Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Game

The game is simple. Come up with someone who has been in a movie and link them through the actors they star with to Kevin Bacon. This has to be done in 6 moves or less.

Example:

Harrison Ford (an easy one). Harrison Ford is in Raiders of the Lost Ark with Karen Allen. Karen Allen was in Animal House with Kevin Bacon.

You made the connection in two moves, so Harrison Ford has a Bacon Score of (2), out of 6, the number of moves you would be permitted. Since Karen Allen is IN a movie with Kevin Bacon, she is a (1). Kevin Bacon IS Kevin Bacon so he has a Bacon Score of (0).

Simple, right?

Some people play with different rules of appearance. I like to play with rules that state that the actor in the movie must physically appear on camera. He doesn't have to speak (mute roles wouldn't be fair), and if he speaks it doesn't have to be his voice, but voiceovers don't count. Some people go a step further that if the person is in a suit, there must be some identifiable way to know it is the actor.

For example, John Candy in Spaceballs is obviously John Candy, while Anthony Daniels in Star Wars...we KNOW its Anthony Daniels, but if you didn't know any better, you wouldn't be able to tell. This is a gray area for some people*. For Star Wars we would credit David Prowse or Sebastian Shaw(Jedi), and not James Earl Jones for Darth Vader. For Hellboy we would credit Doug Jones, not David Hyde Pierce for Abe Sapien.

My rules in brief:

1. Actor must appear
2. Actor does not have to speak
3. Actor does not have to be credited
4. Actor does not have to appear in a scene with the actor link or with Kevin Bacon
5. Actors in suits count

This is a great game to play instead of Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit and doesn't cost anything. It's also fun to do if the movie you rented isn't working out for you.

"Hey, is that Joe Don Baker**?"
"Yep. He's a (1)."
"No way, prove it!"
"He's in Criminal Law with Kevin Bacon"
"Oh."

Listed below are all of Kevin Bacon's movies in order to play the game.

I will eventually also list some popular actors/actresses, their links and their resulting Bacon Score.

Scoring:

You don't have to keep score. We usually play without score just to show off. If you do keep score, add the Bacon Score of the person you end up with to your total. Lowest score wins. If someone is able to make a connection but in more than 6 moves, give them 7 (if it took seven moves) or 8 points (max points for a complete connection, at least they succeeded). Failure to make a connection is worth 10 points.

Remember, low score wins. Play as many rounds as you want, until someone hits a high score, or until you get sick of it.

Have Fun!

*Incidentally, even if you count Star Wars, there is an equal Bacon Score for Anthony Daniels instead of going through Star Wars. Hint: Michael Elphick.

**If you're watching Joe Don Baker movies, that's your problem.

Animal House - "Thank you, Sir, may I have another?!"

His first work, and oh, what a work.

Who isn't in this movie?

John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Tom Hulce, Bruce McGill, Karen Allen, Donald Sutherland and many others.

Belushi gives you access to 1941 and Blues Brothers, Karen Allen gives you Harrison Ford from what will soon be two Indiana Jones Films, and Bruce McGill, who is in films with Stallone, Bruce Willis, Joe Pesci and tons more.

You can almost play Six Degrees with just this movie going from Kevin to Donald Sutherland.

But that wouldn't be any fun, would it?

Starting Over

Bacon has a small part in this, but he's paired with Deborah Reagan, who later went on to be Harvey's girlfriend in Trading Places (and who isn't in that?)

More importantly the movie stars Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh, Candice Bergen, Charles Durning and a young Daniel Stern.

Everything else Bacon did in the 70s was for TV, but he broke out quick early in the 1980s.

The 80s were big for Bacon, and he starred in some of the most memorable movies of the decade.

Hero at Large

Ok, he's basically an extra in this one, but it does star John Ritter and Anne Archer. If you have to reach for this one, you're either hurting for a connection or just a showoff.

