Footloose old and new...

The other night we decided to watch the original Footloose move with Kevin Bacon and then watch the new 2011 Footloose movie. It was actually quite interesting to watch them back to back cause it gave us a chance to see how close or how different they were.

I remember the first time I saw the movie Footloose. Mom, Courtney and I went to the Shipka Drive-In to watch it and we had a big jumbo jar of cheese balls…and I remember Courtney ate so many of them she threw up! Not a real fond memory for Courtney I am sure, but it’s funny how you can remember what you were doing when you see certain movies or hear certain songs.

Kevin Bacon played Ren in the original and Kenny Wormald played in the 2011 version. Although Kenny did okay – I liked Kevin Bacon a lot better. Sometimes you just can’t improve on the original. Here is what Kevin Bacon looks like now.

Lori Singer played Ariel in the original and Julianne Hough played in the 2011 version. Julianne is much prettier than Lori Singer, and she can certainly dance circles around her for sure. Here is what Lori Singer looks like now

Chris Penn played Willard in the original and Miles Teller played in the 2011 version. Both of these guys were awesome. I loved how Chris Penn made Willard seem a bit simple, but a good loyal friend, and he looked great in his overalls! Miles did a great job of playing Willard as well. He had some very funny lines in the movie. Sadly Chris Penn passed away in 2006 from heart disease at the age of 40. Miles has some scars on his face that we were wondering about and I found that he was in a very serious car accident where some friends were killed and the scars are from that.

John Lithgow played Rev. Shaw Moore in the original and Dennis Quaid played in the 2011 version. I love Dennis Quaid….but he was not a convincing preacher. John Lithgow could NOT be improved upon in this role. Here is what John Lithgow looks like now.

Dianne Weist played Mrs. Moore in the original and Andie McDowell played her in the 2011 version. Although her character did not have a lot of screen time in the movie, when she was on, it was usually in a critical moment. Dianne Weist was much more convincing as a preacher’s wife than Andie McDowell was. Not to say her performance was bad, but just not as convincing. Here is what Dianne Weist looks like now.

It was interesting to see how they made the movie a bit more modern – instead of racing tractors, they raced school buses at a derby race track. You could also see the changing faces of our cultures as time goes on as well. In the original movie there were no African American characters and in the 2011 version there were many African American characters.

Some parts of the movie were word-for-word what was in the original and other parts were the same actions, but were done by different characters.

All in all the remake was well done – I’m glad they didn’t destroy it – but I still must say I liked the original best. Kevin Bacon has been and will always be one of my favourites!

Chow for now,

Jacqui