Great Movies with an Unassailable Cast?

P.S. 'unassailable' means unable to be attacked, questioned, or defeated

Citizen Kane. The Mercury Theatre actors were so superior to The Group Theatre, who produced maybe five prominent actors, directors, and writers: Odets, Kazan, Garfield, Cobb, and Stella

A Streetcar Named Desire

R2 Stella Who?

Sorry Wrong Number (1948)

Barbara Stanwyck

Burt Lancaster

Ed Begley

Ann Richards as Sally Hunt

Harold Vermilyea as Waldo Evans

Leif Erickson

Wendell Corey (finally in a role that suits him)

William Conrad

and the reliable Dorothea Neumann as Stevenson's secretary

Laura

Whos' Afraid of Virgnia Woolf including the barmaid with her sour gimme-a-break look at the drunken carrying on of the principals.

"If I can't do my interpretive dance, I won't dance at all."

No movie had "an Unassailable Cast".

The Women

I agree that the cast of Murder On the Orient Express was perfection, with the exception of Lauren Bacall. Her playing was shrill and strident, and she was the only actor who didn’t realize the film was a comedy. Most memorable was Ingrid Bergman, doing a parody of her role in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

R2. I absolutely agree that Citizen Kane had a perfect cast. I can’t imagine any other actors playing any of the roles.

Although his films aren’t for everyone, Carl Theodor Dreyer cast all of his films to perfection. The biggest standouts to me are Renee Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc and Lisbeth Movin in Day of Wrath.

Fanny and Alexander

R10, Bacall's character was SUPPOSED to be shrill and strident.

I didn't like the Second Soldier in 'The Passion of Joan of Arc'.

And Dennis Quilley has a ludicrously-sized honker; you couldn't see the actors on the screen.

"Virgnia Woolf" should have been in color; monochrome movies are such a chore!

Comedy, r10?

I actually thought Bacall was good in MOTOE.

Not to focus on Agatha Christie, but Evil Under the Sun also has a perfect cast.

Peter Ustinov

Maggie Smith

Diana Rigg

Roddy McDowell

Jane Birkin

Nicholas Clay

James Mason

Sylvia Miles

Colin Blakey

Dennis Quilley

They’re all superb, and we get hot Nicholas Clay in a tight Speedo as a bonus.

[quote] a tight Speedo

No, he wore a thick woollen costume.

Evil under the Sun was far more entertaining that Murder on the Orient Express.

[quote]I actually thought Bacall was good in MOTOE.

She was, r15.

You must not have seen the movie, r16.

Woody Allen's Radio Days has an amazing cast. For me each actor is perfect - in physical appearance, costume, and costume. The number of speaking parts is huge (so many in just one scene!) in this film and I love seeing each actor.

I can't list the actors, but here's a link to the Wikipedia page... scroll to Cast.

I’ll nominate a modern one - Zodiac. It’s like a collection of the best character actors working today. Go look at pictures of the cast and you’ll be going “That guy!” over and over again.

Mark Ruffalo

Jake Gyllenhaal

Robert Downey, Jr.

Anthony Edwards

Brian Cox

Charles Fleischer

Zach Grenier

Philip Baker Hall

Elias Koteas

John Lacy

Donal Logue

John Carroll Lynch

Dermot Mulroney

Ed Setrakian

Chloë Sevigny

John Getz

John Terry

Candy Clark

Adam Goldberg

James LeGros

Clea DuVall

Jimmi Simpson

June Diane Raphael

Justin Chambers

Rory Culkin

DickieGreenleaf - right on, brother. Add Vampyr. But Renee....whoa! A study in acting for film.

All my movies have unassailable casts.

They are utterly unassailable; they are charming and stunning and practically perfect in every way.

I choose them all personally by hand.

MOTOE is way too long and clunky. Why it has this reputation for quality, I do not know. Ingrid Bergman is funny, one or two others.....but it's overstuffed with stars with very little to do.

