True Story People!!

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2008)

Yeah you heard me... Footloose is based on a TRUE STORY. Unlikely as it seems, it really happened in the small town of Elmore City, Oklahoma in 1980. My dad, Leonard Coffee (a.k.a. Ren McCormack a.k.a. Kevin Bacon...all breakfast items? what a coincidence...lol) was a junior at Elmore City High School. This was a minuscule town, with a population of around 750, and there were about 50 or so Baptist churches...so naturally the town's rules and regulations were a bit extreme. There was an archaic town ordinance that banned dancing in public, and it hadn't been abolished. Elmore had never had a junior/senior prom! So my dad fought the system with the help of his best friend, Rex Kennedy (the junior class president), and they were allowed to have a prom for the first time, and Elmore has had prom every year since. I don't know who sold the story, but unfortunately we got no money lol! There were a few things in the movie that didn't actually happen (Ariel Moore, Reverend Moore, the book burning, oh and playing chicken on the tractors!), but it is mostly accurate. The kids did have to go to surrounding communities like Pauls Valley and Lindsay to dance and party, and my dad drove the exact same car that Ren drives in the movie! So there you have it, the REAL story of Footloose. If you haven't seen it...watch it!