Teacher Guide
Learning goals, teaching notes, and answer keys.
View Teacher NotesPaper & online answer keysFootloose (1984) Movie Guide
Choose the format that fits your classroom, then explore the film through focused questions and evidence.
About the Film
A newcomer challenges a town’s dance ban while adults and teens negotiate grief, authority, and expression. Evaluate arguments and distinguish constructive resistance from dangerous behavior.
Movie at a Glance
- Release year
- 1984
- Genre
- Music and coming-of-age drama
- U.S. rating
- PG
- Runtime
- Approx. 107 minutes
- Director
- Herbert Ross
- Screenplay
- Dean Pitchford
- Based on
- Original screenplay
- Music
- Miles Goodman; songs by multiple artists
- Featured cast
- Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow & Dianne Wiest
- Story setting
- Fictional Bomont, United States · 1980s
Check your edition when planning class periods; cuts and playback speeds can change runtime.
Content to Preview
- Language, sexual references, implied teen sex, brief rear nudity, drinking, smoking, and drug references.
- Abusive boyfriend behavior, fights, and dangerous stunts with vehicles and trains.
- A fatal past crash and grief shape the conflict; religious disagreements require respectful discussion.
Preview your edition, follow school viewing and permission policies, and provide an appropriate alternative assignment. Suggested grades 9–12 are Teach Arcade’s classroom recommendation, separate from the film’s U.S. rating.
Classroom Connections
Use scene evidence to explore the topics above. Pair historical portrayals with reliable sources, literary adaptations with their texts, and animated metaphors with appropriate factual context.
Film details, advisories & classroom context: AFI credits and production history · Content advisory (spoilers)