R21, Jake Gyllrnhall was miscast in Zodiac. Way too young.

OP doesn't understand 'GREAT MOVIES.'

Boogie Nights

Lion In Winter. Perfection.

I agree with most of the choices here, and I'd add:

The Magnificent Ambersons

Dog Day Afternoon

Carrie

Shadow of a Doubt

[quote]but it's overstuffed with stars with very little to do.

We obviously didn't see the same movie, r24.

Gone With the Wind if they had not cast Leslie Howard.

R21, I love Zodiac.

Lion in Winter was hammy and really hard to watc. It was like an episode of Succession-- each actor was trying to outdo the next. I didn't bother finishing it.

The Remains of the Day

The Asphalt Jungle

The Wizard of Oz

Maybe Lawrence of Arabia

The Music Man

For comedy it's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Nothing else comes close.

[quote] each actor was trying to outdo the next

They were competing as to who could shout louder than the drunk playing the king.

For a great cast and great music but just an OK not great movie there's Is Paris Burning?

Xanadu

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Not gonna get much love here, but I think the casting for The Matrix was perfect.

Three by Preston Sturges:

The Palm Beach Story (especially Mary Astor)

The Lady Eve (nobody knows how to seduce straight men like Barbara Stanwyck)

Sullivan’s Travels (the weakest of these three, but it does have Franklin Pangborn and Eric Blore)

The Godfather

How has there been no mention of Altman casts here? My personal favorites:

Nashville mostly employs supporting / character type actors, and they're all fantastic in their roles.

3 Women

A Wedding

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Short Cuts

Hitchcock probably had the best overall casts for his movies. the following are absolutely perfectly cast

Rebecca (Fontaine, Olivier, Dame Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Gladys Cooper, Nigel Bruce, Florence Bates)

Vertigo (Stewart, Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Ellen Corby, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones)

Rear Window (Stewart, Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Wendell Corey)

but most of all, Shadow of a Doubt (Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, Henry Travers, Janet Shaw as the 'Til Two' waitress, Edna May Wonacott as the precocious child, and most memorable of al,. Patricia Collinge as the silly, loving, fragile mother)

R36, don't go out on a limb like that... IAMMMMW is good, but other comedies supercede - see R42's post as one example of 3 films. And personally, I think Cold Turkey and What's Up doc? are superior to IAMMMMW - in plot, casting and pace. Now this is a cast! Dick Van Dyke as Rev. Clayton Brooks - Bob Newhart as Merwin Wren - Pippa Scott as Natalie Brooks - Tom Poston as Mr. Edgar Stopworth - Edward Everett Horton as Hiram C. Grayson - Bob Elliott as Hugh Upson/David Chetley/Sandy Van Andy - Ray Goulding as Walter Chronic/Paul Hardly/Arthur Lordly - Vincent Gardenia as Mayor Quincey L. Wappler - Barnard Hughes as Dr. Proctor - Graham Jarvis as Amos Bush - Jean Stapleton as Mrs. Wappler - Barbara Cason as Letitia Hornsby - Judith Lowry as Odie Turman - Sudie Bond as Cissy - Helen Page Camp as Mrs. Watson - Paul Benedict as Zen Buddhist - Simon Scott as Mr. Kandiss - Raymond Kark as Homer Watson - Peggy Rea as Mrs. Proctor - Woodrow Parfrey as Tobacco Executive - George Mann as Bishop Manley - Charles Pinney as Col. Galloway - M. Emmet Walsh as Art - Gloria LeRoy as Lottie Davenport (the masseuse) - Eric Boles as Dennis - Jack Grimes as TV Stage Manager - Walter Sande as Tobacco Executive - Harvey Jason as Hypnotist -

R33

FUNNY GIRL 1968

Barbra Streisand as Herself

Omar Sharif as Himself

Walter Pidgeon as Himself

Kay Medford as the friendly supporting character actress

Anne Francis as the one with the mole on her lip

2 films with very diverse casts

They Shoot Horses, Don't They (1969) Jane Fonda, Red Buttons, Susannah York, Bonnie Bedelia, Gig Young, Bruce Dern, Al Lewis . . .

