Footloose/Fash Dance

(15)

Footloose
Teenager Ren MacCormack sends ripples through Bomont, a small Midwestern town that could stand some shaking up, when he arrives from Chicago with his mother, Ethel, to settle with her relatives. The adults tend to view him with suspicion as a possible contaminant from the outer world. Some of his male peers eye him as a threat, and most of the girls just plain eye him.

It's a tough time for Ren, whose father deserted him and his mother, leaving them financially and emotionally strapped. But Bomont is a new setting, a place for beginnings, and Ren intends to give it every chance. He finds that the town is autocratically run by the local minister, Rev. Shaw Moore, who single-handedly manipulates the community sentiment and has had a hand in the banning of certain books, all rock 'n' roll music, public dancing and numerous other enjoyments that Ren had taken for granted in Chicago.

From the moment he arrives in Bomont, Ren is harassed and ostracized. He immediately finds himself in conflict with the community, in a unique relationship with the minister's free-spirited daughter Ariel and involved in a feud with her bullying boyfriend Chuck. His greatest ally turns out to be Willard, a good-natured schoolmate, slow to wit but quick to fight. Eventually, Ren galvanizes the youth of Bomont to confront the town's narrow-mindedness, and, in doing so, he forces Rev. Moore to re-examine his own relationships with his daughter, with his congregation and with his wife of 20 years.

Flashdance
In Adrian Lyne's Flashdance, a young woman, Alex (Jennifer Beals), strives to achieve success as a classical dancer, but economic forces require her to work as a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night. Standing in her way is an abundance of profound social obstacles, not the least of which is her boss at the welding factory, Nick (Michael Nouri), who is also her boyfriend. Alex strives to be accepted into a prestigious ballet academy, and she is furious when she realizes that her boyfriend might be pulling strings for her behind the scenes. Along the road to self-discovery and independence, Alex also struggles to accept love, come to terms with her own stubbornness, and find the inner strength to turn her lofty dreams into reality.

Edited for maximum rhythmic impact, Flashdance is full of glistening bodies and metallic surfaces, powered by Giorgio Moroder's throbbing music and one hit song after another: Michael Sembello's "Maniac," Karen Karmen's "Manhunt," and, notably, Irene Cara's Oscar-winning theme song, "Flashdance...What a Feeling." Flashdance marks the first co-production between Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who geared the film toward the MTV generation...

Seen this movies when they first came out, and really enjoyed them, even today I love to sit down and watch them.