worry, Mom and Dad, it's rated PG,which doesn't make it one of those pornographic pieces of trash Rev. Moore wants banned. Great movies never go out of style, and, despite my initial qualms, I believe FOOTLOOSE qualifies as one of them.

Steve out!