What movie has the best gallery of characters?

[DerekG]

I just finished watching The Maltese Falcon for the millionth time, and frankly, I'd give my left pinky just to listen to Bogart, Astor, Lorre, Cooke and Greenstreet bounce off each other for twelve hours.

What's your pick?

[jobycom]

1. Glenngarry Glen Ross is up there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY

[mix]

9. great one nt

[sarge43]

2. All About Eve. The Lion in Winter.

"Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

"Well, what family doesn't have its ups and downs."

[Crystal Clarity]

49. Hey good ones sarge!

Just this past weekend a watched 'The Lion In Winter' (for about the 5th or 6th time) followed up w/'Becket'. I love that time period in English history, but both of those films are so well done (particularly Lion in Winter) that you don't have to be a history buff to enjoy them.

'All about Eve' is great too! :-)

[WillParkinson]

3. There is only one. There can be no other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHNFkqPFBko

Tim Curry
Susan Sarandon
Barry Bostwick
Little Nell
Richard O'Brien
Patricia Quinn
Meatloaf (well he's not yet, but soon he will be!)

[WinkyDink]

6. I have a RHPS album (yes) cover signed by Tim C.!

At "Spamalot" stage-door (I had 3rd row!).

Enchante'!

[tigereye]

20. yeah, good point!

That's a great, fun movie -wonderful characters and songs.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. The Sting

[rrneck]

5. Well, somebody has to say it...

The Big Lebowski

and

The Usual Suspects
Seven
Running Scared
Unforgiven

[Dr Morbius]

7. Michael. Santino. Fredo. Tom. Carlo. Connie. Vito.

Ah, that charade you played with my sister. You think that would fool a Corleone?

[fishwax]

12. .

:thumbsup:

[jobycom]

45. Good choice. Earth, Wind and Fire RAWKED!!!

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

8. It's a Mad, Mad, ,,, World.

certainly the largest gallery of characters.

[tigereye]

19. that's an hilarious film...

[mitchum]

10. Add Boogie Nights to Glengarry Glen Ross,The Maltese Falcon, and The Godfather

[Orrex]

11. Anything with Willie Aames

[wickerwoman]

13. True Romance

Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, James Gandolfini, Brad Pitt, etc.

[pokerfan]

41. +1

[RZM]

52. I remember that

back in the 90s, Gary Oldman and Christopher Walken were noted for playing villains and there they were, both playing villains in the same movie!

[Orrex]

14. The Muppet Movie

Dom Deluise
Telly Savalas
Madeleine Kahn
Mel Brooks
Paul Williams
Austin Pendleton
Milton Berle
Bob Hope
Richard Pryor
Steve Martin
Cloris Leachman
Orson Welles
Charles Durning
Elliot Gould
James Coburn
Edgar Bergin & Charlie McCarthy
Carol Kane

[blogslut]

15. Characters or Character Actors?

Sometimes it isn't so much the script as it is the actors who give life to the characters.

Now, I'm not saying The Maltese Falcon suffers from a bad script. In fact (and I am ashamed to admit this) I have never seen the complete film. Just the same, were the characters great or was it the performances by the actors that made the characters great? Or does greatness come from a combination of both?

The Front Page is a script that does, indeed, contain one of the best gallery of characters of all time. I know this because permutations of this script have been made into four fairly successful films, not to mention the revivals of the wildly popular http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_Page">original stage play from which it was adapted.

In all versions, the gallery of characters are some of the best ever conceived, from the two sparring leads, to the hapless fiance, to the wise-cracking crime reporters, to the corrupt mayor and his crony police chief, to the maligned escaped prisoner and his hooker girlfriend, all the way to delightfully bumbling process-server.

In short. I vote for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_Page_(1931_film)">The Front Page/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Girl_Friday">His Girl Friday/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_Page_(1974_film)">The Front Page/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switching_Channels">Switching Channels.

[csziggy]

43. I can vote for that group - great play and many terrific movie versions!

I've never had the chance of seeing it on stage, but I have seen every film version. Each has really great takes on the different characters.

[Mad_Dem_X]

16. Gotta go with The Usual Suspects.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

17. Animal House!

Just to mention a few...

[Initech]

37. They took the bar! The whole fucking bar!!!

[tigereye]

18. great film.

Spinal Tap? :rofl:


Most John Sayles films? The Big Chill, Ferris Buehler's Day Off.

[Jade Fox]

21. Sneakers and Hot Rock

Sneakers:

Robert Redford
Sidney Poitier
Mary McConnell
River Phoenix
Dan Ackroyd
David Straithairn
Ben Kingsley

and a host of minor characters.

Hot Rock (a rarely seen movie I love)

Robert Redford
George Segal
Ron Leibman
Moses Gunn
Zero Mostel

and a host of minor characters. The movie also features some amazing shots from the air of the WTC towers in the process of being built

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Maltese Falcoln, Casablanca, Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Murder by Death

[flvegan]

23. Always nice to see another that appreciates Murder By Death.

[Rabrrrrrr]

24. Very wonderful movie, and almost totally forgotten by the hoi polloi.

[nuxvomica]

32. IIRC, Andrew Sarris thought "Casablanca" was the exception...

...to the auteur theory because its awesomeness was due more to the exceptional cast than the director's personal vision.

