'Movie 43' and Madcap Movie Mega-Cast Blowouts

Movie 43 boasts a cavalcade of stars, almost for the sake of being able to say it has the most stars in one movie. Movies with large casts used to be a Hollywood tradition, but the trend has been dormant for quite some time (save for the efforts of director Garry Marshall and his all-star Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve). In the spirit of Movie 43's madcap mega-cast, we're revisiting 43 different movies with huge casts and/or numerous cameos… Too many? Okay then, how about just 5?

This over-the-top comedy features 12 different storylines, each by different directors, and boasts one of the biggest ensemble casts in a film, with more than 40 stars including Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Emma Stone, Gerard Butler, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Richard Gere, Naomi Watts, Kristen Bell, Seth MacFarlane, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Anna Faris, Josh Duhamel, Liev Shreiber, Kate Bosworth, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Bibb, Johnny Knoxville, Tony Shalhoub, Jack McBrayer, Terrence Howard and Dennis Quaid.


Watch the Trailer HERE

This 1963 comedy by Stanley Kramer (who was known for such serious fare as The Caine Mutiny and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) is the go-to example for the all-out huge cast/cameo-fest genre, with a group of diverse individuals trampling everything in their path to get their hands on $350,000 in stolen cash. The principal cast includes Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Edie Adams, Buddy Hackett, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Milton Berle and Spencer Tracy, with supporting turns and cameos by stars including Jerry Lewis, Jim Backus, Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Jack Benny, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Carl Reiner, Norman Fell and The Three Stooges!



Watch the Trailer HERE

Following the success of the Smokey and the Bandit movies, Burt Reynolds was itching to put the pedal to the metal again onscreen, enlisting good friend (and Smokey and the Bandit II star) Dom DeLuise and a bunch of his Hollywood pals for this sprawling 1981 cross-country, anything-goes comedy. Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Tillis, Jamie Farr, Adrienne Barbeau, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. are among the racers, with cameos by such stars as Valerie Perrine, Bert Convy, Jimmy the Greek and Peter Fonda. The 1984 follow-up was nominated for a plethora of Razzies, but boasted the final onscreen appearance of the legendary Rat Pack and featured such stars as Shirley MacLaine, Ricardo Montalban, Telly Savales, Marilu Henner, Susan Anton, Richard Kiel, Catherine Bach, Foster Brooks, Sid Caesar, Louis Nye, Tony Danza, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Abe Vigoda, Fred Dryer and Charles Nelson Reilly.



Watch the Trailer for Cannonball Run HERE

Watch the Trailer for Cannonball Run II HERE

Director Robert Altman was well-known for his sprawling, tapestry-like films with huge casts, from his Oscar-winning Nashville to The Player. After the success of that star-studded 1992 Hollywood satire, considered Altman's comeback film, everyone and their agent and fashion designer and model girlfriend wanted in on his next project. Following Short Cuts, Altman pretty much accommodated everyone for his 1994 fashion world satire Pret-a-Porter, translated as Ready to Wear (for the translation-impaired). The cast includes Julia Roberts, Cher, Kim Basinger, Lili Taylor, Rupert Everett, Forest Whitaker, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Stephen Rea, Tim Robbins, Lauren Bacall, Lyle Lovett, Danny Aiello, Tracey Ullman, Sally Kellerman, Teri Garr, Harry Belafonte, Sam Robards, Christian Lacroix, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, David Copperfield and even Björk!


Watch the Trailer HERE

This globetrotting 1956 classic is based on the Jules Verne novel and stars David Niven as Phileas Fogg, who wagers that he can traverse the world in, well, 80 days. Not easy in the days before airplanes. The all-star supporting cast includes Marlene Dietrich, Buster Keaton, Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Red Skelton, Trevor Howard, Cesar Romero, John Carradine, Robert Morley, Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Glynis Johns, Peter Lorre, Charles Boyer and George Raft.



Watch the Trailer HERE

This dusty 1976 gem spoofing the hoopla surrounding the doggie hero Rin Tin Tin seems to have fallen through the cracks of Hollywood history, but at the time used its mega cast as its key selling point. With Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Bruce Dern and Art Carney among its leads, the supporting cast and cameos cavalcade featured many Hollywood legends including Dorothy Lamour, Ricardo Montalban, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cyd Charisse, Johnny Weissmuller, Joan Blondell, Henny Youngman, Ethel Merman, Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Tab Hunter, Dean Stockwell, Yvonne De Carlo, Edgar Bergen, Victor Mature, Shecky Greene, Billy Barty, Jackie Coogan, Peter Lawford, John Carradine, Walter Pidgeon and Milton Berle.



Watch the Trailer HERE