Rosemary's Baby (1968) Mia Farrow, Ruth Gorden, Maurice Evans, Patsy Kelly, John Cassavetes, Charles Grodin, Elisha Cook Jr. Hope Summers, Sydney Blackmer, Victoria Vetri . .

[quote] 2 films with very diverse casts

Is a "very diverse cast" more unassailable or less unassailable than a mildly diverse cast?

^ Funny because people who bitch about "political correctness" are usually MAGATs who can barely speak English.

Murder by Death. I don't even need to list the cast.

Oh, that's tacky.

Koyaanisqatsi

[quote]Murder by Death. I don't even need to list the cast.

Truman Capote shoots that one right down.

[quote] Funny because people who bitch about "political correctness" are usually MAGATs who can barely speak English.

What's funny about it?

R52, Murder by Death is the opposite - a shitty film with a great cast.

Past Alec Guinness' inspired clowning in the last five minutes, and a weirdly chilling last-second reveal, the film is devoid of wit, grace, intelligence and atmosphere.

Evening is in the "great cast, shitty film" category

Becket (1964)

Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, Sir John Gielgud, Sian Phillips, Paolo Stoppa, Felix Aylmer, and Sir Donald Wolfit are all excellent.

or R51 people with too much time on their hands and too little to do

R44 How is 3 Women so perfectly cast? It’s weirdo 1 and weirdo 2 with sum crusty ass fuckin hillbillies thrown in.

Stage Door

R61 Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule are utter perfection in the film.

Tootsie, from Dustin Hoffman right down to Doris Belchak.

Speaking of Janis Rule...

The 1982 Costa-Gavras film MISSING.

Jack Lemmon

John Shea

Sissy Spacek

Melanie Mayron

Joe Regalbuto

and Janis Rule in a very good role

Great movie, definitely worth seeing

Lauren Bacall looks so FUCKIN OLD in this movie.

I really admire Tony Richardson’s “kitchen sink realism”, particularly “A Taste of Honey” and “The Entertainer”. Roger Livesey’s performance in The Entertainer is so moving, and Brenda de Banzie, both very effective.

Livesey is also excellent in the Scottish romance “I Know Where I’m Going” with the amazing Wendy Hiller.

That's because she is, R66, you idiot.

From Here to Eternity Monty Clift Burt Lancaster Deborah Carr Frank Sinatra Donna Reed Ernest Borgnine

[quote] Deborah Carr

Deborah Kerr

I'm tempted to describe this filmed play with its genius plotting and brilliant script as 'unassailable'.

We know that most of the cast had plenty of practise on stage and the homosexual director was a genius. But the actor playing Algie was a little too 'one-note'.

Wow, great replies!

I would also add "Oh! What a Lovely War!" (1969) The cast list includes:

Dirk Bogarde

Phyllis Calvert

Jean-Pierre Cassel

John Clements

Jack Hawkins

Ian Holm

John Mills

Juliet Mills

Kenneth More

Corin Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

Maggie Smith

Susannah York

PLUS the four greatest British stage actors of all time- Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, and Michael Redgrave.

BONNIE AND CLYDE

Warren Beatty

Faye Dunaway

Michael J. Pollard

Gene Hackman

Estelle Parsons

Denver Pyle

Dub Taylor

Gene Wilder

The Muppets Take Manhattan

M*A*S*H (movie not TV)

Donald Sutherland

Robert Duvall

Sally Kellerman

John Schuck

Elliott Gould

Tom Skerritt

Michael Murphy

Bud Cort

Rene Auberjonois

All is Lost

Buried

Please drop the cast when you post.

I think "Psycho" (1960) is a film that was perfectly cast, though a couple of the actors were assailed during filming.

"Mary Poppins" (1964) has a great cast, mostly consisting of British character actors. Even the minor characters are great fun.

