It isn't amazing, but it holds true over time

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2017)

There is a review that summed up this movie in two words which I couldn't sum up in a thousand words. Teenage Cheese. It is 100% that and more. Teenage Cheese is a movie meant for young adults and this movie does it in spades. However, this movie is one of a few movies which actually holds up over time. It is leaps and bounds better than the reboot which came out two decades later.
The story is about Ren, a young man from Chicago, who moves to a small town which doesn't allow music or dance. Ren has a chance to rebel against the authoritarian leaders of the town by showing them that dance and music doesn't have to be a drug filled orgy of sex and sweat.
Kevin Bacon does a great job of playing the lead part, it was said that Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were also in line for the lead role but Tom Cruise was doing All The Right Moves, Rob Lowe was injured.
As the lead interest, Lori Singer/Ariel Moore, plays the preacher's daughter, Jon Lithgow, which was originally supposed to be Madonna, or a hundred other famous young actresses which didn't seem to work out. However Lori Singer does a great job as a country girl trying to get noticed by her father.
The rest of the supporting cast does a fine job and there is Sara Jessica Parker (Sex in the City) and Chris Penn (Reservoir Dogs) to name a few.
The soundtrack is loaded with many top 10 songs of the era including "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)" by Quiet Riot, "Hurts So Good" by John Mellencamp, "Waiting for a Girl Like You" by Foreigner and the extended 12" remix of "Dancing in the Sheets".
The soundtrack includes five rock singles—the title song, "Footloose" and "I'm Free", both by Kenny Loggins, "Holding Out for a Hero" by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, "Girl Gets Around" by Sammy Hagar, and "Never" by Australian rock band Moving Pictures (the song played during Bacon's solo dance scene); three singles—"Let's Hear It for the Boy" by Deniece Williams, "Somebody's Eyes" by Karla Bonoff, and "Dancing in the Sheets" by Shalamar; and the love theme "Almost Paradise" by Mike Reno from Loverboy and Ann Wilson of Heart.
I hear complaints that this movie sucks and that it doesn't hold up over time. Maybe it is my youth, that I graduated in 1985, that clings to the time when I saw this movie. However I do not believe that to be the case. The movie is clean and crisp with a message that applies to all generations.
Yes, it will eventually become dated, but for the time being this movie holds it own against newer films which have a thousand dollars greater budget and still suck.