I finally watched "Footloose" last night
 

Ai-ya! I graduated high school in 1984, so I should have seen this movie then, but somehow I missed it. Was it considered good by people who saw it then? It was so, so bad last night - the clothes and hair and dancing and everything were nostalgic for me, but the movie itself - tell me we watched some better stuff than that, please. The dancing at the end (and Kevin Bacon dancing with himself) were nothing short of embarrassing.

Well, I thought it was cool at the time... but (IIRC) I was only 12 when it came out.

Watching it today... yeah it's super-cheesy! Hairstyles and clothing aside, the plot is silly. Plus, I like how by the end of the movie every teenager in the town is an expert dancer. Plotwise, Risky Business and The Breakfast Club still hold up... Footloose? Not so much.

See, I loooove Footloose precisely because it's so absolutely ridiculous. His angrydance is the bestest thing ever. But you're right, it's gawdawful.

"I'm soo angry, I have to..I have to...DANCE!" It was a good dance, athletically-speaking, though. I liked the swinging on a big chain - that looked like fun.

I graduated High School in 1986, and I still haven't seen Footloose.

Flashdance, neither.

Hey! I was born in 1986! I saw Footloose when I was like 5. I liked it muchly, although I have to say as far as dancing movies go, that Dirty Dancing and maybe even Centerstage are better.

Get off my lawn, young'un!

See, I didn't like Dirty Dancing at all. I don't think it approached a high enough level of eighties-tastic ridiculousness, it was just cheesy. I didn't even see Footloose until a year or so ago, either, so there's no misplaced nostalgia associated with it for me. I just love it.

Ok, to be fair: I don't remember the plot of any of those movies except Centerstage, and that one only sticks out because of the Michael Jackson ballet scene. The main character of Dirty Dancing was named Baby, which pisses me off, and it had... Patrick Swayze, right? Footloose had something to do with rock and roll being the devil's music, a prom, playig chicken with semis, and the song Footloose. All of those things I can do without. In fact, the phrase "devil's music" makes me so angry that my ears turn red. So it's probably best that I never see that movie again.

Yeah, but the guy who was against the devil music turns all reasonable and shit at the end, plus he's played by John Lithgow, so bonus.

DON'T FORGET THE DANCING FEET! I LOVE THE DANCING FEET!

SHHHHH! YOU'RE GIVING IT AWAY!

THE DANCING FEET ARE STUPID. I THOUGHT SO WHEN I WAS 5, AND I THINK SO NOW.

*Sniffle* You are not the radical I thought I knew.

Hey, I said I liked the movie. Just not the feet, the devil's music, the chicken, or the prom.

Ok, so that's pretty much the whole movie. I must be conflicted.

How about the fact that Sarah Jessica Parker's character is named Rusty?

I absolutely love fictional proms, particularly on TV, but movies will work too. I don't know why.

Who is Sarah Jessica Parker?

Also, who would name a girl Rusty? Is it short for.... Christina? No, that's the only possibility I can think of and it's a stretch. A long, awkward, painful one that leaves me sore for days.

I'm proud to say I've never seen Footloose, Dirty Dancing or Flashdance.

I've seen little bits and pieces of each and that was enough for me.

I was born in 1984 and I've seen Footloose.

I love me some Kevin Bacon, hardcore stylie. And his angrydance is the BEST DANCE EVER! Even better than the Michael Stipe dance!

Tractors. I mean, you can still do with out them, but corrected in the interest of pedantic accuracy and all.

It would have been a totally different movie if it had been chicken with semis.

Or chicken on chickens.

Rough night. I have no idea what I meant to type. I don't know how I managed to get chickens out of semis.

Even playing semi with chickens, the OP can totally hate the movie.

Wait, is chicken even a word? It doesn't seem like it ought to be.

I just saw it again the other night. I felt it held up relatively well, given that it was essentially a popcorn muncher from the 80s.

(Although, I was also bothered by the level of expertise of everyone at the end of the movie. I was when I first watched it too).

Then again, I hadn't had any urge to watch it in years and years - I just saw it the other night because there was nothing else on. Perhaps lowered expectations? :)

Or, as it is known on the Internet "Footlose".

Have not seen Footloose yet nor do I ever plan to. I hated much of the early 80's pop culture since I was a more of a punk/alt/rock chick who preferred a harder edge.

I always thought the big dance scene at the end would have been improved by dumping a bucket of pig's blood on Lithgow's head. Then he'd turn his hatred from dancing to pork.

The character was so incredibly two-dimensional that if he turned sideways, he'd be invisible. His kid was hit by a car after coming home from a dance...so...dancing is evil? Lucky the kid wasn't at a restaurant--he'd have banned food.

Lithgow did a killer job acting an incredibly embarrassing role (you don't notice how dumb the character/motivation is until after the movie and you stop to think) but when you stop to think about the character, the movie becomes even more cringeworthy.

That said, I liked the bit where the hep young city-slicker teaches the hick farmer how to dance and the hick farm-kid can't get the hang of...y'know...rhythm.

They DID play chicken with a semi! Right near the start of the movie, Lori Singer's character is standing with one foot in each of the two vehicles driving side by side, and she doesn't get into the truck until the last minute, with a semi bearing down on them.

There was some good talent in the movie, no doubt (doing the best they could with a ham-handed script and dialogue that could have been written by George Lucas). Dianne Wiest was vastly under-utilized; her role consisted mostly of looking off into the distance with a Mona Lisa smile on her face.

My thought when they started dancing at the prom - "Oh, I see they've hired professional dancers."

Oh, that's riiigght. I forgot. I was thinking of the much cooler scene with the tractors. But it's been a long time since I've seen the movie

I'll admit the title song is catchy, and makes me want to dance.

Our high school dance department did that number, and even brought a real Volkswagen out on stage.

But what about Flashdance? Lee Ving played the bad guy, ya know...