# All-Star movies that work **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184 "2020-06-07T01:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/41 "2020-06-08T12:58:06Z")
**Sleuth** should definitely count. From Laurence Olivier, and continuing all the way to Michael Caine, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the entire cast are A-listers. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/42 "2020-06-08T13:36:53Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > [The Big Chill](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085244/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) worked very well Are you suggesting that as an example of an all-star film? If so, which of the cast was a big star in 1983? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/43 "2020-06-08T13:43:11Z")
I disagree with many on this list. The all-star cameo films of the late fifties/early sixties were basically gimmicks (\*Around the World in Eighty Days, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, \* the justly-forgotten _Pepe_) and the big star list disaster films of the seventies were similarly gimmicks, and generally awful (_Airport_, I think, started the trend, and I think _Airplane!_ was intended in part to skewer that, but not before we’d gotten \*The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, \* and the truly abysmal _The Swarm_/. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/44 "2020-06-08T14:57:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > They were well-known TV stars in the UK. All of them had made their names on TV shows \*before \*Python, and continued on TV after the series ended, as performers, writers, directors, or producers. We’re talking about movie stars, however. Being well known on TV in the UK doesn’t make you a movie star. And as I said, they never became major movie stars at any point, even after the Python movies. Cleese had the most extensive career in movies, and he generally had cameos or minor roles rather than being a lead (_Wanda_ and _Fierce Creatures_ excepted.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/45 "2020-06-08T15:05:46Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. > [@digs](#): > > I remember watching [Rat Race](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRUdtiXxKM) and thinking “Whoa… John Cleese, Cuba Gooding, Kathy Bates… we’ve got a ton of Oscar-level talent here. And hey, Breckin and Amy, Whoopi, Lovitz, Newwwman, Mr Bean…” > > Not sure it qualifies, but it is an All-Star Screwball Comedy. > [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > It’s chic nowadays to hate on the movie, but I thought Love Actually worked really well and I still like that movie very much. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I think **Inception** holds up: Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe and Pete Postlethwaite and Tom Berenger had already earned Oscar nominations, sure as Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine already had Oscars; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Cillian Murphy already had Golden Globe nominations, leaving Tom Hardy as, at the time, (a) still on the way up awards-wise, but still (b) a known quantity? > [@blue\_infinity](#): > > Wes Anderson movies tend to have pretty decent cast lists. > > Grand Budapest Hotel had: Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Saoirse Ronan and Tilda Swinton. I happily agree with all of these. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > **Sleuth** should definitely count. From Laurence Olivier, and continuing all the way to Michael Caine, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the entire cast are A-listers. ISWYDT. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/46 "2020-06-08T15:12:25Z")
I’ve always loved the 1976 comedy country-house mystery spoof **Murder by Death.**. Written by Neil Simon, starring Peter Sellers, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, Alec Guinness, and Estelle Winwood, among others. Also Truman Capote in his only film appearance acting a part. Plus James Cromwell in his first feature role. He went on to star in **Babe** and **L.A. Confidential.** ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/47 "2020-06-08T15:15:36Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. > [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > I don’t know if I would agree with that. It’s certainly not memorable for it’s proposed good qualities but it’s enjoyable enough IMHO. Then again, I’m the guy who liked [The Cannonball Run](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082136/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4) so you might want to take my opinion with about eight pounds of salt. Mad, Mad, Mad was the first movie that came to my mind as an all-star movie, but I don’t see it, or really any of them as working all that well. They can be entertaining, but in terms of movie quality and comparative ratings they all seem to be a little short outside of the star studded cast category. Still, among those, Mad, Mad, Mad deserves a spot. It had a huge number of stars and for a long movie (2 1/2 - 3 hour versions) it remained entertaining throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/48 "2020-06-08T15:25:06Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I’ve always loved the 1976 comedy country-house mystery spoof **Murder by Death.