The new ‘Footloose’ is out: What movies from the ’80s, ’90s are teens still watching?
The new “Footloose” movie is out today, and I am wondering if teenagers are actually excited or if it is just their parents?
I was 12 when the original “Footloose” came out. I don’t think I saw in the theater only years later on TV. We did love the songs and loved to make fun of Lori Singer’s chicken dancing (She had the boniest upper body!), and Kevin Bacon’s maroon tux on TV.
My kids aren’t old enough yet to be watching teen angst movies so I’m wondering what movies have stood the test of time from the 1980s and1990s?
Do girls still swoon over Jake Ryan in “Sixteen Candles?” Do they feel Samantha Baker’s pain dancing with a nerd at a school dance or giving away her underwear? Do kids with sexting and the Internet even relate to this school experience anymore?
Do then even know who Duckie is? I would think the poor/rich themes and dating outside your “class” in “Pretty in Pink” would still resonate.
Do they still melt over the volleyball scene in “Top Gun?”
Is “The Breakfast Club” still relevant? What about “St. Elmo’s Fire?” (I kind of think “The Breakfast Club” holds up better than the Regan-era “St. Elmo’s Fire.” “BC” could be any high school still.)
Will kids still laugh at “Bueller, Bueller?” (My friend who teaches at UGA did it in her class and on one got it.)
I think “Titanic” still looms large in teenagers’ minds but it was much more recent.
What movies do they watch when they get together? Are teens excited about the new “Footloose?” Do any of the movies that resonated so strongly with us in the 1980s still resonate with our teens?
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37 comments Add your comment
DB
October 14th, 2011
2:06 am
I was horrified at the remake of such a classic — but then I realized that one of my favorite classic movies, “High Society”, is actually an almost word-for-word remake of “The Philadelphia Story”, about the same amount of time later. Then, as I thought about it, I remembered that other classics, such as “Scarface”, “Psycho”, “Cape Fear”, “The Bishops Wife”, etc. have all been remade. I really don’t understand why — because the originals are pretty timeless — and it seems like there are thousands of other stories that deserve to be told, too.
Oh, well. I gotta say, though — I think a remake of “Dirty Dancing” should be outlawed!!
djs_NC
October 14th, 2011
5:46 am
im with you DB..i cant imagine a good remake of dirty dancing. and im very leery of the new footloose. the song sucks imo. i guess the kids these days will like it just like they like the remakes of classic songs. and a star is born with kris and barbara is one of my favorites and it was a remake. maybe just the older generation wont like these new ones. im not sure if i will see them or not. i still watch the others mentioned in theresas list, my kids have seen them and love them.
MomsRule
October 14th, 2011
6:37 am
I have to agree with DBs thoughts on Dirty Dancing. I can’t imagine a remake. Ugh. I was never into Footloose and haven’t seen it to this day.
DB
October 14th, 2011
8:26 am
I loved the energy of “Footloose” — it seemed to perfectly capture the budding sexuality simmering under the surface of bored, alienated teenagers in small towns, and John Lithgow and Dianne Weiss were absolutely perfect as the girl’s parents. I can watch that final scene over and over again, as well as “Let’s Hear It For the Boy”. But dance styles have certainly changed — there was certainly no grinding or breakdancing in “Footloose”! Kevin Bacon did very little of his own dancing in “Footloose” (the factory scene, for example, was a gymnast), unlike Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing”, but it sounds like the guy playing Ren in the updated version will be doing his own dancing.
My kids adore “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, but my daughter is incredulous that Tom Cruise was such a hottie.(of course, they also giggled at one of Mark Harmon’s early movies, before he turned into a silver fox!) My daughter almost fell off the sofa when she realized that Ferris was actually married to Carrie (”Sex in the City”) in real life!
I don’t think movies such as “War Games” or “Red Dawn” are worth remaking, but they were certainly iconic in the 80’s, not so much for the stories as for their casts :-)
NikNak
October 14th, 2011
8:28 am
Remaking Dirty Dancing would be criminal! It’s like “QUICK! Swayze JUST died, let’s profit while it’s still fresh in the public’s mind.”
NikNak
October 14th, 2011
8:29 am
And the volleyball scene in Top Gun makes me laugh, not melt.
JJ
October 14th, 2011
8:38 am
I hear they are re-doing A Star is Born Again (for the 3rd time) with Beyonce……I love the one with Babs & Kris.
The Breakfast Club is a great movie. I watch it every time it comes on tv.
Ferris Buellers Day off is a classic too…..Gotta watch that one when it’s on too.
Don’t you DARE remake Dirty Dancing. It cannot be done without Patrick…….AND I understand John Travolta turned that part down…..???
JJ
October 14th, 2011
8:39 am
TWG – I think your kids would love Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
DB
October 14th, 2011
8:53 am
JJ, this would be the 4th remake of “Star”, not the third. The first one was in 1937, directed by David O. Selznick (the same guy who went on to direct “Gone With the Wind”, and featuring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. Second was the Judy Garland version, and third was the Barbra Streisand version.