Any Merchant-Ivory film.

A Passage To India (1984)

Agree with Robert Altman's 'Short Cuts.'

The Caine Mutiny

Twelve Angry Men

Evening - agreeing with r58.

Maurice (1987)- James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Denholm Elliott, Simon Callow, Billie Whitelaw, Barry Foster, Judy Parfitt, Jeremy Northam, Helena Bonham Carter, and Ben Kingsley.

A Streetcarnamed desire One flew over the cickoo's nest

Hannah and Her Sisters, except for Woody Allen.

Mia Farrow. Perfect in the "good girl," long-suffering role.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Mia's real mother) as Mia's mother.

Michael Caine. OK, I guess. Maybe I have a soft spot for him; I think he's hilarious.

Dianne Wiest. Doesn't physically resemble Mia, but my favorite character, probably. Really captured the '80s with the wardrobe, the cigarettes, the cocaine snorting, etc.

Barbara Hershey. Usually, I'm aware of her acting, but good casting in this - the pretty sister who has a secret affair with Mia's husband.

Max Von Sydow. As Barbara Hershey's older, professor-type live-in boyfriend. Barbara grows tired of the relationship and MVS probably does the best scene in the movie "realizing" he should have married her (no, he shouldn't have).

Clueless

Bullets Over Broadway

Body Heat

The Court Jester

Nine to Five

Psycho Beach Party

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

What's Up Doc

Paper Moon

Young Frankenstein

Star Wars

The Silence of the Lambs

Citizen Kane

Singing in the Rain

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Radio Days

Hairspray (1988)

Dune (1984)

Gone With the Wind

Rebecca

Some Like it Hot

Sunset Blvd.

And Then There Were None 1945

Both Gone With the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire have been mentioned more than once. Here is a bit of trivia about those casts.

The young sailor who helps Leigh onto the streetcar early in that film had played Ashley and Melanie's son Beau in GWTW as a child actor. When someone mentioned that to Leigh, she invited him to her trailer dressing room. where she "entertained" him for well over an hour.

have there been any movies made in the last 10 years that will stand the test of time like most of these posted here?

Any movie that features Dame Judith Anderson.

I won't stand for Leslie Howard being assailed.

R91 Any movie but not this fluffy sex comedy with 21 lovely ladies with big bosoms

R92 he was totally miscast in GWTW. Twenty years too old and veddy British. He didn't even bother to do a Southern drawl or even any type of American accent. I don't understand why Selznick was deadset on casting him. He even agreed to produce INTERMEZZO if Howard did GWTW.

[quote]The young sailor who helps Leigh onto the streetcar early in that film had played Ashley and Melanie's son Beau in GWTW as a child actor. When someone mentioned that to Leigh, she invited him to her trailer dressing room. where she "entertained" him for well over an hour.

His name is Mickey Kuhn. After Olivia died last year, he is now the only living cast member of GWTW.

Selznick didn't want to use Howard and Howard didn't want to do it. But Selznick tested more people for that part than anyone else and couldn't find anyone else more suitable. He wrote to an associate that in tests Melvyn Douglas gave the only intelligent performance apart from Howard but that Douglas was totally wrong physically for the part. Selznick want to test Henry Fonda but he was never available.

Gable wanted Howard because he wanted an effeminate rival.

Howard wrote to his wife after seeing his costume tests that he looked like "an old fairy doorman from the Beverly Wilshire."

This thread has gotten out of hand with these ridiculous lists. How about a thread with the weakest link in a good cast?

Howard ironically works in the part. Scarlett wasn't really in love with him, but the idea of being in love with him. A flighty schoolgirl crush. Rhett is her perfect match; they are the same. If Howard were more masculine her lightweight crush wouldn't work as well.

Ashley is supposed to be a dreamy blonde dreamboat a few years older than Scarlett (in his early 20s at the beginning). Excellent equestrian but also into literature/poetry. Given to daydreaming; idealist.

