The best ensemble casts

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well for me, regardless of how good the movies were (I think Sin City's good but not great!) I'd have to go with: (listing only the actors/actresses I rate or enjoy watching)

BATMAN BEGINS:

Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman.

EQUILIBRIUM:

Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Sean Pertwee, Emily Watson.

SIN CITY:

Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Rutget Hauer, Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Elijah Wood.

INFERNAL AFFAIRS:

Tony Leung and Andy Lau (like DeNiro and Pacino in Heat)

FIGHT CLUB:

Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham-Carter, Meatloaf

GOSFORD PARK: (perhaps the best casting as far as I'm concerned)

Clive Owen, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry, Helen Mirren, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E Grant.

ZATOICHI:

Takeshi Kitano and Tadanobu Asano (that's Ichi the Killer by the way) - established Japanese genius vs up-and-coming megastar.

APOCALYPSE NOW:

Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper.

KING ARTHUR:

Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen, Ray Winstone, Kiera Knightley, Stellan Skarsgård.

....And Bruce Willis is definitely the best thing about Pulp Fiction. (Y)

[Heel Turn]

Glengarry Glenn Ross: Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Jonathan Pryce, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, and Alec Baldwin. Hands down the best ensemble cast in movie history.

[reyrey619]

Glengarry Glenn Ross:

Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey

Pulp Fiction (duh):

Samuel L Jackson, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Christopher Walken, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth

True Romance:

Christian Slater, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, James Gandolfini, Samuel L Jackson, Brad Pitt, and FUCKING BALKI

[Ananas]

The other day I was going into The Last Kiss in awe of how awesome the cast was: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barett, Tom Wilkinson, Blythe Danner Casey Affleck etc. Just goes to show that an ensemble doesn't necessarily make a gem out of a turd.

[GoGo Yubari]

Pretty much all of Tarantino's films. If there's one thing he's great at... well, if there's one thing he's great at it's inserting music into his films, if there's two things he's great at the second is ensemble casts. Also, hm...

The Royal Tenenbaums: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Gwenyth Paltrow

That's a pretty good one too, right there.

[DFF]

A few others:

The Man in the Iron Mask:

Leonardo Di Caprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Peter Sarsgaard, Hugh Laurie

Around The World in 80 Days (1956):

David Niven, Cantiflas, Rovert Morley, Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Charles Boyer, Shirley MacLaine, Charles Coburn, Peter Lorre (fucking legend!), Marlene Dietrich, John Carradine, Frank Sinatra, Buster Keaton, John Mills.

(Although, most of the above are very small/cameo rolls)

The top one for me, name wise, has to be this, though:

A Bridge Too Far (1977):

Dirk Bogarde, Jammes Caan, Michael Caine, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Sean Connery, John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers) plus an uncredited cameo from Richard Attenborough as 'Lunatic Wearing Glasses'.

Beat that.

Edited September 25, 2006 by Preacher Britain

[stokeriño]

A Bridge Too Far (1977):

Dirk Bogarde, Jammes Caan, Michael Caine, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Sean Connery, John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers) plus an uncredited cameo from Richard Attenborough as 'Lunatic Wearing Glasses'.

Beat that.

That's the one I was going to post. It's really quite stunning just reading all the names down the back of the DVD.

[Benji]

Kingdom of Heaven, it features Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam Neeson, with Ridley Scott directing, what else do you need except maybe Stephen Fry?

[DFF]

Kingdom of Heaven, it features Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam Neeson, with Ridley Scott directing, what else do you need except maybe Stephen Fry?

It has Orlando Bloom in, therefore I win.

[Benji]

Kingdom of Heaven, it features Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam Neeson, with Ridley Scott directing, what else do you need except maybe Stephen Fry?

It has Orlando Bloom in, therefore I win.

Orlando isn't that bad an actor, in fact, in this he's got quite a nice little niche he seems to set into, apparently the Directors Cut (which adds a further 40 minutes) makes him look even better.

