So, really…

What do all of these classic films (and nearly a hundred others) all have in common?

Read THE TROUPERS to find out! 

Here are all of the films referenced in THE TROUPERS:

 The Tramp (1915), Written, directed by, and starring Charles Chaplin.

The Gold Rush (1925), Written, directed by, and starring Charles Chaplin.

Derby Day (1925), Directed by Robert McGowan, Starring Our Gang (AKA The Little Rascals), Written and Produced by Hal Roach.

Don Juan (1926), Directed by Alan Crosland. Starring John Barrymore, Estelle Taylor, and Mary Astor. Based on Lord Byron’s epic poem.

The General (1926), Directed by and starring Buster Keaton.

College (1927), Directed by and starring Buster Keaton.

Grand Hotel (1932), Directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford. Written by William A. Drake.

Little Women (1933), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee, and Jean Parker, Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Dinner at Eight (1933), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Jean Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, and Lionel Barrymore. Adapted from the stage play by Sam B. Harris.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Directed by Max Reinhardt, Starring Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland. Based on the play by William Shakespeare.

David Copperfield (1935), Directed by George Cukor. Starring W.C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, and Maureen O’Sullivan. Based on the novel by Charles Dickens.

Beginner’s Luck (1935), Directed by Gus Meins. Starring Our Gang (AKA The Little Rascals). Produced by Hal Roach.

Captain Blood (1935), Directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Ross Alexander. Based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini.

Romeo and Juliet (1936), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, and John Barrymore, Based on the play by William Shakespeare.

Camille (1936), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, and Lionel Barrymore. Based on the 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas.

Gone with the Wind (1939), Directed by Victor Fleming (replacing George Cukor), Starring Vivian Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, and Leslie Howard. Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell.

The Wizard of Oz (1939), Starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton, Directed by Victor Fleming, Mervyn LeRoy, King Vidor, George Cukor, and Norman Taurog, Based on the novel by L. Frank Baum.

The Women (1939), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard and Virginia Weidler. Based on the play by Clare Boothe Luce.

The Little Princess (1939), Directed by Walter Lang. Starring Shirley Temple, Richard Greene, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter, Arthur Treacher, and Cesar Romero. Based on the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Dark Victory (1939), Directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and George Brent. Based on the play by George Brewer and Bertram Bloch

Waterloo Bridge (1941), Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. Based on the play by Robert E. Sherwood.

The Maltese Falcon (1941), Directed by John Huston, Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sidney Greenstreet. Directed by John Huston. Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett.

The Lady Eve (1941), Directed by Preston Sturges, Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. Based on a story by Monckton Hoffe.

The Philadelphia Story (1941), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Katherine Hepburn, Carey Grant, and Jimmy Stewart. Based on the play by Philip Barry.

A Woman’s Face (1941), Directed by George Cukor. Starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas and Conrad Veidt. Based on the play Il Etait Une Fois by Francis de Croisset.

Casablanca (1942), Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sidney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre, Directed by Michael Curtiz. Based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s stage play Everybody Comes to Rick’s.

Now, Voyager (1942), Directed by Irving Rapper. Starring Bette Davis and Paul Henreid. Based on the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty.

Gaslight (1944), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotton. Based on the play by Patrick Hamilton.

National Velvet (1944), Directed by Clarence Brown. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, and Donald Crisp. Based on the novel by Enid Bagnold.

Spellbound (1945), Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Ingrid Bergman, and Gregory Peck. Adapted from the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Hilary Saint George Saunders and John Palmer.

Mildred Pierce (1945), Directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Joan Crawford, Based on the novel by James M. McCain.

Notorious (1946), Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. Written by Ben Hecht.

The Big Sleep (1946), Directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely and Martha Vickers, Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler.

Humoresque (1946), Directed by Jean Negulesco. Starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield. Based on the novel by Fanny Hurst.

