This just sounds weird, but: Alec Baldwin may be the most bankable actor working today. There's not a movie or TV show I would miss if he is making an appearance in it.

(At this point, I must invoke the rule I like to call "The Pluto Nash Exception." Baldwin shows up in that dog and -- let's face it -- nothing can improve that suck-fest of a flick.)

My personal favorite Baldwin movies of recent years: "The Cooler" with William Macy, "The Departed" with Scorsese and the gang, and even his bit role as a shoe tycoon in my beloved "Elizabethtown." I'm serious about that last one. Great flick, and he has all the good lines -- "I cry a lot." (Me too, Alec. Me too.)

But like all great geniuses, Baldwin -- who turns FIFTY YEARS OLD!!! today -- can look back on the '80s as his salad days.

TOP FIVE ALEC BALDWIN ROLES FROM THE '80s:

5. GREAT BALLS OF FIRE (1989): Baldwin as Jimmy Swaggart? Oh lord. Anything to wipe the memory of Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis.

4. BEETLE JUICE (1988): "Barb, honey... we're dead. I don't think we have very much to worry about anymore."

3. MARRIED TO THE MOB (1988): Anytime your character's name is 'Cucumber' Frank de Marco, people pay attention. Nicknames count. Just ask my Stuck in the 80s co-host Sean "The Gherkin" Daly.

2. WORKING GIRL (1988): Is "Mick" really the bad guy? He did buy Melanie Griffith a sexy birthday present. And he does have the greatest line: "Wait! This isn't what it looks like."

1. SHE'S HAVING A BABY (1988): Baldwin steals the movie from Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern as the self-absorbed best friend. And he's a walking quote machine: "Sure, you'll be happy -- you just won't know it."

[AP photo]