What movies have the greatest casts?
- Thread starter demoncore1031
- Start date
This was mentioned in the first original post but it is top tier overall cast ever. I just re-watched JFK this weekend (top ten movie ever for me).
Kevin Costner (Oscar winner)
Tommy Lee Jones (Oscar winner)
Joe Pesci (Oscar winner)
Gary Oldman (Oscar winner)
Sissy Spacek (Oscar winner)
Jack Lemmon (Oscar winner x 2)
Walter Matthau (Oscar winner)
Laurie Metcalf (Oscar nominee)
Sally Kirkland (Oscar nominee)
Ed Asner (7 time Emmy winner)
John Candy (2 time Emmy winner)
Donald Sutherland (Emmy winner)
Vincent D'Onofrio (Emmy winner)
Pruitt Taylor Vince (Emmy winner)
Brian Doyle Murray (Emmy nominee x 3)
Kevin Bacon (Emmy nominee)
Jay O. Sanders
Wayne Knight
Michael Rooker
Frank Whaley
Kevin Costner (Oscar winner)
Tommy Lee Jones (Oscar winner)
Joe Pesci (Oscar winner)
Gary Oldman (Oscar winner)
Sissy Spacek (Oscar winner)
Jack Lemmon (Oscar winner x 2)
Walter Matthau (Oscar winner)
Laurie Metcalf (Oscar nominee)
Sally Kirkland (Oscar nominee)
Ed Asner (7 time Emmy winner)
John Candy (2 time Emmy winner)
Donald Sutherland (Emmy winner)
Vincent D'Onofrio (Emmy winner)
Pruitt Taylor Vince (Emmy winner)
Brian Doyle Murray (Emmy nominee x 3)
Kevin Bacon (Emmy nominee)
Jay O. Sanders
Wayne Knight
Michael Rooker
Frank Whaley
Manchester By the Sea may argue with that comment he’s a terrible actor.
I thought Gone Baby Gone he was excellent as well.
JMO
I should have state with his it was for writing for SNL not acting.
Great filmmaking but held back by how badly it mangles the history.
Oswald shot Kennedy and he acted alone.
Those are movies where you can literally get any actor and it will be good because the writing is great.
Yes, and Jack Ruby shot Oswald because he felt bad for the Kennedy family. Come on, man.
It was impulsive (Ruby wasn’t exactly the most calm, collected, and conscientious man) when Ruby accidentally walked in on Oswald being transferred and he took the shot. Way too many moving pieces and cops would have had to been involved for it to somehow be a setup.
Ruby shot who was, to him, the ******* who shot the young and popular president. And the explanation about sparing Mrs. Kennedy the grief was made up later to give Ruby a softer edge. Yeah, I don’t believe that part of his story either, but it doesn’t imply a mafia hit.
It was as simple as a small man (Oswald) who wanted to be a communist and a great man shot an anticommunist president who, despite his many flaws in hindsight, was a genuine war hero and symbol of the American century. So, he cowardly shot him in the back.
I don't want to derail the thread, but Ruby didn't give a damn about the president or his family.
Maybe it was already said but Angels in the Outfield. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized this baseball movie had a star studded lineup (see what I did there)
- Danny Glover
- Brenda Fricker
- Tony Danza
- Christopher Lloyd
- Ben Johnson
- Joseph Gordon Levitt
- Neal McDonough
- Adrien Brody
- Matthew McConaughey
- Danny Glover
- Brenda Fricker
- Tony Danza
- Christopher Lloyd
- Ben Johnson
- Joseph Gordon Levitt
- Neal McDonough
- Adrien Brody
- Matthew McConaughey
I just watched the Jaws at 50 documentary last night. Not a large cast, but it was a great one:
Richard Dreyfuss
Roy Scheider
Robert Shaw
Lorraine Gary
Murray Hamilton
Interestingly, Craig Kingsbury (Ben Gardner) probably would have been a great actor, but he wasn’t an actor at all. He, like 90% of the people in that movie, was simply a Martha’s Vineyard local. None of his lines were actually written for him. He did it all on his own.
