• Kevin Bacon and Kenny Loggins give this film just enough to sneak into the archives.
  • The entire soundtrack (most of it original for the film) is perfect. Loggins, as mentioned, does much of it- but how good is John Cougar’s “Hurt So Good” in the Honkey Tonk bar. I like “let’s hear it for the boy” by Deniece Williams with the montage of Kevin Bacon teaching Chris Penn how to dance. Haha.
I like “let’s hear it for the boy” by Deniece Williams with the montage of Kevin Bacon teaching Chris Penn how to dance. Haha.
  • Lori Singer is really good here. Tall and beautiful—a Daryl Hannah doppelganger. She has spunk (scrapping with her ex-boyfriend), chicken-playing daredevil– attention-seeking with her father (a rock solid John Lithgow) issues. Lithgow played a string of villains- many of them in De Palma films (Blow Out, Raising Cain) – but there’s some nuance here. He’s more complex than the critics of the time gave him credit for. He’s wounded and scared after the loss of his son.
  • The success of the film however lies in the momentum of the entertaining archetype-filled but well-executed narrative with strong music throughout—- the film ends with a climatic and satisfying “let’s dance” sequence. There’s glitter pouring from the ceiling and the sun spot lighting by Ross- a nice touch
the film ends with a climatic and satisfying “let’s dance” sequence. There’s glitter pouring from the ceiling and the sun spot lighting by Ross- a nice touch
  • Recommend but not that close to the top 10 of 1984