High School Reunion: Footloose (1984) 40th Anniversary Screening
Director: Herbert Ross Run Time: 107 min. Release Year: 1984
Starring: Chris Penn, Dianne Wiest, John Lithgow, Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer
Country: United States
Language: English
High School Reunion – Class of ’84
Featuring a trio of significant teen classics: John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles (1984), Herbert Ross’ Footloose (1984) and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
About the film:
Moving in from Chicago, newcomer Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) is in shock when he discovers the small Midwestern town he now calls home has made dancing and rock music illegal. As he struggles to fit in, Ren faces an uphill battle to change things. With the help of his new friend, Willard Hewitt (Christopher Penn), and defiant teen Ariel Moore (Lori Singer), he might loosen up this conservative town. But Ariel’s influential father, Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), stands in the way.
About the filmmaker:
Choreographer-director-producer Herbert Ross was best known for elevating the role of dance in film and for his ability to elicit exceptional performances out of such leading ladies as Barbara Streisand, Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft and Julia Roberts. Receiving his start as a Broadway performer and choreographer with the American Ballet Theater, Ross later staged dozens of musical sequences for such films as Carmen Jones (1954). Although he was one of Broadway’s top choreographers—notably crafting Streisand’s show-stopping number in 1963’s I Can Get It for You Wholesale—Ross yearned to direct films, a goal he achieved with Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969). He began to hit his stride as a director alongside rising megastars like Streisand in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970). At the height of his career, Ross utilized his knowledge of ballet for The Turning Point (1977) and re-teamed with longtime collaborator Neil Simon on The Goodbye Girl (1977) to win both critical acclaim and box office gold. Herbert’s most commercially successful films came later in his career; with Footloose (1984) and Steel Magnolias (1989) he triumphantly capped off a remarkable career.
See our upcoming films