(PS: Did you know that Tom Cruise turned down the Patrick Swayze role in Dirty Dancing? Along with Val Kilmer? Billy Zane was considered, but he can’t dance his way out of a paper bag. Other “missed” opportunities: Molly Ringwald was offered the Julia Roberts role in “Pretty Woman” (another 80’s classic!) but turned it down. And Jack Nicholson was the top choice for Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” . . . kinda makes you wonder! And of course, Tom Selleck was the favorite for the Harrison Ford role in the Indiana Jones movies, but he had TV commitments he couldn’t get out of. Finally: Can you imagine John Travolta as Forrest Gump? Eek!
JOD
October 14th, 2011
9:17 am
I’m a little too young for the Brat Pack movies, but I did (and do) like Top Gun, but not for the volleyball scene – it’s a little campy for me. I probably would have liked Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones :o)
No mention of any Mel Brooks movies yet? I LOVE Mel Brooks and watched his movies growing up – Young Frankenstein (okay, so that was made in the 70s) and Spaceballs are 2 of my all-time favorite goof-off movies.
Techmom
October 14th, 2011
9:34 am
My 16-year old has seen Top Gun and Ferris Bueler’s Day Off but I think that’s all. I think he’d probably enjoy The Breakfast Club, especially considering the number of detentions he gets.
Jesse's Girl
October 14th, 2011
10:08 am
Ah Jake Ryan…..I was SO gonna have his love child. Then again…I also loved Chet from Weird Science. So perhaps my taste is specialized:) Several of my vocal students were extras in Foot Loose. ONe of them even has a small speaking part! It was shot in large part where we live….so I will go see it. If only to be the super obnoxious gal in the theater yelling out my kids’ names:)
FCM
October 14th, 2011
10:16 am
Went with my youth group to see ET and remember seeing the trailer for Footloose…knew then I wanted to see it. My parents decided I could and it was one of the first I saw with just my friends. I think we saw it 4 times.
I cannot decide if I want to see the remake. My kid want to though.
Grease should be remade. That would be fun!
Glee, AI, DWTS, SYTYCD, they all opened these musicals (and Footloose and Greese were both musicals) to a whole new generation.
MamaMia is at the Fox in November! The kids and I cannot wait!
Figment
October 14th, 2011
10:17 am
I don’t really like it when they remake movies. I don’t need to see 5 different versions of the same movie. They should come up with some new ideas for a change.
FCM
October 14th, 2011
10:20 am
As to the Volleyball scene in TG: Any hetro-female with eyes can look at Rick Rossovich’s abs and melt!!!!! OOOOO SLIDER!
ABC
October 14th, 2011
10:46 am
Don’t have a teen, but I still love my Brat Pack and other ’80s movies. If I catch one while channel surfing, I’ll watch a while.
JJ
October 14th, 2011
11:11 am
ANY Mel Brooks movie!!! Young Frankenstien, Blazing Saddles, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World, etc…he was the best movie maker!!!!!
mystery poster
October 14th, 2011
11:16 am
@ DB
“it sounds like the guy playing Ren in the updated version will be doing his own dancing. ”
What about the guy playing Stimpy? :-)
Wayne
October 14th, 2011
11:29 am
“What in the wide, wide, world of sports is a-goin’ here?!”
Layla
October 14th, 2011
1:00 pm
I believe that Dirty Dancing is making it’s way to Broadway. Not sure if it’s also going to be a movie remake or just another “sequel” like Havana Nights. The Princess Bride cast just had a reunion- there’s a pic going around on Facebook w/them. I think that movie is still very popular amongst kids and teens. They’d better NOT remake that one!!
Denise
October 14th, 2011
1:55 pm
No remake of Dirty Dancing! No remake of The Breakfast Club! No remake of Sixteen Candles!!!!! Good lord…now I want to go watch ALL the stuff from my “good old days”. :-)
I hope they don’t modernize Footloose too much (really, at all, but I’m sure some will happen and be okay). I think that is when I got a crush on Kevin Bacon. I crushed on ANYONE that could dance at that time. I LOVED to see men dance. (I didn’t know that a lot of men who did ballet were gay…so sad to grow up and find out the realities in the world).
Miss Priss!
October 14th, 2011
2:49 pm
If they want to learn how to be truly sneaky, they should watch and study the Tom Reagan character in “Miller’s Crossing.”
“You don’t hold elected office in this town. You run it because people think you do. They stop thinking it … you stop running it.”
—Tom Reagan
JATL
October 14th, 2011
4:30 pm
I think remaking Footloose is a travesty, and if they remake Dirty Dancing -people should picket! I’m totally with you on that, DB! I won’t see the new Footloose. I saw the original 3 times in the theater -the first with my mom who LOVED it. That was the greatest soundtrack too! My 8th grade summer is set to Footloose and Born in the USA. I loved Lori Singer’s red cowboy boots so much -I finally bought myself some for my 40th birthday!
Jelly
October 14th, 2011
6:35 pm
Enter your comments here
April
October 14th, 2011
7:11 pm
I love all those movies and my girls do too.
