'I thought this was a party. Let's dance!'

You might want to pull your "Footloose" lunch-box and that old, tattered copy of "Diner" on VHS close for comfort before hearing this news:

Kevin Bacon turns 50 years old today. (Insert sound of Lori Singer screaming moments before Ren pulls her off the train tracks.)

Everyone has a mystical connection to his '80s opus "Footloose" for some random reason. Could be the soundtrack (which had two No. 1 hits.) Maybe "Almost Paradise" was your prom theme. (It was for me.) Maybe you associated more with the dance-impaired Christopher Penn character. Or the repressed Ariel. (Did you know Madonna tried out for that part? Dodged a bullet there.)

To me, it was always Bacon playing "Ren," rebel enough to keep earn a guy's respect, but confused and frustrated enough to keep himself real. A modern-day James Dean. Like Jagger would say, he didn't always get want he wanted, but he got what he needed. How many of the rest of us can say that?

Happy birthday, Kevin. Don't give up on that idea of putting a Playboy centerfold into every one of Reverend Shaw's hymnbooks.

TOP FIVE MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM FOOTLOOSE:

5. "Hey, I like that hat, man. They sell men's clothes where you got that?"

4. "Uh-oh, he's taking the car."

3. "I mean we're not stuck in the g-dd-mn middle ages here. I mean we've got TV. We've got Family Feud."

2. "I think she's been kissed a lot."

1. "I don't know if I believe in anything you believe in. But I believe in you."

Comments

[Marissa]

I can't believe Kevin is 50. That makes me feel older.

I have DINER on DVD now. Great movie. Footloose can almost always be caught on cable at some point in the day. I still enjoy it.

[Spears]

Don't anyone hold their breath for a Diner podcast anytime soon.

[lauriec]

He may be 50, but he's still hot!

[Bassnote]

Happy birthday Mr. Bacon. I wonder if anyone will hear him say today, "Thank you sir! May I have another?"

[Sean Daly]

For the record, "Diner" is one of my fave movies ever. Never understood why Steve doesn't like it. I mean, a dude puts his schwantz in a bucket of popcorn, fer crissakes. What's not to like?

Best Kevin Bacon line from "Diner": "You ever get the feeling that there's something going on that we don't know about?"

[Jeff in Cuba]

I could never figure out why women considered Kevin "hot" back in the day, and it still baffles me.

Is it the beady, little ferret-like eyes? The drawn-up features? The slight, flute-player physique?

It's not that I'm jealous (no one's going to have pictures of me taped to their locker doors regardless of what Kevin looks like!), it's just that I could never figure it out.

Enlighten me, 80's Nation!

[Spears]

My problem with Diner is that even though it's an 80s movie, it feels like a 50's movie. Same with "A Christmas Story," which I could take or leave some days.

[jane]

Jeff -- I got nothin' to help clarify your bafflement. Mr. Bacon is pleasant enough but I've never found him particularly, as you say, "hot." Not my type at all.

[Jeff in Cuba]

Steve,

I'm a firm believer that a movie is best defined by its release date, not its "plot date". So while "Diner" (and "Christmas Story") have the trappings of decades gone by, there's no way to isolate them form the pop culture landscape from which they sprung. Like it or not, they are, and will always be, 80's movies.

Consider "The Wedding Singer". Is it an 80's movie? It has all the trimmings, but underneath it's Member's Only exterior, beats the Gap heart of cynical 21st century movie-making. And all of the knowing nods and winks in the world aren't going to change that.

[Neil]

I sort of agree "Diner" and "Christmas Story" really take me back to the time period they are supposed to be in. My only problem with "Christmas Story" was the bad perm the mom had. It looked way too much like an eighties perm. "Diner" is classic, I remember watching it on Showtime when I was in gradeschool and I saw that popcorn scene, that was the greatest. "Diner" was a movie that got better with time. My favorite Kevin Bacon movie is "Friday the 13th".

