Best Ensemble Cast Films Ever? (1 Viewer)

[Jefe Noche]

Heat
Reseviour Dogs
Four Rooms
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Godfather 1&2
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Pulp Fiction
Unforgiven
Traffic
The Big Chill
Terms of Endearment
American Beauty
JFK
Fargo

 

[Doug Pyle]

Jan H: I agree with your Altman films comment, but you left out the one Altman film I immediately thought of when I read this thread header. All its immense power & drama comes from the acting ensemble:
Streamers
An amazing and unfortunately not well-known film. The only Vietnam War movie I've seen without a single jungle or battle scene, and the most guns seen at one time are in the Marching Rifles dance ensemble as the credits begin (I think the Marching Rifles is their name, could be wrong). They punctuate in dance & rhythm the violence in the era & society that made that war. The war's violence is felt through spoken words and dramatic tension, instead of blood and effects.
Brooke: Fanny & Alexander is an excellent choice too.

 

[Phil Florian]

My, people are forgetting the great mockumentaries!

Spinal Tap
Waiting for Guffman
and (to a lesser extent, though I liked it)
Best in Show.



Great ensemble work.


Phil

 

[Jan H]

Doug, thanks for the recommendation. I've been trying to track down Streamers on video, but have never found it. Has it ever been released on home video?

 

[Jeremiah]

Caddyshack-Heavyweights of comedy
Bill Murry
Chevy Chase
Ted Night
Rodney Dangerfield
It's only four but what a strong four.
One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest wasn't that hardcore when it came out but after a lot of their careers took off it is much better than the first release.
I agree with these
Sneakers
Heat
The Hustler
Magnolia
Clue

 

[Dheiner]

I'll agree on Caddyshack.
I will also mention How the West was Won:
Carroll Baker
Lee J. Cobb
Henry Fonda
Karl Malden
Gregory Peck
George Peppard
Robert Preston
Debbie Reynolds
James Stewart
Eli Wallach
John Wayne
Richard Widmark
Walter Brennan
Andy Devine
Raymond Massey
Agnes Moorehead
Harry Morgan
Russ Tamblyn
Spencer Tracy

 

[Scott_MacD]

Gosford Park, Traffic and Magnolia bounce to mind..

 

[Shana]

Deconstructing Harry and other Woody Allen movies

 

[Jeremiah]

I can't believe I forgot...
The Outsiders
The actors will still young but in hindsite that cast was pretty epic.

 

[Brian_L_Kleis]

OH MY LORDY....

Nobody has mentioned "Glengarry Glen Ross"!!!

One of my absolute favorites and, along with LA Confidential and Shawshank, one of the best ensemble acting movies of the last few years...

Lemmon, Spacey, Baldwin (awesome, powerful cameo), Pacino, Harris, Arkin, Pryce...

 

[Tom McDonald]

Stalag 17

 

[Doug Pyle]

Jan,

... Has it ever been released on home video?

Yes, VHS. Not on DVD, unfortunately. I don't know about LD. I've seen it in the theater and on rented VHS - hard to find by now, I imagine, as it isn't one of the more popular films. Well worth looking for (even on VHS, with all its drawbacks) as the dialog is at the core of the film.
If you can't find the video, it's worthwhile to read David Rabe's script if you can find it. The film closely matches David Rabe's play if I recall correctly. Of course, that won't capture the ensemble acting that this thread is all about.

 

[JamieD]

Beautiful Girls. Great Movie.

 

[Jeremiah]

Speaking of David Rabe, Hurlyburly has a great star studded cast, it is also a great movie btw.
Shaun Penn
Kevin Spacey
Robin Wright
Chazz Palminteri
Garry Shandling
Anna Paquin
Meg Ryan

 

[Steve K.H.]

Pulp Fiction... named numerous times already...

Kelly's Heroes (Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, Carroll O' Connor)

Number one vote goes to a film made for $650,000... American Graffiti! George Lucas... 1973

(Richard Dreyfus, Cindy Williams, Ron Howard, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith, Paul Le Mat, Kathleen Quinlan, Suzanne Sommers, Harrison Ford, Wolfman Jack, Chuck Berry)

 

[KDHM]

Link Removed
and just released on DVD
kd

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I did a search for 'ensemble' because I thought it might be a fun idea for a tournament. Scanning through this thread, I was stunned to notice that the film which inspired my tourney concept was not even listed!!!!

Christian Slater
Patricia Arquette
Dennis Hopper
Christopher Walken
Gary Oldman
Brad Pitt
Val Kilmer
Samuel L. Jackson
Michael Rapaport
James Gandolfini
Chris Penn
Tom Sizemore
Bronson Pinchot
Saul Rubinek
Conchata Ferrell
Kevin Corrigan
Michael Beach

Now that's an ensemble!!!