Great Music, Great Direction, Great Dancing

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2008)

I enjoyed it in 1984 when it came out and I enjoyed it 24 years later, watching it on DVD. As soon as I finished watching the movie again, I watched it again with Kevin Bacon's commentary and then again with the commentary of the writer and producer.
Most of the commentary is just of the he/she is really great variety. However, there are a couple of amazing revelations. First, Herbert Ross, the director, had to fight for Kevin Bacon against the studio. Apparently, Tom Cruise was scheduled to star, but there was a scheduling conflict. Ross forced Bacon to do a screen test and showed it to the studio execs. If they hadn't come around, he would have walked off the picture and that would have been the end of it. Fortunately, the screen test worked. The second big revelation is that Ross originally had a very low key ending with no real dancing in the final dance sequence. It was only when test audiences gave the film thumbs down that he finally agreed to shoot the upbeat final dance number. Fortunately, he was flexible enough to make the change, so we get a terrific ending and one of the greatest and most fun dance movies of all time.
The chemistry between Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer is terrific and Chris Penn and Sarah Jessica Parker are both great in their sidekick, comedian roles. Diane Wiest gets lost, but John Lithgow is amazingly effective as the regressive, but intelligent preacher.
Along with Grease and Dirty Dancing, this is one of the three greatest musical/dancing movies of the 1980's.