Rhett, by comparison, is supposed to be a mature, older man in his thirties and a realist. He knows from the get-go that going to war with the North is a lost cause.

[quote] The young sailor who helps Leigh onto the streetcar early in that film had played Ashley and Melanie's son Beau in GWTW as a child actor. When someone mentioned that to Leigh, she invited him to her trailer dressing room. where she "entertained" him for well over an hour.

That happened and official accounts say she served him tea and they talked about working on GWTW. Rumors and an unofficial accounts say the trailer door was locked, no one else was allowed to enter and he left with a big smile on his face.

R102 why?

Lauren Bacall was never more than adequate as an actress. She was the wife of a great actor/star during the golden age of Hollywood and later a great stage actor. She knew the best and brightest of those worlds socially.

She also seemed cunty as hell

Bacall has a unique quality, R104. A quality that wasn't needed much but a quality nonetheless. I find her Bogart movie appearances to be the ones lacking, not the 50s, 60s or 70s.

Bacall was never a "great" stage actor, r104. Talented, flashy, an audience favorite in a couple of roles, but never great.

[quote] Bacall was never a "great" stage actor

No, she wasn't.

She was a female.

And she wore a voice-amplifier on stage.

"Caffeine sometimes makes me tense, and tension can show on your face."

R106 I think the "great stage actor" referred to was Jason Robards not Bacall.

R104 = born in 1998

Yes, because people born in 1998 just can't stop talking about Lauren Bacall.

Not a movie, but "The Sopranos". For six seasons with so many story lines it's amazing nothing went wrong.

BINGO! R111 admits it.

I love the Sopranos, but there were a couple of weak cast members: Robert Iler, Jamie Lyn Siegler, and the guy who played Big Pussy, just for starters. David Chase insists Big Pussy had to be killed off as part of the story, but I suspect he was killed off due to bad acting.

There were also a couple of weak episodes, e.g., Chasing It, when suddenly Tony is a big gambler.

My Favorite Year

Richard Widmark had such an unassailably great voice.

Silkwood:

M

Kurt Russell

Cher

Diana Scarwid

Ron Silver

Craig T. Nelson

Sudie Bond

E. Katherine Kerr

Bruce McGill

plus David Straitharn, Fred Ward, Tess Harper

As others have noted

Radio Days

Laura

Shadow of a Doubt

The Wizard of Oz

I've seen all of these movies fairly recently and enjoyed them even more than I already did.

The cast of Anne Bancroft's "Fatso" is also perfect. A flop upon its release, it is now a near cult classic and my entire family quotes its many quotable lines and even whole passages with delight.

Dom DeLuise

Anne Bancroft

Ron Carey

Estelle Reiner

and Candice Azzara are all so singularly good, as are all the small roles. If you haven't seen it, I think you will find it very funny.

R89 they had a nice talk in her dressing room. Must we sleazify everything?

The Elephant Man

The Sugarland Express

The Exorcist

The Last Picture Show

Bridget Jones’s Diary is perfectly cast, and the only great performance I can remember by an American actress doing an English accent. It may not be a great film but I consider it a great example of its genre.

The Verdict (1982)

Paul Newman and James Mason in particular steal the movie.

Charlotte Rampling

Jack Warden

Milo O'Shea

Lindsey Crouse

Wesley Addy

Nancy Marchand

Joe Seneca

Edward Binns

Shopping List

Laundry List

Assailable List

Telephone Directory

120 posts to get to the perfectly cast THE LAST PICTURE SHOW??!!

You people are slipping!

R124 No, you American!

I told you a week ago back last R23 that all my movies are perfectly cast!

Eileen Brennan

Truman Capote

James Coco

James Cromwell

Peter Falk

Alec Guinness

Elsa Lanchester

Richard Narita

David Niven

Peter Sellers

Maggie Smith

Nancy Walker

Estelle Winwood

in Neil Simon's

MURDER by DEATH

The Lion King-

Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Rowan Atkinson, Madge Sinclair, Robert Guillaume, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jim Cummings, AND James Earl Jones

Clue was actually a rather stupid film, but the cast is superb.

