Year:  1984
Genre:  Blu-Ray, Romance, Drama
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Chris Penn, Dianne Wiest Notable bit parts:  Sarah Jessica Parker
Director:  Herbert Ross
Run time:  107 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Sometimes, a movie comes along that defines a generation.  And sometimes, that movie is later relegated to the dustbin of history, because that generation wasn’t really worth reflecting.  And sometimes, the Blu-Ray box of a movie SAYS that it was one of these generation-defining movies, and I stop and think, no.  That is just not true.  At least, I hope it isn’t true.

     Such is the case with the Blu-Ray issue of Footloose, out September 27^th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  Really?  This movie defined a generation?  A generation, I suppose, where movies were painful and silly, featured long dance montages that drag out that pain, and women had big hair and irritating personalities.  That’s not a generation I want to remember. 

     On the other hand, it might be a movie that reflects a generation where Kevin Bacon was really young, where Chris Penn was thin and still alive, and Sarah Jessica Parker was a secondary character actress, and John Lithgow was the bad guy minister, and Lori Singer was super hot and slutty despite being awful.  Now THAT’s the kind of generation I like.

     There is a Footloose remake coming to big screens in a couple of weeks, which I guess prompted this Blu-Ray release.  Once again, it’s going to be about a small town somewhere in the U.S. where rock and roll and dancing have been outlawed.  I’m pretty sure it won’t define OUR generation any more than it defined 1984.  I’m not even sure Footloose would have defined a generation in 1950.

     My wife loves movies from the 80s, since she is of that generation.  She watches Grease and Dirty Dancing every time they are on TV, even though we already own both movies on VHS and DVD and Blu-Ray and in box sets and special editions and so forth.  She is clearly the target audience for Footloose, which is also about dancing and rebellious kids from out of town.  But she HATES Footloose.  Even with a terrific transfer onto Blu-Ray.  I can’t say that I disagree with her.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 7:29 am and is filed under 1984, Blu Ray, Drama, Romance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.