**. > > Written by Neil Simon, starring Peter Sellers, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, Alec Guinness, and Estelle Winwood, among others. Also Truman Capote in his only film appearance acting a part.\*\* Not to mention the opening credits: pop ups of a spooky house and caricatures of the stars, drawn by the great Charles Addams. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/luToOfB2q5k/hqdefault.jpg "Murder by Death Opening Titles") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luToOfB2q5k) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/49 "2020-06-08T15:27:55Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > A few reasons. It gets some hate for being a bit TOO saccharine, **but it’s also a victim of the “let’s look at old things through the lens of today” trap.** > > Colin Firth’s storyline is too rape-y and Kiera Knightly’s is too much unwanted lust/stalker vibes. I don’t pay too much attention to them, but they’re there. (Bolding mine) Why must people always try to come with with a reason why other people don’t like their favorite whatever, usually ascribing it to those people trying to be hip or jumping on the bandwagon or something? Why not just accept that a lot of people just dislike the movie (and may have disliked it from the start)? You’ve even given 2 plot lines that didn’t work for a lot of people. I can give you reasons why many of the plot lines didn’t work for me. And if you think the Keira Knightley plot line only became unpleasant after 2003 under today’s lens, you’re mistaken. In fact I know people who love the movie who never liked the Keira Knightley segment past the wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/50 "2020-06-08T15:47:59Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’m sorry, _what_? I may have gotten that one wrong, I tend to ignore those types of articles. > [@needscoffee](#): > > (Bolding mine) **Why must people always try to come with with a reason why other people don’t like their favorite whatever, usually ascribing it to those people trying to be hip or jumping on the bandwagon or something?** Why not just accept that a lot of people just dislike the movie (and may have disliked it from the start)? You’ve even given 2 plot lines that didn’t work for a lot of people. I can give you reasons why many of the plot lines didn’t work for me. And if you think the Keira Knightley plot line only became unpleasant after 2003 under today’s lens, you’re mistaken. In fact I know people who love the movie who never liked the Keira Knightley segment past the wedding. Bolding my bit… Because it’s true. I’ve been a big fan of that movie since the jump and there are some legit criticisms of it that I’ve read over the years that I disagree with, but make sense. One of these is that the movie is too saccharine. I love how drippingly sweet it is, but I can see how a lot of people don’t. However, unless proven otherwise, articles like [this](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/love-actually-richard-curtis-comic-relief-keira-knightley-a7643801.html) and [this](https://pierreintomylife.com/blog/2019/12/17/love-actually-is-actually-creepy-af) and [this](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/12/-em-love-actually-em-still-awful/282273/) which talks about the “male gaze” and “treating the women like pawns” is a much more modern interpretation of a feel-good story from 2001 than what was originally reported at the time. I’m all for you not liking the things I like, but I get a bit :dubious: when the reasons all are told to me within the past 5 years and they have nothing to do with the way the movie was made and/or plotted. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/51 "2020-06-08T16:35:37Z")
There was an old trivia game…you start naming a cast, and people have to guess the movie. I always got people with this one until it became obvious by the end: Laurence Olivier Daniel Day Lewis Bernard Hill Liam Neeson Edward Fox… Mel Gibson Anthony Hopkins ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/52 "2020-06-08T16:38:34Z")
I’m sure under a ‘modern lens’…contemporary thinkpieces dislike the Firth storyline in “Love Actually” because "The colonizer Firth takes advantage of the power dynamic between him and his Portugese housekeeper to pressure her into a relationship’. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/53 "2020-06-08T16:42:46Z")
Also the Hugh Grant storyline with the PM having a relationship with his tea lady. And Alan Rickman having an extramarital affair with an employee. Really, quite a few of the relationships shown in the movie are between people at different levels of the power structure. (And yet I really like the movie a whole lot.) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/54 "2020-06-08T20:00:30Z")
