Footloose (1984) 4K UHD Review: Rambunctious, Though Mostly Tired

After the death of his father, Ren McCormack (Keven Bacon), and his mother (Frances Lee McCain) move from Chicago to the home of his aunt and uncle in small town Bomont. Five years ago, Reverend Shaw Moore’s (John Lithgow) son died in a car accident after a night of drinking and dancing across county lines. Since then, the Reverend has pushed for, and enacted, laws that outright restrict rock music, dancing, and alcohol in Bomont’s surroundings.

Ren doesn’t care for the new laws in this podunk town and decides to fight for a school prom. He gives an impassioned speech at the town meeting in which he quotes several passages from the Bible that promote dancing as a way to praise, have faith, and exercise. Reverend Shaw is not immune to these arguments, but the town council votes against the prom. The kids decide to hold the prom anyway just outside county lines.

For some reason, the obvious scene where the police show up and violently rip a tape from a top-of-the-line 80’s boombox and crush it under a booted foot doesn’t exist. In fact, not once does anybody actually get into trouble for listening to rock music or for dancing. They do these things all the time – rock out and two-step – but nobody actually seems to care in the slightest except for the local minister and his parishioners. And Reverend Shaw, from the start, seems on the fence about all of it except when it comes to his daughter, Ariel. He is thawing to the idea before the opening credits.

This doesn’t leave a lot of tension left for the film. There are a few fights, and Ariel comes off mostly as crazy, needing to be shoved out of the way of a speeding train. Luckily, Willard (Chris Penn), a friend Ren made at school, doesn’t know how to dance, at all, and the montage of Ren teaching Willard how to dance is a gem. All of the dancing sequences are well choreographed and do a great job of showing the pure power and gymnastic acumen of teenage angst.

Bonus Features:

Disc One: 4K ULTRA HD Feature Film

Disc Two: Blu-ray Feature Film

• Commentary by Craig Sadan and Dean Pitchford
• Commentary by Kevin Bacon
• Let’s Dance! Kevin Bacon on Footloose
• From Bomont to the Big Apple: An Interview with Sarah Jessica Parker
• Remembering Willard – Kevin Bacon and Sarah Jessica Parker Remember Chris Penn
• Kevin Bacon’s Screen Test
• Kevin Bacon Costume Montage
• Footloose: A Modern Musical – Part 1
• Footloose: A Modern Musical – Part 2
• Footloose: Songs That Tell a Story
• Theatrical Trailer

Recommendation: The 40th anniversary edition of Footloose has several special features to keep you footloose and fancy free.