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Movies with ensemble casts tend to have a number of high profiled stars who each get as much screen time as each other. Robet Altman was one of the most acclaimed directors, who employed ensemble casts to flesh out various stories populated by characters whose lives intertwine in some way. So have a think about your favourite movie featuring an ensemble cast? Is it an Altman film or something else by another director? The photos below are examples of ensemble films but you can choose any ensemble film. 
vinnieh 
While ensemble cast films are always my favorite movies I truly love Magnolia. Not a perfect film but so many of the performances are outstanding. (John C. Reilley, Tom Cruise, Phillip Baker Hall, William H. Macy)
Glengarry Glen Ross is an all-time favorite of mine as well, although I don’t consider it an ensemble cast in the same way Magnolia or any Robert Altman movie is. Other people have looser definitions of the term.
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I disagree; Magnolia is a perfect film 😛
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GGR IS an ensemble film.
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Thanks for replying, I think the cast is amazing in GGR
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The only reason i would say that GGR is not an ensemble cast is because “the Machine” is clearly the main character. The others characters are there in service of his story. I can see why people classify it as as such, because the whole cast are huge actors with great performances, but other than Roma there isn’t a character that is given as much screen time or holds as much importance to the story. And I believe that Roma’s character is there to give legitimacy to Levene as a salesman. That’s my reasoning for saying GGR isn’t an ensemble cast film.
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“because the whole cast are huge actors with great performances”
That’s pretty much what an ensemble film is, isn’t it? I’d argue the opposite and say that all of the characters are equally important in the final story, even if you believe that they’re “in the service of his story”. Everyone gets roughly equal importance/running time. Even Alec Baldwin’s cameo (probably the greatest speech in movie history) serves a purpose to the story and puts him up there.
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Magnolia for sure. One of my favourite films.
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Haven’t seen Magnolia. My favorite ensemble film is The Departed.
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Thanks , the Departed has one of the best casts in recent years.
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I would have to go with 12 Angry Men, I think
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Great question. My number one has got to be Magnolia. To me, that movies defines ensemble.
Glengary, 12 Angry Men, The Big Chill, all fine ensemble films.
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Thanks totally agree that Magnolia defines ensemble.
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Some fine choices by yourself and others here vinnie. Personally, my vote would go to 12 Angry Men – some real powerhouse performances in there.
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Totally agree 12 angry men is a film full of unbelievable talent.
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I do love Magnolia, but that’d be a too-easy choice. I’ll go for something different for a change, and I’ll say Short Cuts. It’s a great Rob Altman film that doesn’t get enough attention. Truly superb. Though I’ll concede Nashville is better.
I’ve also got to mention Glengarry Glen Ross, which I saw for the first time years ago and didn’t think a lot of. Then, recently, I bought it on DVD and have rewatched it three or four times since. I’m now madly in love with it. Amazing film with stunning cast.
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Thanks, I really need to watch Nashville again because I have not seen it in ages.
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Like the comment above I’d probably pick Short cuts, but Magnolia is definitely a favourite with me. The Royal Tenenbaums, assuming it counts, is another film I love.
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Thanks for the comment, love the Royal Tenebaums it has a fantastic cast.
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I’m a bit of a sucker for anything with Bill Murray in 🙂
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I love the cast of SIN CITY. I think it’s one of the greatest ever assembled; even the secondary and tertiary characters kick ass.
What about L.A. CONFIDENTIAL? Great film where most of the major players get roughly equal importance and/or screentime.
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Thanks, totally agree with what you say about Sin City, I forget how talented a cast it had.
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A tricky question to answer since it’s hard to judge just what constitutes an ensemble cast. If we go by the definition of a film featuring a number of different characters that are roughly equally important, I’d give mention to Little Miss Sunshine and The Ice Storm. Sin City has one hell of a cast too, as do Glengarry Glen Ross and Love Actually. Magnolia is a great pick too, of course. Lots of lovely ensembles out there…
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Good question. I usually prefer films with only a few characters, to be honest
I just reviewed Dogville (2003), and that had a great cast and good performances. I’m Not There (2007) I thought featured excellent acting . Magnolia is my favorite ensemble.
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I would argue that Woody Allen films seem to pull some of the great ensemble casts together. I think From Paris With Love is one of the best. Great question!
