# The Movie that had it All: Movies with big actors galore
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 6, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967 "2001-09-06T01:48:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/1 "2001-09-06T01:48:02Z")
Watching “True Romance,” my all time favorite movie, tonight and I got to thinking-- as I always do when I watch it-- how many famous people starred in this film.
Movies usually have one or two big names, but this one is jam-packed with some stars.
Brad Pitt
Christian Slater (who isn’t so big anymore, I suppose , but I still love him)
Samuel Jackson
Gary Oldman
Patricia Arquette (who some might not consider big, but I love her second only to Sherylin Fenn)
Dennis Hopper (DADDY WANTS TO F\*\*K)
The guy who isn’t that important to me but ended up in “Beautiful girls” and the recent Woody Allen flick
One of the bad guys I’ve sen quite a few times but I can’t think of his name to save my life (so maybe he isn’t that big)
Balki!
And the cop, Scagnetti, has played quite a few feature films as well.
Christopher Walken-- king of bit parts
Any other movies with a pretty big all-star cast?
[sub]also, is this the only quenton tarentino movie he didn’t play a small part in?[/sub]
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/2 "2001-09-06T01:58:01Z")
Christian Slater … Clarence Worley
Patricia Arquette … Alabama Whitman
Dennis Hopper … Clifford Worley
Val Kilmer … Mentor (Elvis)
Gary Oldman … Drexl Spivey
Brad Pitt … Floyd
Christopher Walken … Vincenzo Coccotti
Bronson Pinchot … Elliot Blitzer
Samuel L. Jackson … Big Don
Michael Rapaport … Dick Ritchie
Saul Rubinek … Lee Donowitz
Conchata Ferrell … Mary Louise Ravencroft
James Gandolfini … Virgil
Anna Levine (I) … Lucy (as Anne Thomson)
Victor Argo … Lenny
Paul Bates … Marty
Chris Penn … Nicky Dimes
Tom Sizemore … Cody Nicholson
Said Faraj … Burger Man
Gregory Sporleder … Burger Stand Customer
Maria Pitillo … Kandi
Frank Adonis … Frankie
Kevin Corrigan (I) … Marvin
Paul Ben-Victor … Luca
Michael Beach … Wurlitzer
Joe D’Angerio … Police Radio Operator
John Bower … Detective
John Cenatiempo … Squad Cop #1
Eric Allan Kramer … Boris
Patrick John Hurley … Monty
Dennis Garber … Lobby Cop #1
Scott Evers … Lobby Cop #2
Hilary Klym … Running Cop
Steve Gonzales … L.A. Officer
Laurence Mason … Floyd “D”
rest of cast listed alphabetically
Ed Lauter … Police Captain (uncredited)
Enzo Rossi … Elvis (Alabama and Clarence’s son) (uncredited)
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### Author:  [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/3 "2001-09-06T01:58:10Z")
It’s cheesy, but Mars Attacks. And Magnolia springs to mind, but I don’t know why.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/4 "2001-09-06T01:59:19Z")
Well, to name three, how about “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad (not sure how many “mads”) World”, “Casino Royale” and “The Towering Inferno”?
'Course, I doubt any of these would be anyone’s favorites…
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### Author:  [@slackergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slackergirl)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/5 "2001-09-06T02:01:34Z")
I don’t think Tarantino appeared in Natural Born Killers either.
Here are a couple of favorites off the top of my head, mostly because when I rewatched them for the first time in years I realized how many names I recognize now (with backup from IMDB):
**Catch 22**
Alan Arkin … Captain John Yossarian, B-25 Bombardier
Martin Balsam … Colonel Cathcart, Commanding Officer 256th Squadron USAAF
Richard Benjamin … Major Danby, Flight Operations Officer
Art Garfunkel … Captain Nately
Jack Gilford … Captain “Doc” Daneeka
Buck Henry … Lt. Colonel Korn, Executive Officer/Roman Policeman
Bob Newhart … Major Major
Anthony Perkins … Chaplain Captain A.A. Tappman
Paula Prentiss … Nurse Duckett
Martin Sheen … 1st Lt. Dobbs
Jon Voight … 1st Lt. Milo Minderbinder
Orson Welles … Brig. General Dreedle
Bob Balaban … Capt. Orr
Susanne Benton … Dreedle’s WAC
Norman Fell … 1st. Sergeant Towser
Charles Grodin … Captain Aarfy Aardvark
**The Outsiders**
C. Thomas Howell … Ponyboy Curtis
Matt Dillon … Dallas Winston
Ralph Macchio … Johnny Cade
Patrick Swayze … Darrel Curtis
Rob Lowe … Sodapop Curtis
Emilio Estevez … Two-Bit Matthews
Tom Cruise … Steve Randle
Glenn Withrow … Tim Shepard
Diane Lane … Cherry Valance
Leif Garrett … Bob Sheldon
Darren Dalton … Randy Anderson
Michelle Meyrink … Marcia
Tom Waits … Buck Merrill
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### Author:  [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/6 "2001-09-06T02:02:06Z")
To answer the second part first, Tarantino didn’t direct _True Romance_, Tony Scott did, which may explain why Tarantino wasn’t in it. Tarantino also wrote the script for Oliver Stone’s _Natural Born Killers_, but I don’t think he had an acting role in it.
As for big casts:
**A Bridge Too Far** featured Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, James Caan, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, among others.
