# 27 actors, 1 movie (a really hard game) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951 "2005-10-12T20:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/1 "2005-10-12T20:11:34Z")
I tried to make this game as easy as possible, honest. I’m thinking of a movie. It’s up to you to guess what it is. Step 1: Examine the below list of 27 actors. Group them into 9 groups of 3 each, so that all three actors starred in the same movie. This will give you a list of 9 movies. Step 2: Think of a 4th actor from each movie, so that you get 9 more actors. Step 3: Group them into 3 groups of 3, as in step 1, to get 3 movies. Step 4: Once again think of a 4th actor from each movie, to get 3 more actors. Step 5: Wht movie did those 3 actors appear in together? Work cooperatively, use IMDB, and offer me sexual favors in exchange for hints. The list of 27: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Alan Alda Angela Bassett Lloyd Bridges Carol Burnett Andrew Dice Clay Danny DeVito Richard Dreyfuss Clint Eastwood Denholm Elliott Robert Englund Lawrence Fishburne Harrison Ford Jodie Foster James Garner Peter Graves Angelica Huston Tommy Lee Jones Diane Keaton Matthew McConaughey Wayne Newton Leonard Nimoy John Ritter Martin Sheen George Takei J.T. Walsh Paul Winfield ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/2 "2005-10-12T20:20:21Z")
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Peter Graves & Lloyd Bridges - **Airplane** Paul Winfield, Leonard Nimoy & George Takei - **Star Trek II: The Wrath of KHAAAAN!** ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/3 "2005-10-12T20:21:30Z")
I should give an example to make this clearer. Suppose the original list had Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, and Cuba Gooding. You would group them together and get Outbreak. The 4th actor you might pick is Dustin Hoffman. Suppose two other actors you got as the 4th actor from other movies are Ben Stiller and Robert DiNiro. You’d conclude that the movie was Meet the Fokkers. Etcetera. ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/4 "2005-10-12T20:25:38Z")
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Peter Graves & Lloyd Bridges - **Airplane** Paul Winfield, Leonard Nimoy & George Takei - **Star Trek II: The Wrath of KHAAAAN!** ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/5 "2005-10-12T20:27:02Z")
> [@dasgupta](#): > > Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Peter Graves & Lloyd Bridges - **Airplane** > Paul Winfield, Leonard Nimoy & George Takei - **Star Trek II: The Wrath of KHAAAAN!** Yeah, those were the really easy ones. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/6 "2005-10-12T20:29:30Z")
Lawrence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Martin Sheen - **Apocalypse Now** ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/7 "2005-10-12T20:40:16Z")
Matthew McConaughey, Jodie Foster & Angela Basset - **Contact** Andrew Dice Clay, Wayne Newton & Robert Englund - **The Adventures of Ford Fairlane** Down to: Alan Alda Carol Burnett Danny DeVito Richard Dreyfuss Clint Eastwood Denholm Elliott James Garner Tommy Lee Jones Diane Keaton John Ritter ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/8 "2005-10-12T20:41:17Z")
So far, so good. Hint: The Four Seasons is not one of the movies. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/9 "2005-10-12T20:45:58Z")
> [@dasgupta](#): > > Down to: > > Alan Alda > Carol Burnett > Danny DeVito > Richard Dreyfuss > Clint Eastwood > Denholm Elliott > James Garner > Tommy Lee Jones > Diane Keaton > John Ritter You left off Angelica Huston and J.T. Walsh. ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/10 "2005-10-12T20:49:40Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > So far, so good. Hint: The Four Seasons is not one of the movies. I figured that out. Two out of three, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/11 "2005-10-12T20:50:12Z")
Denholm Elliott, John Ritter, Carol Burnett - _Noises Off_ ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/12 "2005-10-12T20:50:41Z")
Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliot & John Ritter - **Noises Off** Indeed I did leave people off. I believe the updated list is… Alan Alda Danny DeVito Richard Dreyfuss Clint Eastwood James Garner Angelica Huston Tommy Lee Jones Diane Keaton J.T. Walsh 3 more movies. I quite like this game… ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/13 "2005-10-12T20:56:20Z")
Alan Alda, Angelica Huston, Diane Keaton - **Manhattan Murder Mystery** Huston was the one I was missing Clint Eastwood, James Garner & Tommy Lee Jones – **Space Cowboys** ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/14 "2005-10-12T20:57:35Z")
Alda, Keaton, Huston–Manhattan Murder Mystery ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/15 "2005-10-12T20:58:11Z")
Which would make Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss & J.T. Walsh - **Tin Men** ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/16 "2005-10-12T20:59:17Z")
Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss & J.T. Walsh - **Tin Men** Angelica Huston, Diane Keaton & Alan Alda - **Manhattan Murder Mystery** And that leaves… James Garner, Clint Eastwood & Tommy Lee Jones - **Space Cowboys** ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/17 "2005-10-12T21:01:52Z")
Dammit, scooped on the last ones. Here’s the movie list: **The Adventures of Ford Fairlane Apocalypse Now Airplane! Contact Manhattan Murder Mystery Noises Off Space Cowboys Star Trek II Tin Men** ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/18 "2005-10-12T21:03:44Z")
> [@dasgupta](#): > > Dammit, scooped on the last ones. That’s OK, you scooped me on the list. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/19 "2005-10-12T21:04:22Z")
You guys are doing great. Now come up with an as-yet unlisted actor from each movie. Some relationships should start to become apparent. ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951/20 "2005-10-12T21:05:44Z")
Are we going for specific people? Is there really just one right answer? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/27-actors-1-movie-a-really-hard-game/325951.md?page=2)