Friday the 13th
Now we're talking! If people didn't know about him from Animal House, this got people talking, although Kevin didn't really break out until he hit Guiding Light, Diner and Footloose.

But wait, there wasn't anyone else famous from Friday the 13th, at least not the first one...

Well, Rex Everhart plays Enos the Truck Driver here...and he also played Sergeant Dolan in Superman which starred Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, Margot Kidder, Terrence Stamp and many others. A great connection if you need it, but it adds a step you may not need.

Only When I Laugh

Skipping it for now so I can go on to...

Diner

...which is filled with Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern (again) Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser and Mark Margolis.

Want to shock your friends with a cool connection? Mark Margolis plays the perfume expert in Hannibal which stars Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman and Ray Liotta.

Forty Deuce

Meh, but it has Orson Bean in it, who was in Innerspace and if you go further back, was in Miracle on 34th Street.

Enormous Changes at the Last Minute

Another I couldn't care less about, but it has David Strathairn and Ellen Barkin (again). Just for reference, David was in Sneakers (ensemble cast with Robert Redford) and A League of Their Own (ensemble cast with Tom Hanks).

Footloose

This is one of those movies that seemingly everyone is in. Not nearly as meaty as one of his later ones, but this one is a good one.

Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Sarah Jessica Parker and others and Chris Penn.

Quicksilver

Ha ha Quicksilver. It does have a young Laurence Fishburne who seemed to do alright for himself in the 90s and on. Also stars Paul Rodriguez who gets into a lot of movies, including Ali. Ring the bell.

White Water Summer

Another movie that paid the bills I'm sure, but it co-starred a young Sean Astin who is in the cast-heavy LotR series and cast-heavy The Goonies.

End of the Line

Ok, he had a lot of bills to pay. Still, this one has Wilford Brimley, who seems to be in movies with higher frequency as he ages, kind of like Sean Connery. Also has Levon Helm (who? Oh he was in Right Stuff, you're welcome), Holly Hunter and Clint Howard.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

He was the taxi racer. This is a good nexus movie as it has Steve Martin and John Candy, with plenty of connections between them. Also Michael McKean, Susan Kellerman and Edie McClurg. The last 2 alone give you Michael J. Fox and Matthew Broderick.

She's Having a Baby

Elizabeth McGovern and Alec Baldwin make this a good pick, and John Ashton too, who was in Beverly Hills Cop.

Criminal Law

Woohoo, Gary Oldman, Tess Harper, who was in Ishtar (bad) with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty (good), as well as Karen Young and Joe Don Baker.

The Big Picture

Ooh, good one to pick up J.T. Walsh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael McKean (again), Teri Hatcher and Fran Drescher. Fran Drescher? Only to get to UHF, I swear!

Tremors

Pick up a bunch of good trades you wouldn't get anywhere else. Fred Ward, Reba McEntire, Michael Gross and Charlotte Stewart.

Flatliners

Here's a good one pre-JFK. Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, Kimberly Scott and Benjamin Mouton.

Pyrates

Don't worry, no one else saw it either. It does have Kyra Sedgwick, Bruce Payne, David Pressman and Mickey Jones.

Queen's Logic

I'm kind of speeding along here, because I'm trying to get to the holy grail, but here's a good one. Linda Fiorentino, John Malkovich, Joe Mantgna, Jamie Lee Curtis, and many others. A big cast that gets you a lot.

He Said, She Said

Elizabeth Perkins, Nathan Lane, Sharon Stone and many others. Another big cast that has legs.

But enough screwing around.

JFK

You could pretty much play the whole game with just this movie. Any actor who has made a movie in the last twenty years starred in this movie, or acted with someone who acted in this movie. Everyone was in this movie, and why not? Its 206 minutes of people standing around and talking. If you watch the credits long enough, YOUR name will scroll by.