[Neil]

I remember seeing Kevin Bacon, I think it was on Letterman. He told a story that back in the eighties he would go to nightclubs immediately walk up to the DJ give him 20 dollars and tell the DJ not to play Footloose. If I was Kevin Bacon, I would have done the complete opposite. I would have paid the DJ to play Footloose to get the attention of all the ladies.

[Tonianne]

I never understood the mass appeal of Kevin Bacon.

But he does leave me with a wicked craving for Lucky Charms.

[John Hays]

Never seen Diner. Need to check it out sometime.

[Rick]

Kevin's magically delicious! LOL

[Debra]

I think it's Kevin's nose that's a "deal-breaker" for me (like I ever had a "deal" from him anyway).

[Miguel]

Happy birthday to Kevin,on of the most underated actors of his generation.

Example,Mystic River.Sen Penn and Tim Robbins got oscars for it,Kevin didn´t get a nomination with an equally brilliant performance.

His best movie of the 80s for me was Plain,Trains and Automobiles(movie not performance).He played the Taxi Racer there.Didn´t watch Footloose yet.

[Johnny B. Goode]

Getting back to the quotes, Steve, how could you not include: "There is a time for every purpose under heaven...there is a time to laugh...there is a time to cry...and there was a time for this law, but not any more. This is our time now."

That needs to be played on more Jumbotrons at sporting events.

[Rick]

Well, Miguel, then you need to watch SHE'S HAVING A BABY (1988). I think it's one of Bacon's most nuanced performances, and a pretty funny, touching Hughes film.

(I dare you not to shed a tear while Kevin is on screen while Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" plays underneath. I won't give away the scene context.)

[Miguel]

I love She`s Having a Baby,Rick.But Plains Trains and Automobiles is probably my favourite John Hughes movie.That or Sixteen candles.

[Rosa]

He's hot because he's got a sexy voice and a certain mischeviousness about him. Kind of a like a certain podcaster . . .

[Spears]

Most 80s movies take place in the 80s, so those obviously are "80s flicks." And the Wedding Singer is a tribute to the 80s, so I love it as well.

But movies based in the 50s and 60s sorta leave me flat. You won't see me waxing poetically about Stand By Me or The Outsiders either. (Especially not the vastly overrated Stand By Me.)

But, oddly enough, I love "Victory," "Hanover Street" and "Force 10 from Navarone" and another other WW2 flick. Go figure.

[Rick]

Miguel, but what did you think of Señor Bacon's performance in SHAB? Certainly better than his role as Ren...

Anyone?

[Tonianne]

I agree that Hanover Street was a touching, period love story.

But my head almost exploded with all the logic leaps. Christopher Plummer as a British Intelligence agent who can't read a compass? Seriously? I just can't seem to get past that one.

Perhaps if he was French...

[Spears]

Or Portugese. Just kidding, Miguel.

The worst part of Hanover Street to me is the horribly cliche sweeping score and the cheesy intro text. "It was a time of war. Of men and women acting as if tomorrow may never happen." Something like that. Horrible.

But Harrison Ford was born to play a WW2 pilot.

[Top 10 Lists]

Nicely done. Footloose was part of my highschool senior year dance. Ah, the memories.

[Miguel]

Nice Spearsy!

How can you say Stand By Me is overrated? It`s a great,great movie,man!

[CHAD]

diner is a great movie. sure its based in the 50s, but so what. the indy movies are based in the 30s, does that make them 30s movies. diner has a great cast. it made stars out of all of them. you have guttenberg, daly, barkin, rourke, stern, and bacon. its also one of barry levinsons better movies. the test is classic. "the wedding is off"

[CHAD]

the best part of stand by me is the puke scene

[tipps]

Something's not quite right about his nose. I haven't seen Footloose in ages, but I really liked the dancing/gymnastics scene in the barn. Does anyone remember when he was on Will & Grace. Will and Kevin danced to the Footloose theme. Pretty funny.