Richard Dreyfuss
Roy Scheider
Robert Shaw
Lorraine Gary
Murray Hamilton
Interestingly, Craig Kingsbury (Ben Gardner) probably would have been a great actor, but he wasn’t an actor at all. He, like 90% of the people in that movie, was simply a Martha’s Vineyard local. None of his lines were actually written for him. He did it all on his own.
The Thin Red Line
Sean Penn
Adrien Brody
Jim Caviezel
Ben Chaplin
George Clooney
John Cusack
Woody Harrelson
Elias Koteas
Jared Leto
Dash Mihok
Tim Blake Nelson
Nick Nolte
John C. Reilly
John Travolta
Sean Penn
Adrien Brody
Jim Caviezel
Ben Chaplin
George Clooney
John Cusack
Woody Harrelson
Elias Koteas
Jared Leto
Dash Mihok
Tim Blake Nelson
Nick Nolte
John C. Reilly
John Travolta
"Accidentally walked in on Oswald being transferred" 2 days after posing as a newspaper reporter and attending the Oswald press conference in the same building (allegedly armed) and then returning on multiple occasions between then and the morning of the shooting. Whether or not he acted alone is another question entirely, but it hardly has the feel of a spur of the moment decision.
I like movies with star casts before they were stars. Like The Outsiders, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Dazed and Confused. It's amazing some casting director was able to put together the casts of those movies and so many went on to become big time actors. More than just movies like JFK that a bunch of huge actors joined the cast because, well they didn't want to miss out on being in the movie.
"Accidental" might not be the best word – maybe opportunistic?
Bring up the fact he was "stalking" Oswald in the two days between the two assassinations could just as easily imply he was genuinely upset by Kennedy's death and became a weird and eventually homicidally obsessive about it rather than scoping out a mob hit. All testimony around him from friends and family said he was prone to impulsive and emotionally unstable behavior. I would argue "hanging around" rather than getting the job done as quickly as you can is sloppy if you really think he was sent to silence Oswald.
Oswald didn't say much in the ~48 hours he was in custody but... he sure could have.
There's a time-stamped wire transfer at 11:17 AM before he drives to the police headquarters, walks down the parking ramp, and just happens to find Oswald in front of him and shoots him at 11:21 AM. That timing is way too tight and/or would involve too many people if you think it was somehow orchestrated that way.
An impulsive, obsessive man became obsessed with this commie pipsqueak who assassinated the president and stalked him around for a few days with a gun in his pocket and then by some miracle of timing and place was right in front of him with the perfect opportunity and yeah he took the shot and killed him.
A perfectly reasonable explanation and doesn't rely on supposition of evidence we don't have.
Let’s examine this a bit. How many of these cast members really became bona fide “stars” after movies like Fast Times and Dazed and Confused?
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
- Sean Penn
- Eric Stoltz (a stretch)
- Forrest Whittaker
- Anthony Edwards (maybe one speaking line)
Maybe Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female and Hateful 8)? Phoebe Cates was in Gremlins post FTaRH, but that’s it.
Dazed and Confused:
- Matthew McConaughey
- Parker Posey
- Ben Affleck
Maybe Jeremy London, Joey Adams, Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg, Rory Cochrane, Cole Hauser. Maybe? Jeremy London, Joey Adams and Cole Hauser are on this list just because of Kevin Smith and/or Ben Affleck.
The Outsiders is a bit different. Pretty much that whole cast hit it big:
- Tom Cruise
- Patrick Swayze
- Emilio Estevez (was likely going to make popular movies anyway due to his family)
- Matt Dillon
- Rob Lowe
- Diane Lane
- C Thomas Howell
- Ralph Macchio
All great movies, but I’m not sure I agree with the premise that these casts went on to be great, except for The Outsiders.