[Glorfindel]

25. "The Lion in Winter," but also "Gosford Park" and other

Robert Altman films, such as "Ready to Wear," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians," etc.

[pacalo]

26. Vacation. I could watch it over & over.

The best part was their visit to Cousin Eddie's.

[AsahinaKimi]

27. Always: San Chome no Yuhi (Sunset on Third Street)

Always: San Chome no Yuhi (Sunset on Third Street)

You can find it with English Subtitles. Its an amazing film, made me laugh and cry. The sequal is
excellent as well..

Always Sunset on 3rd Street (II)


Movie Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjPeW9gEGs&feature=related

[Angleae]

28. Midway comes to mind.

Charlton Heston
Henry Fonda
James Coburn
Glenn Ford
Hal Holbrook
Toshirô Mifune
Robert Mitchum
Cliff Robertson
Robert Wagner
Robert Webber
Ed Nelson
James Shigeta
Christina Kokubo
Monte Markham
Biff McGuire

[cherokeeprogressive]

29. Mars Attacks

Jack Nicholson, Lukas Haas, Annette Bening, Jim Brown, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Glenn Close, Martin Short, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black, Natalie Portman, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Danny DeVito, and Christina Applegate.

[XemaSab]

30. Ghostbusters

:P

[MiddleFingerMom]

31. "True Romance" was mentioned...

.
.
.
...and while the film falls apart and becomes uber-cartoonish at
the end, up to that point it's an INCREDIBLE movie... and the
scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper may be
the most intense and fantastic interchange between great actors
in the entire HISTORY of film.
.
.
.
Even if the rest of the movie sucked, I would sit through ten
HOURS of it again and again and again and again JUST to see
those few minutes.
.
.
.
And, as someone else mentioned above... I have never been able
to stay awake/interested through the entire film of "The Maltese
Falcon" -- though I love some of Bogart's other works.
.
.
.

[applegrove]

33. African Queen.

[shanti]

34. PULP FICTION - BAR NONE!

the acting was awesome!

[bigwillq]

47. Was just going list Pulp Fiction

I agree. Any Tarantino movie, actually. Every one has a large and talented cast.

[nytemare]

35. Amelie

I loved all the quirky characters in that movie. The spurned lover, the hypochondriac, the glass man...just wonderful.

[Initech]

36. The Big Lebowski

The Dude, Walter, Maude, Jesus Quintana, Donnie, Bunny, The Big Lebowski, Jackie Treehorn, the nihilists...

[name not needed]

44. You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.

[Initech]

48. 8 year olds, dude.

[riderinthestorm]

38. I agree with all of the above and humbly submit The Big Chill, Rent. Casablanca, Star Wars.

Wizard of Oz, Its a Wonderful Life, the Godfather, hell I'd even throw in Lord of the Rings, Toy Story and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'm not picky.... (obviously). I love a good movie.

[begin_within]

39. Nashville

[Skittles]

40. SNATCH

Frankie Fourfingers, Doug the Head, Mullet, Bullet-tooth Tony......yes INDEED

[Throd]

42. "The Loved One"

[ZoltarSpeaks]

46. And if you like "Snatch", check out "RocknRolla"

Also by Guy Ritchie

Tom Wilkinson as a bad ass, Gerard Butler, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Thomas Hardy, Thandie Newton, and Karel Roden, bad Russians (again), and a hilarious 10 second implied sex scene.

Mumbles
Handsome Bob
One Two
Archy
Lenny
Johnny Quid
Roman & Mickey

[mcollins]

50. I liked Shakespeare in Love.

really.

[RZM]

51. Any Christopher Guest movie

'Waiting for Guffmnan,' 'Best in Show,' 'A Mighty Wind.' Though 'For Your Consideration' wasn't as good as the others, it still had the same ensemble and thus had some a great characters. That team is the best in comedy today.

[Sugarcoated]

53. Tootsie is one of my favs that qualifies

Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels
Jessica Lange as Julie Nichols
Teri Garr as Sandy Lester
Dabney Coleman as Ron Carlisle
Charles Durning as Leslie "Les" Nichols
Bill Murray as Jeff Slater
Sydney Pollack as George Fields
George Gaynes as John Van Horn
Geena Davis as April Page
Doris Belack as Rita Marshall
Estelle Getty as Middle Aged Woman

Cameos from Andy Warhol & Gene Shalet

[Broken_Hero]

54. Sin City,

or Watchmen, can't decide...

[Amaril]

55. One of my personal favs -- Dogma

Matt Damon
Ben Affleck
Linda Fiorentino
Janeane Garofalo
George Carlin
Jay & Silent Bob
Alan Rickman
Jason Lee
Chris Rock
Salma Hayek
and Alanis Morissette as God