[stokeriño]

Benji is officially the first person I have ever heard quoting Kingdom of Heaven as an example of Bloom's good acting skills.

[Benji]

Benji is officially the first person I have ever heard quoting Kingdom of Heaven as an example of Bloom's good acting skills.

I never said good, I said not bad

I have a mancrush on Bloom, but there's no denying he needs to work on his actual ability.

Edited September 25, 2006 by Benjishambles

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Benji is officially the first person I have ever heard quoting an example of Bloom's acting skills.

I'll have to agree with most of the ones listed here. Whilst it isn't a GREAT ensamble cast, X-Men 2 does have Patrick Stewart, Brian Cox, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, James Marsden and Alan Cumming, as well boarderlines as Rebecca Romjin, Anna Paquin and Famke Janssen.

Oh, and Halle Berry, but whatever. Like I said, most of the ones listed already have had great casts.

Edited September 25, 2006 by timmayy rave

[ADG]

NOISES OFF

Michael Caine, John Ritter, Christopher Reeve, Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliot, Mark Linn-Baker and Nicolette Sheridan.

JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK

Eliza Dushku, Will Ferrell, Jason Lee, Matt Damon, Shannon Elizabeth, Judd Nelson, Sean William Scott, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hammill, George Carlin, Jason Biggs, James Van Der Beek, Chris Rock, Jamie Kennedy, Jon Stewart and of course Ben Affleck.

[Iain76er]

No one's said Heat yet. Al Pacino & Robert De Niro in the same scene. Also has Tom Sizemore & Val Kilmer, but we can ignore the last one.

[Guest shibbycath]

Closer

Clive Owen, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman

- any movie where i can watch clive owen and jude law be extraordinarily hot, and then watch natalie portman be amazing, and watch julia roberts scream "I came twice! Once on top once on the bottom!" (or something to that effect) is probably the movie for me.

[Chris the Human]

I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned yet...

Lord of the Rings: Entire Trilogy Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, John Rhys Davies, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortenson, Liv Tyler, Andy Serkis, Sean Bean, David Wenham, Karl Urban, Martin Csokas, Miranda Otto, Sean Astin, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee. You really could go on forever

Troy Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Brian Cox, Nathan F'n Jones, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Diane Kruger, Peter O'Toole, Saffron Burrows, Rose Byrne.

X-Men Trilogy Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James Marsden, Famke Jannsen, Anna Paquin, Ray Park, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Kelly Hu, Brian Cox, Kelsey Grammer, and Vinnie Jones

And then there's mini-series like Angels in America, The Stand, and Carnivale...

[Farmer Reil]

KING ARTHUR:

Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen, Ray Winstone, Kiera Knightley, Stellan Skarsgård.

Edited September 28, 2006 by Cap'n Jean-Luc Picaaaarghd

[Mysterio2000X]

It's already been mentioned, but god damnit, I want to list names!

Heat

- Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Natalie Portman, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Danny Trejo.. and apparently Jeremy Piven's in it, too!

Obviously, The Godfather movies have some of the greatest actors from their generations.

Dazed and Confused boasts quite a cast, as well.

- Ben Affleck, Michael McConaughey, Jason London, Adam Goldberg, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Nicky Katt, Parker Posey.

The Thin Red Line

- Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, James Caviezel, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, John Travolta, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Thomas Jane, George Clooney, Jared Leto, Nick Stahl. Pretty damn impressive.

[ROC]

I can't believe Eternal Sunshine hasn't gotten a mention yet...

Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, and that PIMP Tom Wilkinson.

Boogie Nights had the PT Anderson trademark of hiring a lot of awesome talent. I mean, Burt Reynolds, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alfred Molina (he's in so many of these emsembles), Philip Baker Hall, and Heather Graham, though, I don't tend to label her for the good acting traits...

And people will argue how good the film was, but Identity had a class cast. John Cusack, Ray Liotta, John C. McGinley, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina (again, yes), even Pruitt Taylor Vince was pretty badass.