Enjoy the terrific title sequence of ''Footloose'' while it lasts, not just for its montage of interesting-looking dancers' feet and red-hot musical accompaniment, but also for its promise of the jumpy, colorful, exciting movie that, unfortunately, is not to follow. Instead, ''Footloose'' is a ''Flashdance'' set in farm country, with tractors supplying the blue-collar chic and the flash mostly missing. The single burning idea behind the movie can be summed up as follows: Don't Knock the Rock.
''Footloose,'' which opens today at Loews State and other theaters, is set in a small, religious Middle Western town where bopping is strictly forbidden. Into this cloistered climate comes Ren (Kevin Bacon), a city kid with a portable cassette player and a punk haircut. Ren falls for a pretty girl and leads a crusade to force the town elders to allow a prom to take place, and that's about all the movie has to it. That, and a cast that's appealing almost in spite of the material and a selection of hits-to-be that enliven the soundtrack immensely.
As directed by Herbert Ross and written by Dean Pitchford, the movie has a Hollywood patina, a none-too-ingenuous simplicity and a tendency to overexplain. We are told, for instance, that people don't trust Ren because he is an outsider and that Ariel (Lori Singer) likes him for precisely that reason. John Lithgow, playing the fuddy-duddy of a minister who is Ariel's father, is given endless opportunities to denounce ''this obscene rock-and-roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality.''
On the slightly less literal level, we are made to realize that Ariel is a daredevil when she stands astride both a car and a truck as a second truck approaches in the other lane. Though this should have been enough to make the point, Ariel later, in much the same spirit of adventure, dashes in front of an oncoming train.
Fortunately, Kevin Bacon is a very likable actor, especially when he finally frees himself from the sullenness that is one of Ren's affectations. Mr. Bacon endures a lot here, including a ''Flashdance''-inspired solo dance number (would anyone really prance around a lot of farm equipment in what he believed to be a private moment?) and a scene in which the kids at the drive-in burst spontaneously into musical motion. He's even credible in a scene in which, after he supposedly dances strenuously in an out-of-town club, his white T-shirt is miraculously sweat-free.
Fine points like these (and the question of where Ren is getting his spiky hair trimmed in the conservative little town of Bomont) can be noticed throughout ''Footloose.'' How can you help wonder, after Ren proves his mettle by participating in a ''chicken'' race on tractors and his rival's vehicle tumbles off the road, why nobody in tiny Bomont asks after the missing machinery?
Like the rest of today's video-happy teen-age entertainments, ''Footloose'' doesn't expect to be watched closely or taken seriously. It wants to fill the screen with catchy music and pretty kids, and this it certainly accomplishes. Miss Singer looks lovely, even on the night when she comes home with a black eye (nobody asks about this, either), and she is dynamic to the point of constant darting.
Christopher Penn very nearly steals the movie as Ren's hayseed friend, and the two share a musical scene (to Deniece Williams's ''Let's Hear It for the Boy'') that's almost as sensational as the opening credits. Sarah Jessica Parker, as Ariel's friend, and Dianne Wiest, as her mother, are also impressive, although Miss Wiest's role is so awkwardly introduced that she stops the movie momentarily. ''It's 20 years now I've been a minister's wife,'' she begins, an hour into the story, though she's been virtually invisible before this, and by now her complaints seem very much beside the point. The point, apparently, is to have fun and keep on dancing.
''Footloose,'' which has been rated ''PG'' (''Parental Guidance Suggested''), contains some strong language and sexual innuendoes.
Blue-Collar Chic FOOTLOOSE, directed by Herbert Ross; screenplay and lyrics by Dean Pitchford; director of photography, Ric Waite; choreographer, Lynne Taylor-Corbett; edited by Paul Hirsch; produced by Lewis J. Rachmil and Craig Zadan; released by Paramount Pictures. At Loews State, Broadway and 45th Street; Orpheum, 86th Street, near Third Avenue; 34th Street Showplace, between Second and Third Avenues, and other theaters. Running time: 106 minutes. This film is rated PG. Ren MacCormackKevin Bacon ArielLori Singer Vi MooreDianne Wiest Shaw MooreJohn Lithgow Wendy JoElizabeth Gorcey RustySarah Jessica Parker WillardChristopher Penn ChuckJim Youngs
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