Let's start at the top. Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Laurie Metcalf, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, Walter Matthau (which makes 4 movies he and Lemmon have starred in together), Ed Asner, Vincent D'Onofrio, Darryl Cox, Helen Miller, Brian Doyle Murray...Hey, I'm only allowed 10,000 characters in this module. Suffice to say, I could go on and on for good connections. What does it tell you that a movie has John Candy, John Larroquette and Wayne Knight, all playing characters completely straight? They even cast all the comedy/relief characters they could find because everyone in Hollywood was taken. If you didn't get into JFK, you missed out.

All roads lead to Rome and all movies lead to JFK.

Oh, I forgot to mention it has Donald Sutherland. AGAIN. You could throw out every other movie and just work out six degrees through Donald. Arguably you could do the same with Animal House, but Animal House doesn't have everyone ever committed to celluloid in one film.

If you can't make a connection, throw up your hands and say JFK. You may not know the answer, but you'll be right.

A Few Good Men

I had to get that out of my system. That all being said, if JFK had never been made, Bacon's next movie more than makes up for the difference.

Wow. Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland (again), Kevin Pollak, James Marshall, J.T. Walsh, Christopher Guest (which makes 2 Spinal Tap members who are 1s), J.A. Preston, Xander Berkeley, Noah Wyle, Cuba Gooding, Jr. (who was also in Gladiator with James Marshall) and David Bowe. Why David Bowe? He's a better connection to UHF. He's in other stuff too...

New York Skyride

Does this count? This was a little promotional movie that you could watch while waiting to get to the observation platform at the Empire State Building. It has (is it still in use?) Kevin Bacon as the host, and features Elya Baskin (also of Sleepers), Michael Harkins and James Doohan(!). If this "movie" counts that's a direct (2) for everyone in Star Trek.

The Air Up There

Yolanda Vasquez was in Notting Hill and more recently Children of Men.

The River Wild

This movie dishes up Meryll Streep, David Strathairn (again), Elizabeth Hoffman, and Benjamin Bratt who was in two Sandra Bullock vehicles.

Murder in the First

Christian Slater, Gary Oldman (again), Embeth Davidtz, William H. Macy, Stephen Tobolowsky (again), Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey, Mia Kirshner, Kyra Sedgwick (again). Wow. Big cast, so it resonates throughout a lot of other movies.

Apollo 13

Kevin Bacon keeps getting into these big budget ensemble casts, and this one delivers. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, Chris Ellis. Yeah, lots of big names.

We'll pass over Balto since it's voices only and go right to

Sleepers

Pow. Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Billy Crudup, Minnie Driver, Brad Renfro, Bruno Kirby.

Picture Perfect

Jennifer Aniston, Jay Mohr, Olympia Dukakis, Illeana Douglas and many more in a big cast.

Telling Lies in America

Brad Renfro (again), Maximilian Schell, Calista Flockhart, Luke Wilson and others.

Digging to China

Mary Stuart Masterson, Evan Rachel Wood, Cathy Moriarty, Marian Seldes and others. This is a good movie to pick up actresses/links that you may have missed out on.

Wild Things

Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Matt Dillon, Robert Wagner, Bill Murray and a big cast of troopers make this worthwhile.

Stir of Echoes

His last film of the decade (not arguing about 2000/2001 right now), this has Illeana Douglas (again). MST3K fans will be entertained to know that James Andelin played the band instructor in the short Mr. B Natural. It will probably never come up, but there you go, everyone in a short ridiculed by puppets is a (2).

My Dog Skip

Frankie Muniz has taken off and he just about started here. Also has Diane Lane, Luke Wilson (again), Clint Howard (again) and others.

Hollow Man

Elisabeth Shue, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Joey Slotnick, William Devane, Rhona Mitra and others.

Novocaine

KB isn't credited in this movie, but he's there, and so is Steve Martin, Laura Dern, Helena Bonham Carter, Elias Koteas and others.

Trapped

Charlize Theron, Courtney Love, Stuart Townsend, Dakota Fanning, Colleen Camp and others.

