A few months ago, I wrote a piece here on some of my favorite ensembles of supporting players where the leads were far from my favorite thing. I focused on how with certain movies, the main story didn’t grab me but the great supporting cast did. Well, as I wrote that I already had in mind a piece on my favorite casts, period, the ones in which I love pretty much every lead and supporting player in the enterprise. Still, I didn’t think about it far beyond that original post until coming upon a movie on the schedule today and everything came flooding back in. The movie is The Wild Bunch and it’s one of my favorite movies, the kind that becomes a favorite from the moment you see it and remains so through multiple viewings down the road. And one of the reasons it’s such a favorite is that cast. One of the best casts ever assembled.
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If you are somehow unfamiliar with The Wild Bunch, it stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sanchez, Ben Johnson, Emilio Fernandez, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Albert Dekker, Bo Hopkins, and Dub Taylor. Some of you might not be familiar with all of those names but let me assure you, if you assembled them all on a set and didn’t walk away producing a great western, you did something wrong. It’s not simply a great cast, which of course it is, it is also a mesmerizing Western cast, through and through. Honestly, it’s one of those casts where after you say, “William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan,” you’ve got me. Actually, you’ve probably got me after mentioning any one of their names and, frankly, that goes for just about everyone else in the cast too. I love The Wild Bunch for many reasons, including the story, the cinematography, the editing, the music, and how it all comes together in the final amazing shootout, but honestly that cast makes up for a lot of it too. The Wild Bunch could have been half the movie it is in every other area and with that cast I still would have loved it. That’s just how some casts roll. And I have a few others as well. (This is by no means intended to represent a full accounting of casts I love, just highlights)
Dinner at Eight – I don’t love this movie. I like it. It’s a stage play adapted to the screen, never one of my favorite things. But oh that cast! Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, John Barrymore, and Lee Tracy. I can make it through any stodgy stage play adaptation with that cast, and I do! Highlight for me, though a very sad moment, is when Barrymore’s defeated man drops his head in his arm at the mantle in his hotel room and lets out a short, pained cry. I think it’s Barrymore’s best work on the screen (of course, I never saw his work on the stage).
The Wizard of Oz – There’s another movie from 1939 with a pretty incredible cast too but this cast tops every other one from the year as far as I’m concerned. Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, and every damn one of those talented people who brought the Munchkins to life, even if that’s all they ever did. My favorite scenes change from day to day but Bert Lahr’s coronation at the gates of the Emerald City always brings a smile to my face.
The Maltese Falcon – There’s another movie, oh let’s call it Casablanca, with another stunning cast that has many of the same people as this one but, one, this one came first and, two, despite not having Ingrid Bergman it does have Mary Astor, Gladys George, Ward Bond, and Elisha Cook, Jr. Folks, it has Elisha Cook, Jr! Also, a cameo by Walter Huston. There’s nothing else to say.
Citizen Kane - People talk so much about all the aspects of this movie’s cinematography, editing, music, and multitudes of other achievements so much that I think they tend to forget that all of that wouldn’t make a lick of difference without Orson Welles, Dorothy Comingore, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Morehead, Ray Collins, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, Paul Stewart, and, holding it all together, William Alland. A simply incredible cast.
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A Letter to Three Wives - Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, and Ann Sothern would be enough for a solid picture but when you add a young Kirk Douglas and the ever underappreciated but always great Paul Douglas, you’ve got a great cast, period. Oh, and there’s Celeste Holm on voice over to boot!
The Ten Commandments - It wasn’t long ago that I wrote in this space how much I love this movie. Well, the cast has a lot to do with it. Chuck Heston at his most stalwart, joined by Anne Baxter at most Anne Baxterish! Add to those two Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, and John Carradine and you’ve got one of the greatest casts ever assembled.
The Raven - Roger Corman’s 1963 horror comedy is pretty damned silly, let me tell you. And this cast plays every damn second like the consummate pros they were: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court, and Jack Nicholson. Why Lorre and Nicholson play father and son without so much as a wink to the camera. Suffice it to say, Jack must have taken after his mom. And been raised in an entirely different country.
The Great Escape - Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, and James Coburn. My favorite war movie as a kid. Still a favorite, primarily for the cast.
Dr. Strangelove – George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens, Keenan Wynn, Peter Bull, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, and Peter Sellers. Best comedy cast ever.
I had this idea when I started this of cruising through each decade and picking two or three movies from each but realized by the time I got to 1964 that I had far too many more to name. Maybe another post, another time or maybe just we’ll mention a lot more in the comments. There was a lot of talent in classic Hollywood and often, because studios didn’t like to loan out their stars or put all their eggs in one basket, that talent got spread around, a couple of good leads with a good supporting player or two per movie. But every now and then, Dream Teams were assembled and I wish I could have been there to see them all work together. Still, I’ve got the movies, so I can always see the final result.