**The Longest Day** featured Richard Burton, Sean Connery (again), Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Roddy McDowall, Sal Mineo, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, John Wayne, etc.
I’m sure I’ll think of more later.
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### Author:  [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/7 "2001-09-06T02:21:56Z")
**JFK** is always good for a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon:
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Costner
Tommy Lee Jones
Gary Oldman
Sissy Spacek
Vincent D’Onofrio (not so big at the time, but ummmmmm yummy)
Sally Kirkland
Ed Asner
Jack Lemmon
Joe Pesci
Walter Matthau
John Candy
Donald Sutherland
and, um, Wayne Knight.
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### Author:  [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/8 "2001-09-06T02:22:53Z")
_Lawrence of Arabia_ had everybody and his brother in it: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, Claude Rains, Anthony Quayle, Jack Hawkins, and Jose Ferrer.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/9 "2001-09-06T02:24:00Z")
In fact Tarentino only gets a story credit for _Natural Born Killers_ due to huge changes made by Oliver Stone, David Veloz and Richard Rutowski. Tarentino has an ongoing fued with Stone because he thinks he ruined the film.
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/10 "2001-09-06T02:33:59Z")
Ed Harris plays John Glenn. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard. Sam Shepard plays Chuck Yeager. And Chuck Yeager plays a bartender. Got that? Also:
Dennis Quaid
Fred Ward
Barbara Hershey
Pamela Reed
Lance Henriksen
Levon Helm
Jeff Goldblum
Harry Shearer
David Gulpilil
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### Author:  [@Zanshin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zanshin)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/11 "2001-09-06T03:07:54Z")
Hey, nobody’s mentioned **Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back** yet?
Will Farrell
Shannon Elizabeth
James van der Beek
Jason Biggs
Chris Rock
Mark Hamill
Carrie Fisher
George Carlin
Eliza Dushku
Ali Larter
Judd Nelson
And the list goes on. Okay, maybe not a lot of star power, but one of the biggest ensemble casts I’ve ever seen!
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### Author:  [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/12 "2001-09-06T03:10:57Z")
You have to distinguish movies specially designed as all-star vehicles, like MAD MAD MAD WORLD and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, from regular movies that have great casts.
A couple of examples of the second category: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, with Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce, and a soupcon of Alec Baldwin.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI has no big-name stars at all, but it’s a who’s who of great character actors–Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymore Hoffman, Julianne Moore, John Tuturro, Sam Elliot, Ben Gazzara, Dom Irrera, Jon Polito, and, of all people, Flea.
Here’s a great cast: John Malkovich, John Cusak, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and Nicholas Cage. Too bad the movie they were in was CON AIR.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/13 "2001-09-06T03:19:56Z")
The greatest list of talent in recent times would have to be the cast of _The Player_.
[http://us.imdb.com/Details?0105151](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0105151)
An interesting oddity was_The List of Adrian Messenger_ where most of the stars are unrecognisable.
[http://us.imdb.com/Details?0057254](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0057254)
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/14 "2001-09-06T03:34:24Z")
**The Dirty Dozen**
Lee Marvin
John Cassavetes
Telly Savalas
Charles Bronson
Trini Lopez
Donald Sutherland
Clint Walker
Ernest Borgnine
Richard Jaeckel
George Kennedy
Ralph Meeker
Robert Ryan
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### Author:  [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/15 "2001-09-06T03:40:26Z")
And **Karl’s** post reminds me of another war movie:
**The Great Escape**
Steve McQueen
James Garner
Donald Pleasence
Charles Bronson
Richard Attenborough
James Coburn
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/16 "2001-09-06T03:52:20Z")
And don’t forget David McCallum (Illya Kuryakin).
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### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/17 "2001-09-06T04:08:29Z")
How about **The Thin Red Line** :
Sean Penn
George Clooney
John Cusack
Woody Harrelson
Nick Nolte
John Travolta
Also **Fast Times at Ridgemont High** gets double future bonus points for having stars before they were stars:
Sean Penn
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Phoebe Cates
Forest Whitaker
Eric Stoltz
Nicolas Cage
Anthony Edwards
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### Author:  [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/18 "2001-09-06T05:01:26Z")
Don’t forget _ **Diner** _, another one with a cast of stars to be, as well as another great one for “six degrees of Kevin Bacon!”
Steve Guttenberg
Daniel Stern
Mickey Rourke
Kevin Bacon
Timothy Daly
Ellen Barkin
Paul Reiser
Michael Tucker
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### Author:  [@frock75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frock75)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/19 "2001-09-06T05:59:33Z")
Dazed and Confused
Jason London
Joey Lauren Adams
Milla Jovovich
Adam Goldberg
Ben Affleck
Parker Posey
Mathew McConaughy
Nicky Katt
and a whole shitload of bit players that you always recognize in every movie…from now on…forever…they won’t go away…make them srtop…please god…
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### Author:  [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-that-had-it-all-movies-with-big-actors-galore/79967/20 "2001-09-06T12:18:21Z")
What about the recent **Rat Race**? Not exactly BIG stars, all of them, but they are well known.
\*Whoopi Goldberg
\*Seth Green
\*Cuba Gooding Jr.
\*Jon Lovitz
\*Kathy Najimy
\*Rowan Atkinson
\*John Cleese
\*Dave Thomas
\*Wayne Knight
\*Kathy Bates
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