Little Women (1949), Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Janet Leigh, June Allyson, Margaret O’Brien, and Elizabeth Taylor. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Adam’s Rib (1949), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin.

Twelve O’clock High (1949), Directed by Henry King, Starring Gregory Peck, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe and Dean Jagger. Based on the novel by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay.

Sunset Boulevard (1950), Directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. Starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, and Erich von Stroheim (with cameos appearances by Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner, and Anna Q. Nilsson)

Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), Directed by Michael Gordon. Starring Jose Ferrer and Mala Powers. Based on the play by Edmond Rostand.

A Christmas Carol (1951), Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. Starring Alistair Sim, Jack Warner, and Kathleen Harrison. Based on the story by Charles Dickens.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), Directed by Albert Lewin, Starring Ava Gardner and James Mason, Written by Joe Kaufmann.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor. Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

House of Wax (1953), Directed by Andre DeToth. Starring Vincent Price. Based on the story The Wax Works by Charles Belden.

La Strada (1954), Directed by Federico Fellini, Starring Anthony Quinn, Guilietta Masina, and Richard Basehart. Written by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano.

A Star Is Born (1954), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Judy Garland and James Mason. Written by Moss Hart.

Blackboard Jungle (1955), Written and Directed by Richard Brooks. Starring Glen Ford, Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow, Ann Francis and Margaret Hayes.

Bhowani Junction (1956), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Ava Gardner and Stewart Ganger. Based on the novel by John Masters.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Directed by Richard Brooks. Starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Based on the play by Tennessee Williams.

Vertigo (1958), Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. Based on the 1954 novel D’entre les Morts by Boileau-Narcejac.

North by Northwest (1959), Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Carey Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint, and Martin Landau. Screenplay by Ernest Lehman.

Charade (1963), Directed by Stanley Donen. Starring Carey Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm.

My Fair Lady (1964), Directed by George Cukor, Starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.

The Sound of Music (1965), Directed by Robert Wise, Starring Julia Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Based on the Rogers and Hammerstein musical of the same name.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester and Douglas Rain. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clark.

Bullitt (1968), Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon. Based on the novel Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish

 M*A*S*H (1970), Directed by Robert Altman, Starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, and René Auberjonois. Screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., Based on the novel by Richard Hooker.

The Long Goodbye (1973), Directed by Robert Altman, Starring Elliot Gould, Sterling Hayden, Nina Van Pallandt, Jim Bouton, and Mark Rydell. Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler.

Tommy (1975), Produced, Directed, and Written by Ken Russel, Starring Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Paul Nicholas, Jack Nicholson, Robert Powell, Arthur Brown, Pete Townshend and Tina Turner. Based on the album by The Who.

Star Wars (1977), Written and Directed by George Lucas, Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew.

The Shining (1980), Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. Based on the novel by Stephen King.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Written by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, Directed by Irving Kershner, Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and Frank Oz.

Blade Runner (1982) Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Adapted from the story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

Unknown Chaplin (1983), Documentary about the life and films of Charlie Chaplin, Written and Produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, Narrated by James Mason.

Return of the Jedi (1984), Written by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, Directed by Richard Marquand, Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and Frank Oz.

The Colour Purple (1985), Directed by Steven Spielberg, Starring Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chong, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar, Music by Quincy Jones, Based on The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

Stand by Me (1986), Directed by Rob Reiner, Starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland. Based on the story “The Body” by Stephen King.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Written, Directed, and Produced by John Hughes, Starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and Mia Sara.

Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987), Documentary about the life and films of Buster Keaton, Written and Produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill.

 The Princess Bride (1987), Directed and Produced by Rob Reiner, Screenplay by William Goldman, based on his novel, Starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, Peter Falk, Fred Savage, Billy Crystal and Carol Kane. Music by Mark Knopfler.

Waiting for Guffman (1996), Directed by Christopher Guest, Starring Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, and Parker Posey. Written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Directed by Wes Anderson. Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Danny Glover, Luke Wilson, and Owen Wilson. Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson.