Alec Baldwin Movies
Equally at home playing leads and character roles, actor Alec Baldwin is known for his work in just about every genre, from action thrillers to comedies to dramas. Born April 3, 1958, in Massapequa, Long Island, he was the second of six children (brothers William, Daniel, and Stephen would also become actors). Baldwin was a political science major at George Washington University before he decided to become an actor; following his change in vocation, he studied drama at NYU and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.Early in his career, Baldwin was a busy man, simultaneously playing a role on the TV daytime drama The Doctors and performing in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream on-stage in the evenings. A few years after making his 1980 Broadway debut, the actor moved to Los Angeles, where he landed a part in the television series Knots Landing. He made his film debut in 1987 with a starring role in Forever, Lulu, which led to work in a number of major films. From 1988 to 1989 alone, Baldwin appeared in no less than seven films, including Tim Burton's black comedy Beetlejuice, Mike Nichols' Working Girl, Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob, and Oliver Stone's Talk Radio.
In 1990, Baldwin achieved big-budget success playing ace CIA agent Jack Ryan in the undersea thriller The Hunt for Red October. The film's popularity won him acclaim, so Baldwin surprised many by foregoing the opportunity to reprise his role in the sequel Patriot Games (he was replaced by Harrison Ford) in favor of returning to Broadway to star as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Although his decision paid off -- he received a Tony nomination for his performance -- it also marked the point at which Baldwin's star wattage began to flicker. His 1991 film, The Marrying Man proved to be an all-out flop (although it did provide him an introduction to co-star Kim Basinger, whom he would marry in 1993), and the critical success of his next two films, Prelude to a Kiss and Glengarry Glen Ross was overshadowed by a subsequent string of flops, including Malice (1993), The Getaway (1994), and The Juror (1996).
The actor rebounded a bit with his role in Al Pacino's acclaimed documentary Looking for Richard (1996) but then had the unfortunate luck of starring in the 1998 Bruce Willis disaster Mercury Rising. However, the following year proved more fortuitous for Baldwin, as he starred in the coming-of-age comedy Outside Providence, as well as in the crime drama Thick As Thieves and the ethical drama The Confession, appearing alongside Amy Irving and Ben Kingsley. In addition, the actor made an uncredited appearance in Notting Hill, sending up his macho Hollywood persona as Julia Roberts' piggish actor boyfriend.
Baldwin started off the 2000s by re-teaming with David Mamet on the Hollywood satire State and Main as a lecherous leading man with a weakness for underage girls. He provided narration for Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, and was one of the few people to escape unscathed from Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor.
Although he continued to make headlines because of his politics, as well as his ongoing legal scuffles with now ex-wife Kim Basinger, Baldwin continued to do strong work in the comedies Along Came Polly (2004) and Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), and scored his first-ever Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor playing a menacing casino manager in 2003's The Cooler. He became a part of Martin Scorsese's stock company playing Juan Trippe in 2004's The Aviator, following it up as a federal agent in love with the Patriot Act in 2006's The Departed.
Baldwin's longstanding association with the venerable sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (he has hosted over ten times) paid great dividends when he was hired to play the part of the boss on former SNL head writer Tina Fey's fall 2006 sitcom 30 Rock. He earned universal raves for his work on the show, and captured the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a comedy television series during the program's inaugural season. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Neil Simon forgoes his typical urban East Coast kvetchers and replaces them with sunny Californian kvetchers in The Marrying Man, a film which became a beacon of gossip in 1991 due to the alleged shenanigans of stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger), who fell in love during production. Simon based his script on a true story concerning the love affair between shoe tycoon Harry Karl and actress Marie (The Body) McDonald during the 1950s. Married to each other four times, McDonald still managed to carry on an affair with mobster Bugsy Siegel. In this Simon-ized version, Baldwin plays Charley Pearl, a sharp and handsome Hollywood millionaire, engaged to Adele Horner (Elisabeth Shue), the daughter of dyspeptic movie studio executive Lew Horner (Robert Loggia). The day before their wedding, Charley heads off to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, and in a sleazy casino on the outskirts of town, he sets his eyes on sexy singer Vicki Anderson (Basinger) and falls for her hard. He wants her immediately and even though she warns him she's the property of Bugsy Siegel (Armand Assante), he crawls into her bedroom window to be with her. Caught with his pants down by Siegel, Bugsy, instead of killing him, forces him to marry Vicki ("I was about to dump her anyway," he says). But after their marriage, Charley and Vicki discover they're more attracted to the danger of their relationship than in each other. Charley's friends -- Phil (Paul Reiser), Sammy (Fisher Stevens), Tony (Peter Dobson), and George (Steve Hytner) -- form a Greek chorus commenting on the crazed love affair and are reportedly inspired by Phil Silvers, Sammy Cahn, Tony Martin, and Leo Durocher. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, (more)
- 1991
This 1991 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Alec Baldwin and features musical guest Whitney Houston. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Whitney Houston, (more)
Based on the late Charles Willeford's series of hard-boiled crime novels featuring Miami cop Hoke Moseley, the Jonathan Demme-produced Miami Blues opens with the prison release of Frederick Frenger Jr. (Alec Baldwin), a deranged killer who has barely de-boarded his plane before he's killed a Hare Krishna in the airport. Checking into his hotel, Frenger meets up with Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young prostitute with dreams of domestic life, and the two quickly become romantically involved. Meanwhile, the Hare Krishna murder case is given to Moseley (Fred Ward), a grizzled vet who vows to hunt down Frenger, but may be getting too long in the tooth for the demands of his job. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, (more)
Woody Allen's character study of a well-kept, upscale Manhattan woman (Mia Farrow) takes the title character on a journey through a Wonderland of her own making, in which she learns some truths about herself, her relationships, and the universe in general. Alice leads a comfortable life, except for some nagging aches and pains, but when she visits the mysterious Dr. Yang (Keye Luke), he discovers that what really ails Alice is her own lack of true human experience. Alice has been married for sixteen years to Doug (William Hurt), an emotionally detached stockbroker, and she lives a perfectly maintained life in a perfectly maintained apartment, with a pair of children and the requisite support staff. All that changes when a chance meeting with a neighbor (Joe Mantegna) leads Alice to consider an affair. Dr. Yang, seizing the opportunity, gives Alice herbal potions that make her both invisible and seductive, allowing her to free herself from her inhibitions. Plunging into her new fantasy world, Alice ultimately comes to terms with her family, her husband, and her life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna, (more)
- 1990
This 1990 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Alec Baldwin and features musical guest the B-52's. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, The B-52's, (more)
The first of several films based on Tom Clancy's "Jack Ryan" technothrillers, Hunt for Red October stars Alec Baldwin as eccentric CIA analyst Ryan and Sean Connery as Soviet submarine commander Marko Ramius. Ramius sets the plot in motion when he murders his political adviser, burns his orders, and steers his sub Red October towards American waters, hoping to defect. The CIA, aware that the Red October was about to embark on an evasive mission to demonstrate its ability to avoid detection and fire its nuclear missiles upon U.S. installations, believes that Ramius is insane, and that he plans to start World War III. To cover their own behinds, the Russians back up the CIA's suspicion. Only Jack Ryan believes that Ramius' mission is not as apocalyptic as it seems -- and it is Ryan who is assigned to infiltrate the Red October to prove his theory. The sort of film that in an earlier era would have been called a "thinking man's thriller," The Hunt for Red October ushered in a new series of Hollywood-produced post-Cold War adventure films, including 1995's Crimson Tide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, (more)
Until its last 10 minutes or so, this filmed biography of controversial recording star Jerry Lee Lewis plays like a live-action cartoon. As played by Dennis Quaid, "the killer" is a very mixed-up individual: a saintly sinner, a world-wise naif, a skilled performer with zero sense of discipline, a loving husband who uses his wife for a punching bag. The story takes place during the years 1956 through 1958, as Lewis rises to the top of the charts with such hits as "Crazy Arms," "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," and the title tune. Along the way, he falls in love with his second cousin Myra (Winona Ryder), eventually marrying the girl. When it is revealed that Myra is only 13 years old, Lewis is condemned as a molester and pervert by the public (his disastrous tour of England during this crisis is depicted in hilarious Tex Avery fashion). After establishing a brisk, satirical tone through most of the proceedings, the film plummets into heavy dramatics in its final portions, jarring disastrously with all that has gone before. Otherwise, Quaid is terrific as Lewis (expertly lip-synching to the original records,) and Ryder is equally good as the long-suffering Myra. Featured in the cast are Alec Baldwin as Jerry's cousin Jimmy Swaggart (the same!), Michael St. Gerard as Lewis' great rival Elvis, and Steve Allen as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, (more)
Monologist Eric Bogosian's one-man theatre piece Talk Radio, co-written by Bogosian and Ted Savinar, is searingly brought to the screen by Oliver Stone. Bogosian plays a provocateur radio talk-show host, whose constant espousal of his inflammatory views and ceaseless hectoring of his callers and listeners reaps equal parts love and hate. As his program rolls on, Bogosian is revealed to be just as screwed up as any of his fans, if not more. And then he pushes one caller just a bit too far. In co-adapting the play for the screen, Oliver Stone interweaves elements of Steven Singular's factual book Talked to Death, the story of a liberal Denver radio personality who was murdered at the behest of a militant right-wing hate group. One word of warning: if you're not a fan of the sort of radio depicted herein, chances are you won't warm up to this film. Talk Radio was the indirect inspiration for the 1990 TV series Night Caller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Bogosian, Alec Baldwin, (more)
Thanks to the carelessness of a cute little dog, newlyweds Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are killed in a freak auto accident. Upon arriving in the outer offices of Heaven, the couple finds that, thanks to a century's worth of bureaucratic red tape, they're on a long celestial waiting list. Before they can earn their wings, Davis and Baldwin must occupy their old house as ghosts for the next fifty years. Alas, the house is now owned by insufferable yuppies Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones. Horrified at the prospect of sharing space with these obnoxious interlopers, Davis and Baldwin do their best to scare O'Hara and Jones away, but their house-haunting skills are pathetic at best. In desperation, the ghostly couple engage the services of a veteran scaremeister: a yellow-haired, snaggle-toothed, profane, flatulent "gonzo" spirit named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). The problem: Beetlejuice cannot be trusted-especially when he falls in love with O'Hara and Jones' gloomy, black-clad teenaged daughter Winona Ryder. Beetlejuice producer David Geffen, director Tim Burton, and composer Danny Elfman were also involved in an animated TV-series spin-off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, (more)
Michelle Pfeiffer is Married to the Mob in this comedy. The wife of Mafia hitman Alec Baldwin, Pfeiffer regularly chastizes her husband for his underhanded line of work. Baldwin refuses to entertain any thoughts of quitting the mob-and besides, he's got a good thing going with Nancy Travis, the promiscuous girl friend of gang boss Dean Stockwell. When Stockwell catches on to Travis' peccadilloes, he murders both his mistress and the unlucky Baldwin. At Baldwin's funeral, Stockwell is overwhelmed by Pfeiffer's beauty, and immediately begins plying her with expensive gifts. But Pfeiffer is through with this sort of thing, and with her young son in tow, she leaves town, hoping to start life anew. Upon making the acquaintance of bumbling, seemingly sincere Matthew Modine, Pfeiffer is convinced that Modine is just another mob flunkey. But it's even worse: Modine is an FBI agent, ordered to get to Stockwell by using Pfeiffer as bait. Reluctantly (he's grown quite fond of her himself), Modine blackmails Pfeiffer into setting up a rendezvous with Stockwell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, (more)
Unhappy with her job and her loser boyfriend, Melanie Griffith takes a secretarial post at a major Wall Street firm. Her boss is Sigourney Weaver, an outwardly affable yuppie whose grinning visage hides a wicked and larcenous propensity for exploiting the ideas of her employees. While Weaver is incapacitated, Griffith is compelled by circumstances to pose as her boss. Her inborn business acumen and common sense enable Griffith to rise to the top of New York's financial circles, and along the way she wins the love of executive (Harrison Ford). Things threaten to take a sorry turn when Weaver returns, but it is she who suffers from the consequences of her own past duplicity. Working Girl was Melanie Griffith's breakthrough film, proving than she was more than just the off-and-on "significant other" of Don Johnson. The film was later adapted into a brief TV series, starring a pre-Speed Sandra Bullock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, (more)
An aspiring writer faces up to the responsibilities of marriage and family in this romantic comedy from writer, director, and producer John Hughes. Despite the misgivings he pours out to best friend Davis McDonald (Alec Baldwin), Jake Briggs (Kevin Bacon) marries high-school sweetheart Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern). After an abortive attempt at graduate school in New Mexico, the couple settle in suburban Chicago. Jake fakes his way into a job as an advertising copywriter, while Kristy settles into her own corporate job. The couple face the typical ups and downs of any new marriage, especially after Davis visits with a bimbo on his arm, regaling his pal Jake with tales of the good life. A few years later, Kristy decides to stop taking her birth-control pills -- and tells Jake about it three months later. Plagued by doubts, unfulfilled ambitions, and images of a fantasy girl (Isabel Lorca) he once spotted in a club, Jake resists the idea of fatherhood. Then he finds out he has low sperm count and, his manhood thus challenged, lines up for fertility clinic-assisted stud duty. The birth doesn't go as smoothly as Jake expected, however, setting the stage for climactic realizations. Edie McClurg, who played the nosy school secretary in Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off, makes a cameo appearance as an officious neighbor. In addition, a who's who of other Hughes alums and Hollywood stars lend their faces and voices to a series of closing-credits shots in which each suggests a name for the titular baby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, (more)
In this comedy, a young German woman named Elaine Hines (Hanna Schygulla) moves to New York City with dreams of becoming a writer. Elaine becomes entangled in a mystery and falls in with a group of gangsters who lead her through a series of crazy adventures. Released on video under the title Crazy Streets, this movie featured an appearance by Deborah Harry and was Alec Baldwin's first screen appearance. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hanna Schygulla, Deborah Harry, (more)
- 1987
The valor and anguish of the Alamo is resurrected in this '80s effort that features a considerably accomplished cast. Brian Keith plays Davy Crockett and James Arness is Jim Bowie who, although at odds at times with his leader Colonel William Travis (Alec Baldwin), is able to focus upon the battle against the Mexican soldiers. Highlights of this film are the battle action scenes. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1986
A made for TV movie which serves as much a condemnation of the military establishment as a murder mystery, this film revolves around an upper classman who is falsely accused of responsibility for the death of a student when he begins to investigate the mysterious demise of the young gay cadet. Part of a two-part series, the crux for the upper classman is whether he is willing to jeopardize the future of his own military career to investigate the death of the freshman cadet at this prestigious military academy. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In this made-for-TV drama, an attorney aids her wrongly-convicted client in his escape from prison, then joins him on the lam. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1985