I thought it was funny that Hannah Montana’s love interest on that show was named Jake Ryan. A salute from the writers maybe?
Wax On! Wax Off!
October 15th, 2011
11:38 pm
That lame, insulting AffirmativeAction remake of “The Karate Kid” from a year or two ago should burn in Eternal Flame as should every single person associated with that manure bomb.
Mine Did
October 16th, 2011
7:24 am
Not all 80s movies, but they watched the classics:
Breaking Away
Gregory’s Girl
Sixteen Candles
Breakfast Club
Everything from Mel Brooks
Most Monty Python
Risky Business
The original Pink Panther movies
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Great Race
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
This Is Spinal Tap – some questionable content here
American Graffiti
and many more that are superior to the infantile gross-out movies of today
atl native
October 16th, 2011
7:43 am
My daughters love to watch “Adventures in Babysitting”,”The Breakfast Club”,and “The Goonies”.
JJ
October 16th, 2011
8:25 am
Good one: Scarface
I’ll try and think of some others, I promise…
really bad ones (the remakes): Cape Fear; The Getaway; The Flight of the Phoenix
One other OK one: True Grit…OK but come on, the Duke is the DUKE…
Bacchus
October 16th, 2011
8:46 am
Monty Python Holy Grail & Life of Brian are good ones too.
Scott Anderson
October 16th, 2011
9:26 am
Hollywood is going down the tubes. When are they going to make movies that are worth spending 26 bucks for going to see.
Taxi driver, Eastwood movies, steel magnoliasm terms of endearment
why cant they get original and stop with the phony remakes.
and make cell phones illigal in movies, who needs to be checking facebook in a fawking movie
mountain mom
October 16th, 2011
9:31 am
I watched “The Breakfast Club” with my 14-yr-old son this summer (with some trepidation he would find it hopelessly unhip/uncool). It was about a month before he started high school. He genuinely liked it, laughed at all the same parts I always thought were funny, and it sparked some good conversations. It was easy to identify the same cliques walking the halls of his school, even 25 years later…
Penguinmom
October 16th, 2011
4:49 pm
We’ve watched a few of the 80’s movies with our kids. You do have to be careful with younger kids because the movies contain way more language than I remember. You can look up a movie on IMDB.com and see the parent guide which lists anything that might be an issue.
My teen son loved Ferris Bueller but I didn’t let my 11-yr-old or my youngest watch much of it because the language was pretty pervasive. They watched the DVD extras and saw some of the funniest scenes that way (most of those didn’t have any bad language.)
We also watched Back to the Future which they all loved. (Back to the Future 2 was not appropriate really, we ended up skipping most of the middle of the movie but the 3rd one was great fun also.) My son actually met Christopher Lloyd this year at DragonCon and got his signature.
I’m looking forward to the Footloose remake. Now we just have to decide if we watch the original with the kid first or not.
It is interesting to see what references the kids in our classes when my husband and I teach. Sometimes we will throw something out there and most of the class will get it then other times we will say some thing that we think is more well-known and they won’t. But, they are all homeschoolers so they actually watch a wide variety of older TV shows, movies and listen to older songs than a lot of other teens.
OTOH
October 17th, 2011
12:36 am
The Gods Must Be Crazy. Absolutely delightful movie. Never, ever remake it.
Sorry, I love musicals but I thought Footloose was stupid.
MA
October 17th, 2011
7:52 pm
The new “Footloose” was great in it’s own way. Lots of the same lines as the original, but, lots of new scenes not shown in the original. My kids(now in college) grew up with all the 80s classics because my husband and I are 80s kids. They know all the classic lines and songs. My daughter in middle school would sing along in the morning when they would play 80s songs before school. The other kids would look at her like she was from another planet. I agree, they should never remake “Dirty Dancing”. They already did it with “Havana Nights”.
Ann
October 18th, 2011
11:08 am
@ Denise – Regarding your comments: “I LOVED to see men dance. (I didn’t know that a lot of men who did ballet were gay…so sad to grow up and find out the realities in the world).”
Actually, at least half the men who do ballet are not gay, according to studies, so don’t give up hope regarding your crushes. There are plenty of male, heterosexual tap dancers, too. Afterall, Patrick Swayze, who has been mentioned fondly several times in the blog comments studied classical ballet throughout his childhood in Texas and young adulthood with the Joffrey Ballet. He often spoke in interviews about why he took ballet for years and years. If more heterosexual male dancers spoke out like him, it would really help squash these stereotypes and open up the joy of dancing to more American boys.
Many other famous dancers are also not gay – Baryshnikov, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, to name a few. Fortunately, these stereotypes are waning, especially with the popularity of dance competition shows on TV and movies such as Footloose. More athletes are participating in dance and taking dance classes to improve their skills. Studies show that a lot of young boys are interested in dance, but it is not presented to them as an option or the parents hesitate.
sophyb
October 20th, 2011
5:57 pm
My teens love all the John Hughes movies: Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Home Alone (ugh). They also will watch Ferris Bueller, Jaws, and Jurassic Park as often as they are on. Oh, and The Goonies – officially the loudest movie ever made!