Footloose (1984)

John Lithgow: Rev. Shaw Moore

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Vi Moore : [embracing]  Shaw?

  Reverend Shaw Moore : What?

  Vi Moore : We're almost dancing.

• Reverend Shaw Moore : Were you drinking?

  Ariel : No.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Smoking something?

  Ariel : No! I wasn't stealing, I wasn't gambling, I wasn't dancing, I wasn't reading books I'm not supposed to! I am late!

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Who were you with?

  Ariel : Ren McCormick.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : I don't want you to see him anymore.

  Ariel : Why not?

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Because I've heard he's a troublemaker.

  Ariel : Just because he hasn't lived in this town for 20 years doesn't make him a troublemaker!

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Ariel, I don't know what I'm going to do with you.

  Ariel : There ain't nothing to *do* with me, Daddy. You like it or not, this is it. It doesn't get much better.

• Ariel : I'm no saint you know. I'm not even a virgin.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Don't you talk like that here!

  Ariel : Why not? Isn't this where I'm supposed to come to confess my sins to my preacher? In CHURCH! I ask to be forgiven! Am I?

• Reverend Shaw Moore : [discussing Ariel]  We're losing her, Vi. Don't you see that?

  Vi Moore : No. I see you chasing after her and I see her running from you.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : She's become so willful, so obstinate.

  Vi Moore : She's like her father. The two of you were so wonderful once. You had so much to talk about. I was almost jealous.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : It's not as if we don't talk. It's just that sometimes people run out of things to say.

  Vi Moore : Shaw, it's 20 years now I've been a minister's wife. And I've been quiet, supportive, unobtrusive and after 20 years I still think you're a wonderful, a wonderful preacher. You can lift a congregation up so high they have to look down to see heaven. But it's the one to one where you need a little work.

• Ariel : [Shaw is busily typing in his den, Ariel is in the next room over, studying... Shaw is playing classical music in the background]  Daddy? I don't know what came over me.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : You know I can't always be with you, Ariel. I can't always look out for you.

  Ariel : [getting up and walking to the den]  What's the music?

  Reverend Shaw Moore : [preoccupied]  Oh, it's uh, I think it's Haydn. A chamber piece.

  Ariel : And that kind of music is OK?

  Reverend Shaw Moore : [somewhat defensive]  Well, it's uplifting... it doesn't confuse people's minds and bodies.

  Ariel : I don't...

  Reverend Shaw Moore : [annoyed]  What?

  Ariel : I see.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : [he calls out to her after she leaves the room]  Listen, could you tell your mother to go on to bed? I still have a lot of work to do down here.

  Ariel : I will.

  [she re-enters the den] 

  Ariel : Daddy?

  Reverend Shaw Moore : [not looking up]  What is it?

  Ariel : [disheartened]  Good night.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Good night, honey.

• Vi Moore : None of this is going to undo one stupid accident.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : I'm responsible for the spiritual life of this community.

  Vi Moore : Shaw, you can't be a father to everybody. You can't do that.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : I thought that at least *you* believed in me.

  Vi Moore : [whispering]  I never stopped.

• Reverend Shaw Moore : [to Ariel]  Your mother didn't think you had any money with you.

• Coach Roger Dunbar : Doesn't take much time for corruption to take root, Reverend.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : And how long is that, Roger? About as long as it takes compassion to die?

• Reverend Shaw Moore : I'm standing up here before you today... with a very troubled heart. You see, my friends... I've always insisted on... taking responsibility for your lives. But, I'm really... like a first-time parent... who makes mistakes... and tries to learn from them. And like that parent... I find myself at that moment when I have to decide. Do I hold on... or do I trust you to yourselves? Let go and hope that you've understood... at least some of my lessons. If we don't start trusting our children... how will they ever become trustworthy? I'm told that the senior class at the high school... has gotten use of the warehouse in Bayson... for the purpose of putting on a senior dance. Please... join me to pray to the Lord to guide them in their endeavors.

• Reverend Shaw Moore : If our Lord wasn't testing us, how would you account for the proliferation, these days, of this obscene rock and roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality?

• Andy Beamis : You're the last folks I expected to see around here tonight.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Hi Andy.

  Vi Moore : Hi Andy.

  Andy Beamis : Reverend, you done a good thing here.

  Reverend Shaw Moore : Well, I'm still not sure it was the right thing.

  Andy Beamis : Comes close.

• Reverend Shaw Moore : Even if this was not a law, which it is, I'm afraid I would have a lot of difficulty endorsing an enterprise which is as fraught with genuine peril as I believe this one to be. Besides the liquor and the drugs which always seem to accompany such an event the thing that distresses me even more, Ren, is the spiritual corruption that can be involved. These dances and this kind of music can be destructive, and, uh, Ren, I'm afraid you're going to find most of the people in our community are gonna agree with me on this.