#6 30 Day Movie Challenge

#6 A movie that reminds you of somewhere

Footloose

I remember that my dad got the Footloose soundtrack for his birthday in 1984.  It was a vinyl record and I grew up listening to it and dancing around.  I wasn't allowed to see the movie.  I was in kindergarten, after all.

Seven years later my family moved to Utah.  One of the first things my new friends told me was that the movie Footloose was filmed there.  Just down the freeway a bit.  Okay, like 60 miles, but still.  I had moved to Utah with a bit of a bad attitude.  I was 14 and had just moved away from my first long-term best friend (moving a million times will make long-term friends a bit hard to collect).  But the thought of being able to see the mill from the movie from just off the freeway softened my heart a little.

It really didn't take long but I learned to love Utah.  A large piece of my heart will always call it home.  And often when I drive through American Fork I make sure I stop for gas at the Phillips 66 station across the street from the ever-famous mill. 

I thought I heard a rumor that the mill is gone now.  The Phillips 66 may be too.  I really don't know since I haven't gotten to stop there much over the last couple years.  But American Fork, UT, reminds me of Footloose and Footloose reminds me of American Fork. 

The movie itself is about a bunch of repressed hick-kids that just want to dance.  That's the gist, anyway. 

Here's one of my favorite scenes.  I love watching the cowboy learn to dance.  Although I would've been mortified if the guy I was dancing with pulled out some of his final moves in the scene.




And just in case you hadn't heard, a new version of the movie is coming out in October of this year.  It'll star some dancers in the lead roles (Kenny Wormald as Ren and Julianne Hough as Ariel -- Kenny is new to me and Julianne was on Dancing With the Stars until she left for her singing career).  I don't recognize a lot of names on the cast list, but Dennis Quaid plays the Reverend and Andie MacDowell plays his wife.  I'll watch it even though it was filmed in Georgia instead of the now overly-populated American Fork, but I'm not sure if I'll see it in the theater.  I might wait til it's in the Redbox.