Meaning a film that stars multiple iconic great actors and it happens to be the best that most (or all) of them ever appeared in.

For instance.

it’s my belief that Godfather II is the best film that:

Al Pacino
John Cazale
Robert De Niro
Robert Duvall
James Caan

ever appeared in.

As well as every other actor in the film.

Do you have any?


if you do, post them so we can argue.

I wrestled with some Tarantino films here, specifically Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Pulp Fiction, but too many actors had me doubting the choices. Like if I chose Once Upon a Time, I don't really think those are Leo and Brad's best performances. Not a knock on their work in the film, just that both have such a great body of work in general that it's really hard to say Once Upon a Time was their best film. Then it goes to shit when you realize Margaret Qualley was better in The Substance, Mikey Madison was better in Anora, Austin Butler was better in Elvis, the list goes on. Pulp Fiction was closer, as I do think it contains John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ving Rhames' best performances. But not Bruce Willis, or Uma Thurman, or Eric Stoltz, or Rosanna Arquette, or Maria DeMedeiros, or Christopher Walken, or Harvey Keitel, or Amanda Plummer, or Tim Roth.

So let's try another. I'd be ok with saying that LA Confidential does indeed have the best performances of:
Russell Crowe
Guy Pearce
Kevin Spacey
James Cromwell
and Kim Basinger

The three leads are arguable, as they've all had solid performances in other movies (Spacey especially, despite the controversy about him he's a damn fine actor. Yeah, maybe his Verbal Kint is still a better turn than Jack Vincennes, but not by much). The reason I give them the nod in this film is that all three of them change over the course of the movie, and rather convincingly. Bud Dupree always defends the women, but finds his violent side can still manifest when a woman wrongs him. Jack eventually realizes the price of him selling out people for his own Hollywood fame, and by-the-book Ed Exley eventually learns to bend the rules when he has to.

Danny DeVito is nails in this movie too, but I don't think it's his best performance ever.

Love those takes and I would agree on LA Confidential. With picking LAC as Spaceys best over Seven and Glengarry Glen Ross being the toughest call to make.

I like the best performance take too, so we can spin it off into that as well. But I simply meant the best film an actor appeared in, regardless of it being their best performance or not. Hence listing James Caan for his 2 minute cameo in Godfather II. lol

By your take on the thread. Best performance. I’d say Autumn Sonata was the best performance both Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann ever put on celluloid.

Goodfellas probably has the best performances from Liotta, Pesci, and Bracco. De Niro is the wildcard because he's given so many great performances its hard to pick one. And even then, De Niro doesn't have much to do in Goodfellas since his character is more of a stable anchor for Henry Hill's place in the mob than Pesci's loose cannon that represents the dark, violent underbelly.

With a question like this, you sort of have to narrow the focus down to, say, four or five leads/supporting actors.

I mean, look at OUATIH.. the movie really belongs to Pitt, DiCpario, and Robbie. Butler and Qualley really only have minor roles at early points in their careers and it's not really fair to apply this standard in those cases.

It would not matter whether this was the film that Qualley was the best in. The question is whether this is the best film she has been in. And then whether she counts as a great actress, anyways.

Again, not a question of whether Goodfellas has DeNiro's best performance. The question is whether Goodfellas is the best film DeNiro was in.

Best performance in one movie, is the harder question to answer. Based on the question of best movie of some actors I'd say:
- Zodiac is the best movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr. and Brian Cox.
- Boogie Nights: Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Thomas Jane and Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Good Will Hunting: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgard and Casey Affleck

But it's not always the best performance. For example Philip Seymour Hoffman was better in a couple of movies and Ben Affleck gave his best performance in Hollywoodland

And the same counts for The Godfather: Part II. Pacino and Cazale probably gave their best performances, Duvall and DeNiro were strong, too but not their best and Caan was barely in it.

Casablanca has Bogart, Bergman, Claude Raines, Peter Lorre. Are Paul Heinreid, Conrad Veidt great actors?

My problem with the question is, that it just comes down to an appearance. Pulp Fiction is the best movie with Christopher Walken, but it is not the best Christopher Walken movie, it wouldn't even count as the best Bruce Willis movie, although he is one of the "leads".

Silence of the Lambs for Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glen

Fargo for Frances McDormond, William Macy and Steve Buscemi

Yeah, it's just the best movie the actor was in, and then what great movie gathered up a bunch of great actors. The answers are going to be limited.

"The Wizard of Oz" is one of the best movies,and it is the best movie Judy Garland was in, but is it a movie with a bunch of great actors?

"Gone withe the Wind" works. It's the best movie Gable, Leigh, Dehavilland, and Howard were ever in.

The Birdcage would be my pick for that whole cast and I think I’ve seen all of their major films other than Diane Wiest’s Woody Allen films as I’ve never connected to Woody Allen on any level though appreciate a lot of people he’s inspired.

Yea Birdcage > Superman, The Conversation, The Lion King, Good Will Hunting, etc

The Birdcage isn't even a Top 5 Gene Hackman film

The French Connection
Bonnie & Clyde
The Royal Tenenbaums
Mississippi Burning
Hoosiers
Unforgiven
Superman : The Motion Picture

Yeah, I actually mis-read the assignment. I might have been drinking when I posted. Replace "might have" with "was definitely".

IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) - Rooney, Caesar, Berle, Winters, Merman, Silvers, Hackett, Shawn, Falk, Eddie Anderson, Terry-Thomas, etc. I would say Tracy, too, but he made so many earlier great movies in his MGM years, esp. with Katharine Hepburn, it would be unfair to say MAD WORLD is his best film.

It's an odd topic. The Godfather Part 2 is one of the greatest movies ever made, and its cast is an assemblage of some of Hollywood's greatest actors when they were mostly all pre-greatness in their careers.

So first you have to identify a movie that is so great that it's the best movie any of its cast were ever in, then it has to have a cast with a bunch of great actors.

People mentioned Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but setting aside whether it's the best movie Brad Pitt has been in (Inglorious Basterds?) or Dicaprio (Titanic?), Al Pacino is in OUATIH, so it is not the best movie that its cast of great actors have all been in.

And since Spencer Tracy is the biggest movie star in it, and it is far from his best film, it does not qualify.

No i double checked it’s the best one.

The thread title says "Multiple Great Actors", not "Every actor who appears in it"

I said most, multiple or all. Doesn’t have to be everyone. It’s not that rigid lol.

Personally I would say Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would qualify as Pitt, DiCaprio and Robbie’s best film. Comes close with Kurt Russell, if it wasn’t for The Thing. Pacino, no.

I’d also include Once Upon a Time In The West.

Jason Robards best film
Charles Bronson’s best film
Claudia Cardinale‘s best film

even Henry Fonda. I consider Once Upon a Time In The West to be his very best film.

Still. Your version of it completely works too.