Come to think of it, the movie **[Lonely Hearts](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441774/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)** had a big star line-up including, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Scott Caan, Laura Dern and Tibby. That’s right,\* yours truly\* starred in that movie. 🆒 So did my ex and my oldest daughter. Alright, we can quibble over the term _“starred in.”_ Let’s just say I was an _“all-star extra.”_ As a lark we responded to a cattle call when they were casting in my city. They chose ¾ of my family. They told my 3 year old daughter to _hit the bricks_ (and she was the most photogenic of our seedy lot). It was a blast! For some reason, the assistant director kept choosing \*me \*to be in a number of scenes. The other extras were getting pissed. My ex and I got reamed out by the director when he called “_action_!” and we were bickering on screen during a big, complicated scene and he had to re-set everything. :o He also got a little miffed when my 5-year old daughter kept grabbing a banana instead of an apple during the outdoor market scene (_the kid prefers bananas, what can I say?_). Travolta and Hayek were both quite nice and chatty with the extras between takes. John told me I was “_lookin’ good_” (in my period 40’s suit). Hayek’s dog peed on me on the lot, but she apologized (Salma, not the dog). I had one scene where the director told me to walk around the corner and head directly toward the camera, then pass on the right. For ~10 seconds, I was the only person framed on screen (ultimately filling the screen) until Travolta, Gandolfini and Caan passed me on the left from behind the camera. I believe this is how Sir Lawrence Olivier got his start? Damn idiot editor cut the beginning of my big scene out! :mad: Pretty embarrassing since at the premiere I told friends and family, “_shuddup, here comes my big scene!_” and the movie cuts to those \*other \*3 chumps. Back to my day job, I suppose. Shame the movie bombed at the box office (maybe they shouldn’t have cut out my big scene?). If you ever get a chance to be an extra in a Hollywood film, take it. It’s an eye-opening experience. But, once was enough. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/55 "2020-06-08T20:12:17Z")
Did I miss a **Bridge Too Far** above? As war movies goes it is reasonably decent IMHO( though many critics disagreed ). Major cast: Michael Caine Sean Connery James Caan Gene Hackman Robert Redford Anthony Hopkins Elliot Gould Ryan O’Neal Liv Ullmann Laurence Olivier Maximilian Schell Edward Fox …among others ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/56 "2020-06-08T20:45:55Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I’m sure under a ‘modern lens’…contemporary thinkpieces dislike the Firth storyline in “Love Actually” because "The colonizer Firth takes advantage of the power dynamic between him and his Portugese housekeeper to pressure her into a relationship’. So, find the articles about it and cite them here. Because it’s not a take I recall ever reading. Needless to say, it’s certainly not the story shown. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/57 "2020-06-08T20:47:14Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Did I miss a **Bridge Too Far** above? As war movies goes it is reasonably decent IMHO( though many critics disagreed ). > > Major cast: > > Michael Caine > Sean Connery > James Caan > Gene Hackman > Robert Redford > Anthony Hopkins > Elliot Gould > Ryan O’Neal > Liv Ullmann > Laurence Olivier > Maximilian Schell > Edward Fox > > …among others Ninja’d! I scrolled all the way to the bottom of this thread to finally find Bridge Too Far. Surprisingly good movie - handles the complexity of the operation well, avoids cliche, attempts realism. Makes you forget it was from the 1970s, when production quality of this level was rare. (Just look at Midway from 1976. OMG.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/58 "2020-06-09T01:38:07Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I’ve always loved the 1976 comedy country-house mystery spoof **Murder by Death.**. > > Written by Neil Simon, starring Peter Sellers, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, Alec Guinness, and Estelle Winwood, among others. Also Truman Capote in his only film appearance acting a part…\*\* Still my favorite lines: Sidney Wang: “Oh, there, voice come from cow on wall…” Lionel Twain: [from moose head] “Moose, moose, you imbecile! And use your damn prepositions!” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/59 "2020-06-09T14:55:36Z")
Sam Diamond: “Everybody, freeze!..I gotta go to the can again, and I don’t want ta miss nothing!” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184/60 "2020-06-09T15:14:26Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > … > _How the West Was Won_ was a decent movie with a true all-star cast. It worked, if not spectacularly. But it was clearly better than its Cinerama brother _It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World_ with failed miserably as a comedy. You’re welcome to your opinion, but it is a minority opinion. It has solid ratings and is well remembered. Stanley Kramer by most accounts pulled off a solid comedic effort. **IMDB** : 7.5 **Amazon** : 4.6/5 **Rotten Tomatoes** : 69% critics 83% Audience! **Google** : 90% I happen to think it is an excellent comedy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-star-movies-that-work/855184.md?page=2)