It is at this point that I start to wonder, that maybe every casting director may be trying to put as many people into a Kevin Bacon movie as possible, no matter how scant their experience, in order to eventually make this game obsolete. I know, JFK.

Mystic River

Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Laurence Fishburne (again), Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Emmy Rossum, and more.

In The Cut

Again uncredited, but he's there with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Meg Ryan and a cast of thousands (ha)

The Woodsman

David Alan Grier, Kyra Sedgwick (you again? I know, they got married in 1988, before they even filmed Pyrates.), Benjamin Bratt (again), Mos Def, and others.

Loverboy

More Kyra Sedgwick goodness, Matt Dillon (again), Oliver Platt (again) and Marisa Tomei. Even little Travis Bacon gets in on the act, starting early to surpass old dad.

Beauty Shop

Another one to pick up lots of actresses. Queen Latifah, Alcia Silverstone, Andie McDowell, Alfre Woodard, Mena Suvari, Della Reese, Paige Hurd, Keshia Knight Pulliam. Don't forget that Djimon Hounsou is in it too, along with half of Atlanta (ha).

Where The Truth Lies

Colin Firth is the big draw here, but Alison Lohman makes some good connections.

The Air I Breathe

Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch, who will get a big boost in the upcoming Speed Racer, Forest Whitaker, Kelly Hu and bunches more.

I realize I'm speeding through the 2000s, but a lot of the best ones (not quality of movies, but quality of connections have passed) and yet, we keep seeing new ones that blow old problem connections wide open.

Perhaps casting directors know the game and say, hey we haven't seen John Goodman in a KB movie.

Death Sentence

Bam, John Goodman. Kelly Preston, Garrett Hedlund, and of course, a hundred more people.

Rails and Ties

This is pretty low key, but there are some deep connections here.

I think this movie is proof that he's already acted with everyone else. They even had to recycle Marcia Gay Harden.

Saving Angelo

And still recycling, including Dominic Scott Kay (from Loverboy). But wait, it isn't a KB movie with Kay in it - it's the other way around. Young Kay wrote and directed the movie, also starring his father. How much power does he have if he can get his buddy KB to appear in his movie? Nice. Keep an eye on this kid, he's got way too much power already.

Rest of 2000s

Kevin Bacon has three more movies in production.

Note: These don't count yet, but I'm listing them so we can start going over the potential connections.

Frost/Nixon

Its another Ron Howard pic so its full of stars. Sam Rockwell, Frank Langella, Oliver Platt (again) and everyone who didn't get into JFK.

Taking Chance

Not as many big names, but a strong workaholic cast which means a bunch of deep connections if you're willing to look.

Tom Aldridge was in *batteries not included and Rounders, and is uncredited according to IMDB in The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda and George Kennedy. Nicholas Art is a young actor with a short career so far, but he was in Syriana with George Clooney, Christopher Plummer and Mel Torme's daughter - Daisy Torme.

New York, I Love You

Wow. James Caan, Natalie Portman, Shia LeBeouf, Hayden Christensen (a little Star Wars juice there), Scarlett Johansson, Christina Ricci, Orlando Bloom, Robin Wright Penn (That's both Penns at (1)), Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Maggie Q, Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman, and more. This could be the JFK for the younger set.

This is an anthology movie and so provides the opportunity to cram it with big, rising and older names.

Update: I was serious about this being a nexus but I didn't know how right I'd be. I checked it out on OracleofBacon.org and every actor I could think of but two came to this movie by way of Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman, James Caan, John Hurt or Andy Garcia. Crazy, crazy connections here folks, so NYILY may be the new "I give up so I'll just say (movie title)" movie.

My One and Only

Renee Zellweger is here, as is Chris Noth from Sex and the City who was also in Mr. 3000 with Bernie Mac, Paul Sorvino and Angela Bassett. A workman's cast that pops up in lots of other things if you look hard enough, but the first two give you some good connections.