The "Black Market Baby" story arc which dominated most of Knots Landing's sixth season is resolved in the first few episodes of Season Seven, as Val Ewing (Joan Van Ark) is tearfully reunited with her twin babies, who had been stolen and auctioned off on the illegal-adoption circuit. This settled, the series can now devote itself to the intrigues involving the rest of its ever-growing cast of regulars. Newly divorced from Karen (Michele Lee), owner of Knots' Landing Motors, crime commissioner Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson) begins an affair with Jill Bennett (Teri Austin), little suspecting that Jill is a few bricks shy of a full load. Val's half-brother Joshua (Alec Baldwin), a former preacher, scores a big hit as a TV personality, but develops a dangerous case of jealousy when his wife and co-star Cathy (Lisa Hartman) gets more fan mail than he does. Subsequently, Joshua dies, an apparent suicide--but when all the facts come out, thanks to an investigation inaugurated by undercover reporter Sonny Harkins. This season, Hunt Block joins the cast as ruthless politician Peter Hollister, the self-proclaimed brother of crooked politico Greg Sumner (William Devane) and potential rival (in more ways than one) of series protagonist Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford). Also, Ruth Roman is introduced in the role of Sylvia Lean, ex-mistress of Greg Sumner's dad and (supposedly) Peter Hollister's mother. Elsewhere, Gary accidentally causes an arsenic leak that will imperil his Empire Valley estate, not to mention the rest of Knot's Landing; Val enters into a marriage with reporter Ben (Michael Sheehan), which is shattered by Ben's affair with Cathy; after finding out that her mother Abby (Donna Mills) knew all along that Val's babies had been kidnapped, the disillusioned Olivia (Tonya Crowe) turns to drugs; and in the season's penultimate episode, Nicollette Sheridan makes her first appearances as Paige Matheson, illegitimate daughter of Mack MacKenzie and his former lover Anna Matheson (Michelle Phillips). The season's cliffhanger ending revolves around another kidnapping, this time with Karen as the victim and an as-yet-unidentified stranger as the predator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Shackelford, Joan Van Ark, (more)
- 1984
The made-for-TV Code of Honor covers a time span of over a dozen years. Merritt Butrick plays Captain Paul Dennison, whose career-and life-is unfairly snuffed out by fellow officer Joseph Cheever (Kevin Dobson). Fourteen years later, Cheever, now a highly decorated and universally respected major, comes face to face with Dennison's revenge-seeking sister (Kelly McGillis). Failing to recognize the girl, Cheever tries to make love to her--a fatal mistake. Code of Honor was originally telecast October 31, 1984 under the title Sweet Revenge; its production title was For the Love of a Soldier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Dobson, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1984
A fashion designer vows revenge on the man responsible for ruining her brother's reputation over 14 years ago. (AKA Sweet Revenge) ~ All Movie Guide
- 1984
Season Six of Knots Landing begins with the conniving Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills) finding herself the victim rather than the predator for a change when she is kidnapped by the sinister Mark St. Claire (Joseph Chapman). Meanwhile, Karen Fairgate MacKenzie (Michele Lee), having been wounded by a gunshot meant for her business partner Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford), clings desperately to life. Ultimately, Abby is rescued by the timely intervention of Senator Greg Sumner (William Devane)--which does not in any way diminish the fact that Sumner is a crook, whose mob-connected machinations will have a negative impact on practically everyone else in the cast, including Greg's future bride Laura (Constance McCashlin), the former wife of attorney Richard Avery. And although it is nip and tuck for a while, Karen survives the shooting. Several new characters are introduced this season, not least of which is Greg Sumner's stepmother Ruth Sumner Galveston, played by Ava Gardner in her TV series debut. Howard Duff is seen as Greg's father Paul Galveston, an unscrupulous tycoon whom Karen's crime-commissioner husband Mack (Kevin Dobson) intends to bring to justice. Also, Alec Baldwin makes his first appearance as TV evangelist Joshua Rush, ostensibly the nephew of Lilimae Clement (Julie Harris) but actually her son, meaning he is also the half brother of the long-suffering Val Ewing (Joan Van Ark)--of whom, much more later! To her everlasting regret, local waitress Cathy Geary (Lisa Hartman) will become the wife of Joshua Rush before the season is over. Finally, Teri Austin is introduced as Jill Bennett, a woman who is destined to very nearly bring about the demise of both Val Ewing and her ex-husband Gary. Above all else, Season Five is the year of the "Black Market Babies", as Val gives birth to twins, only to have them stolen from her by an unscrupulous doctor and auctioned off on the illegal adoption market. Although everyone in Knots Landing has been convinced that Val's babies were stillborn--everyone, that is, but Abby, who gloms onto the truth but cruelly keeps her mouth shut--Val stubbornly refuses to accept this and leaves town, determined to prove that her children are still alive. In the process, she becomes unhinged and assumes a new identity, "Verna Ellers." Resurfacing in a small Tennessee community, "Verna"--completely unaware of her previous existence--falls in love with a local dry cleaner and accepts his marriage proposal! In the season's cliffhanger finale, Val is on the verge of reclaiming her babies from their adoptive parents, Harry and Sheila Fisher (Joe Regalbuto, Robin Ginsburg)...and then... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Shackelford, Joan Van Ark, (more)
