cast of thousands

plural casts of thousands

1. idiomaticA large number of people in one place or carrying out one action.

   For Apocalypse Now (above), Francis Ford Coppola reinvented the Vietnam War with the proverbial cast of thousands.

   1977, James Monaco, How to Read a Film - The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media, page 15

   2 more examples

   They were trying to keep it down and saying going to Europe, as I recall, but a cast of thousands --- that is incorrect, take that off.

   1987, United States, Congress, House, Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair - Appendix B, Depositions, Volume 4, page 896

   Life was now just too confusing, so I didn't ask any questions, just headed back to the cast of thousands standing in my kitchen.

   2016, Judith Flanders, A Cast of Vultures, A Mystery