A fun '80s classic

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2019)

This eighties classic is centred on Ren McCormick, a teenager from Chicago, who has moved to a small mid-west town with his mother after his parents divorced. He is shocked when he learns that the town council has banned dancing, largely at the behest of the town's minister. Many of the town's adults think dancing, along with popular music and certain books are a menace that lead youngsters to sin... it quickly becomes apparent that the teenagers, including Ariel, the minister's daughter can be fairly wild without dancing. Somewhat inevitably Ren and Ariel grow close, leading to bad feeling with the boy she was dating, and ultimately Ren leads a campaign to allow the kids to have an official school dance.
One might think of this as a music/dance film but it is so much more than that. Yes there is lots of enjoyable eighties music and some fun dance scenes but really it is about the characters. Some may be a little clichÃ©, most notably local bad boy who we just know will ultimately be put in his place by our protagonist. Other characters are deeper than expected, the minister is shown to be a good man despite his draconian views on music; we are given a reason that makes it understandable why he would feel the way he does even if we disagree with him. The actors playing the youngsters may be rather old for the characters they play but they do a good job; most obviously Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer as Ren and Ariel, but also from Chris Penn as Ren's friend Willard. Of the 'adults' John Lithgow stands out for his performance as the conflicted minister. The story is fun; as well as providing reasons for the enjoyable dance scenes, the youngsters dance amazingly well considering it is meant to be banned. Surprisingly the most memorable scene doesn't involve dancing... it involves playing chicken in tractors! Overall it may be a little cheesy but it is definitely an '80s teen classic; a must see for fans of the genre.