In 1984, quite possibly the greatest American movie to ever perfectly champion this country’s indomitable human spirit in the face of unrivaled fascism, Footloose, was released to audiences, becoming one of the biggest films of all time and introducing the phrase “everybody cut, everybody cut, everybody cut footloose” to the American vernacular.
Footloose is the story of big league city boy Ren (Kevin Bacon), just your average cool dude that loves to practice highly-stylized Batman-level feats of rhythmic gymnastics in empty train-yards and grain silos every chance he gets, and the harsh opposition from the theocratic local government (led by John Lithgow) he is met with while attempting to put on a simple spring formal dance in the face of an archaic city ordinance forbidding dancing, and, more than likely, prancing as well.
Eventually, through Bible-quotations and booty-shaking, he is able to get the town to see the error of their non-Footloose ways and, by the end, Beaumont’s entire teen populace miraculously knows amazing amounts of choreography, including breakdancing and the Russian dance where you kick your feet up while clapping your hands.
Little did Hollywood or the rest of America know that this was actually based on a true story out of the small Okie town of Elmore City where dancing was outlawed for reals. The ban was eventually lifted and now, every year, the town has a city-wide Footloose celebratio
Sadly, just when we thought such archaic laws were a thing of the embarrassing past, there’s apparently one town in Oklahoma tonight where, on this, the most romantic night of nights, no one will be hearing it for the boy, dancing in the sheets or reaching almost paradise…