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It’s a question I ask myself often. I’ve gotta go with a few on this one. For a start, as mentioned already, Glengarry Glen Ross. I also like Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Short Cuts, The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading.
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Thanks for the comment and your interesting choices, I always like movies with many stories that in some way connect.
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Absolutely man. A lot of my favourite films consist of this. Btw I’ve had a quick buzz round and I like your topics of conversation. I’ll have a more in-depth look in a bit. Nice blog man.
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For me it’s between Glengarry Glenn Ross and Boogie Nights. Great cast and everyone got their chance to shine.
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In all honesty, if I narrowed it down. I’d probably choose these also.
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Let’s see…
I’ll start with Pulp Fiction… Travolta, Jackson, Willis, Tim Roth, Uma Thurman, Ving Rhames, on and on
Then let’s add Crash with a knock it out of the park cast
Oh, we can throw in Heist, a David Mamet film and really just an unbelievable cast and movie with Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, Danny DeVito, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Pidgeon (who plays in all of Mamet’s films, I think she is his wife)
Hmmm…what else?
It is very commercial, but I liked Ocean’s 11 with Clooney, Pitt, Damon et al.
Someone else already mentioned The Departed, but it’s worth saying again how phenomenal that cast was… just the Martin Sheen performance alone is worth the price of admission, and that was the least of it in that film when you consider Mark Wahlberg, DiCapprio, Damon, Baldwin, Nicholson, etc.
On a much funnier note I’d like to add Best in Show. Christopher Guest basically uses the same cast over and over, but who among us doesn’t watch Eugene Levy hamming it up? I could sit and watch that all day long.
There are too many others to keep going, but you know it is always great to see a well made ensemble film.
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Thanks for the comment, Totally agree that there are too many great ensemble casts to list on just one page.
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Yeah, I could go on and on… but those were the ones that came to mind off the top of my head.
And they are total classics, but no one mentioned The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments either…
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If you want a look at some non-American ones, try Hong Kong’s ELECTION (and ELECTION 2) and EXILED. Both feature really large casts of some of Hong Kong cinema’s most recognizable names.
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Thanks for the tip, I’ll have to give them a watch.
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Well, as others have said, deciding on “ensemble” may be tough. One movie not mentioned yet is The Princess Bride. Yes, she and Westley are ostensibly the main characters, but pretty much everyone is given equal time and most of the actors in the film were unknowns at the time.
For serious films I would also pick 12 Angry Men. For a recent one, I would pick The Avengers.
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The first two Godfather films have great casts. I also think GoodFellas and Pulp Fiction have strong ensembles as well. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen Nashville. I’ll have to order it from Netflix.
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I like TheBruce’s suggestion of L.A. Confidential. Loved that film and its cast.
Also: Almost Famous.
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Thanks, Confidential had one of the best casts I’ve seen in recent years. I still need to watch AF so thanks for the reminder.
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Good question, I actually made a top 5 list of favorite ensemble cast movies. My ultimate fave is The Lord of the Rings!
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Hmmm…excellent question. “Tale of Two Sisters” has an amazing (and small cast). “Waiting for Guffman” is another great Guest ensemble. “City of Lost Children” (it’s fairly equal amongst the various characters and is phenomenal).
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If anyone could check out my blog, it’d be much appreciated:
http://thomaspridayreviews.wordpress.com/
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Off the top of my head, “Dogma.” Eight people appear on the DVD cover, none of whom overshadow any of the others.
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Lord of the Rings, Magnolia, L. A. Confidential and Pulp Fiction rank amongst the best in my opinion.
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While Boogie Nights does focus on Dirk Diggler a lot, its cast is perfect and each character gets what is due to them.
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‘Ensemble cast’ is something defined differently, by different people. I think the film has to have episodes, bringing the cast together at certain points, or at the end. I would say that Altman’s ‘Short Cuts’ is one of the best examples I can think of. However, surely Tarantino stole the crown, with ‘Pulp Fiction?’ He did for me…
Best wishes, Pete.
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Short Cuts is an excellent example, and yes I would consider Pulp Fiction as having an ensemble cast.
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I almost forgot. ‘Crash'(2004) Gets better every time I watch it…
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It’s been years since I saw Crash. I’ve heard people really hate on the film, but I remember it being pretty good.
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It is good, but it has some racist themes, and not everyone in it is great. Definitely ensemble though…
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