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."