Footloose | 1984
- Locations |
- Utah
- DIRECTOR |
- Herbert Ross
Spiky-haired and loose-tied city boy Ren (Kevin Bacon) arrives in the tight-assed town of ‘Bomont’ and opens up a whole can of trouble with the godless concept of dancing. Conflicted preacher Rev Moore (John Lithgow) is outraged, but rebellious daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) is more than up for a whirl around the floor.
Set in the Midwest, the snowcapped mountain ranges reveal the location to be Utah, where the fictitious town of ‘Bomont’ is mainly Payson on US Route 6, about 12 miles south of Provo, the seat of Utah County on the shore of Lake Utah.
‘Bomont High’ (which apparently includes ‘Nice Guy’ Eddie and Carrie Bradshaw among its students) is Payson High School, 1050 South Main Street, Payson.
Ren gets pulled over by the cops for playing loud music on the northern side of Payson Memorial Park, East 200 Street South at South Main Street. And it’s in the fields of Allred Orchards, 11497 Goosenest Drive, that Ren’s reputation is saved by a stray shoelace during the ‘tractor chicken’ showdown.
North, towards Provo, the town of Springville is home to Springville Senior High School, 1205 East 900 South, which supplies the library courtyard, where Rev Moore interrupts a book-burning session.
In Provo itself, Ren’s home is on East 100 North at North 500 East. Also in Provo is the Western dance club – supposedly across the state line – where the kids get to let loose. It was Atchafalaya Nightclub, since closed, which stood at 210 West Center Street.
North from Provo, in Lindon on US Route 89, stood the industrial site, with the rail line passing through, where Ren dances out his frustrations and Ariel shows him the locals’ literary efforts written on the walls. This was the (now closed) Geneva Steel Plant, which stood on South Geneva Road.
In ‘Bomont First Christian Church’, preacher Shaw warns of the appalling consequences of unbridled gyrating. This is actually Community Presbyterian Church, 75 North 100 East, in American Fork, northwest from Lindon.
And finally, just west of American Fork is Lehi. The flour mill, in which Ren gets a job and the Senior Prom is finally held, is the Lehi Roller Mills, 833 East Main Street, on the northwest corner of N 50 E. The mills have been here since 1906 and are still going strong. The town is named, as you might have guessed, after Lehi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon.