200 Cigarettes

GOSFORD PARK

A WEDDING has a pretty formidable cast, IIRC, Carol Burnett as Katherine "Tulip" Brenner Paul Dooley as Liam "Snooks" Brenner Amy Stryker as Muffin Brenner Mia Farrow as Elizabeth "Buffy" Brenner Dennis Christopher as Hughie Brenner Gerald Busby as Rev. David Ruteledge Peggy Ann Garner as Candice Ruteledge Mark Deming as Matthew Ruteledge Lesley Rogers as Rosie Bean Tim Thomerson as Russell Bean Marta Heflin as Shelby Munker Mary Seibel as Aunt Marge Spar Margaret Ladd as Ruby Spar Lillian Gish as Nettie Sloan Nina Van Pallandt as Regina Sloan Corelli Vittorio Gassman as Luigi Corelli Desi Arnaz Jr. as Dino Sloan Corelli Belita Moreno as Daphne Corelli Luigi (Gigi) Proietti as Dino Corelli I (brother of Luigi) Virginia Vestoff as Clarice Sloan Dina Merrill as Antoinette "Toni" Sloan Goddard Pat McCormick as Mackenzie "Mack" Goddard Ruth Nelson as Aunt Beatrice Sloan Cory Ann Ryerson as Victoria Cory Cedric Scott as Randolph Craig Richard Nelson as Capt. Reedley Roots Jeff Perry as Bunky LeMay Howard Duff as Dr. Jules Meecham Beverly Ross as Nurse Janet Schulman Geraldine Chaplin as Rita Billingsley Viveca Lindfors as Ingrid Hellstrom John Cromwell as Bishop Martin Lauren Hutton as Florence Farmer Allan F. Nicholls as Jake Jacobs John Considine as Jeff Kuykendall Dennis Franz as Koons Pam Dawber as Tracy Farrell Gavan O'Herlihy as Wilson Briggs Robert Fortier as Jim Habor Bert Remsen as William Williamson

But was it great ?

Day for Night

Masculin Féminin

Purple Noon

La Strada

Notre Histoire

Wild Strawberries

A Lesson in Love

Seven Samurai

The Wind

[italic] among others. [/italic]

The Silence of the Lambs

Network

Terms of Endearment

A Fish Called Wanda

Shampoo

A Room with a View

The Princess Bride

M*A*S*H

Dawson's Fifty-Load Weekend.

All 51 performers were perfectly cast. I cannot imagine anyone else in the roles of #1-#50, nor as Dawson, other than the men who were cast after a difficult casting process.

Fast Times at Richmond High

The Silence of the Lambs

Agree with GWTW and the exception of Ashley

The Godfather

controversial : Natural Born Killers. I think I may be the only person who loves this movie but you have to agree, it's perfectly cast.

OP, you misreader of online thesauruses, most of the names on your little list were known to be quite assailable.

Perkins?

[quote] on your little list

THROW DOWN, MARY!

9 to 5

All About Eve

Bette Davis

Anne Baxter

Marilyn Monroe

Celeste Holm

George Sanders

Gary Merrill

Thelma Ritter

Hugh Marlowe

Lists

More Lists

Lists of no interest.

Singin' in the Rain

Best in Show

Carrie

Nine to Five

Drop Dead Gorgeous

Creepshow

This one; with Cedric and Johhnie and Claire.

[quote] OP, you misreader of online thesauruses

The OP loves cutting and pasting from IMDB.

NASHVILLE

THE WOMEN

THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL

FIVE EASY PIECES

The Addams Family Values- Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Jimmy Workman, Carol Kane, Peter MacNicol, Christine Baranski, David Krumholtz, Mercedes McNab, and Christina Ricci

Wall Street. Top Gun.