A fun game that we used to play in college was Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. The game is that anybody can be linked to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less through film or TV roles. Basically, you have to be in a film or on TV for this to really work, though because I'm a nerd, I linked myself to Kevin Bacon, through a friend who knows a famous person.
As I used to be awesome at this game, I quickly figured out the key movies to use to link to Kevin Bacon. Here are the top 5...sometimes it helps to start at a Kevin Bacon movie and work backwards.
5 - "Animal House" - Kevin Bacon's first movie. You can make links through John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen and Donald Sutherland to name 3. This one is great to use when trying to link an older actor. You are golden if you get to Dan Akroyd, who was in "Blues Brothers" with John Belushi who was in "Animal House" with Kevin Bacon.
4 - "Mystic River" - Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Laurence Fishburne and Laura Linney are some of the top links you can make through this 2003 hit. For example, let's connect Wil Smith to Kevin Bacon. Wil Smith was in "Bad Boys" with Martin Lawrence, who was in "Nothin' to Lose" with Tim Robbins, who was in "Mystic River" with Kevin Bacon. This is such a fun game.
3 - "JFK" - Oliver Stone's conspiracy buff movie gets you Kevin Costner, Tommie Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek and Walter Mathau. As we all know, Tommie Lee Jones is in everything, as is Kevin Costner. You can use Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathau to connect to older actors if you need to. A must have in the arsenal for any serious Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon player.
2 - "A Few Good Men" - "You can't handle the truth!" Well, maybe you can, and the truth is, you have to understand that you get Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollack and J.T. Walsh. You may not know who the last two are, but trust me, they are in a lot of movies. You would know them if you saw them. This is a key one to linking actors like Alan Ruck, who was Cameron Frye in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Here's another freebie...Cameron Frye was in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" with Jennifer Grey who was in "Dirty Dancing" with Patrick Swayze, who was in "Ghost" with Demi Moore, who was in "A Few Good Men" with Kevin Bacon.
1 - "Apollo 13" - One name...Tom Hanks. You can easily get to Tom Hanks via his many winning roles. One potential pit fall of "Apollo 13" is that it also has Gary Sinise, who was in "Forrest Gump" with Tom Hanks, but the sheer power of Tom Hanks carries the day here. Well, add in Bill Paxton and Ed Harris, especially Ed Harris who is also in everything, and you have the best movie for linking Kevin Bacon. This one is so powerful because it makes it easier for movie novices to play the game. You have lots of big name actors, and a very popular movie...it's a no brainer.
Bonus - if you really want to dazzle your friends...link to Kevin Bacon through "Tremors," which has a fairly obscure supporting cast. The key is to find a way to get to Fred Ward. Fred Ward was in "The Right Stuff" with Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid and Sam Shepard. So...just for kicks, let's link the pig from the movie "Babe" to Kevin Bacon. The pig was in "Babe" with James Cromwell, who was in "Secretariat" with Scott Glenn, who was in "The Right Stuff" with Fred Ward, who was in "Tremors" with Kevin Bacon.
That's all the secrets I'm willing to give away tonight.
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5 comments:
I'm in awe.
You rock!
Jake rocks and Nicolas Cage was in "The Rock", who was in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice with Alfred Molina, who was in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with John Rhys-Davies, who was in "Princess Diaries 2" with Chris Pine, who was in "Smokin' Aces" with Andy Garcia, who was in "The Untouchables" with Kevin Bacon. I suppose I could have started with Sean Connery up there to make it two jumps, but that wouldn't have been as fun. You're starting to get me addicted to this.
Uh...Kevin Bacon wasn't in The Untouchables. You would have to go to Kevin Costner, and then to Kevin Bacon via JFK. That would then make 7 Degrees, which would equate to a failure.
Just because I make this look easy doesn't mean it is easy.
BTW - Jake Rocks and Nicholas Cage was in the Rock with Ed Harris, who was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon.
Oops. How about "The Air I Breathe" from Andy -> Kevin. I got things mixed up in my head. Thanks for breaking me of my short-lived addiction. I was even a failure at that, lol. ;)
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