Tony Curtis "Yondah lies de palace of my foddah de sheikh"
Posted on 02/28/2015 11:52:40 AM PST by PJ-Comix
One thing that bugs me about certain films is when a foreign character is played by an obviously "too American" actor. It doesn't mean the film is ruined but often great movies are jarring when that obviously "too American" actor has a scene. One such movie that was otherwise great was "The Blue Max." It had great aerial combat scenes but it bothered me that the lead character, Lt. Bruno Stachel was being portrayed by the way too American George Peppard.
Then there was "Amadeus" in which Mozart was portrayed as if he were a crazy American frat boy by Tom Hulce.
Tom Cruise as Count Stauffenberg? I don't buy that either.
Of, course there is the greatest miscasting example of all time when Genghis Khan was played by the All American Duke Wayne.
I find that Brits can do Canadian accents well, and upper-crust North Atlantic accents. But in general, I can always tell.
They have trouble with “A’s” and it shows. For example on “Revenge” Josh Bowman looks like an all-American frat boy and most of the time he sounds it. But then he says something like “rather,” and it comes out “RAH-ther” instead of like Dan Rather’s last name.
And while Andrew Lincoln does a decent job on “The Walking Dead,” Lauren Cohan’s exaggerated southern accent as Maggie is grating on the ears.
Many British can do better American accents than Americans do British, but they’re not always perfect.
Alan Rickman playing a German in Die Hard — but despite his accent it’s still a classic.
Not to mention Rickman, who starred as Valmont in the hit play Les Liaisons Dangereuses, getting passed over for the Dangerous Liaisons film role played by John Malkovich. Rickman was robbed!
***trying to read the tiny fleeting subtitles***
I’ve noticed that new subtitled films do not leave up the subtitles on long enough to read.
I tried to watch INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and the subtitles went by so fast I had to put the DVD on hold for time to read each one.
Mel playing GOV
HELLO BOYS,YA MISS ME?
Brando was also terrible as Fletcher Christian. His Brit accent came off one big lisp.
That works best for me as well. I don’t mind subtitles.
Of course in that movie, the German accents was a central part of the plot.
And Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Bert the Chimney Sweep's accent was so bad it became a classic.
Hulce was awful and so was Costner. Even playing an American in Dances with Wolves he came across as far too late 20th century. Even playing a Kennedy aide in Thirteen Days, his Boston accent was laughable.
But if you went to Valkyrie or tuned in The Blue Max expecting to see something authentically German, you were making a mistake. The were honorable as what they were -- Hollywood products -- and may have been a bit of an improvement over what Hollywood usually produced.
Lauren Cohan has an odd British accent anyway. I guess its due to the fact that she was raised by American parents in Britain.
Biggest shock was when I found out that Major Winters in Band of Brothers was portrayed by a Brit.
That’s Milos Forman’s schtick, though: having actors speak they way they naturally do. Although I have yet to see “Goya’s Ghosts.” He might have had Natalie Portman speak in a Spanish accent, but I doubt it.
Connery played a believable Rausooli in The Wind and The Lion.
But Richard Burton as a German officer following orders & killing civilians in Massacre in Rome was a bit of a stretch.
Or Lucius Malfoy as an Army Ranger? Musta tucked the hair up.
The weirdest thing for me is watching a Polish TV series about the Polish Underground in WWII and hearing the Germans speak to each other in Polish.
How about POWERS BOOTHE who pretended to be LEE MARVIN playing the part of Curly Bill Brocius in TOMBSTONE.
Still did a good job. I got to noticing, where Marvin would snarl if he was playing the part, Boothe snarled. Where Marvin would have gotten loud, Boothe got loud.
Agreed. I remember Jason Isaacs in 'Blackhawk Down' having this sort of unplaceable generic American accent. If he'd rolled up to my checkpoint in the Ardennes in 1944, I'd have ordered him out of the jeep at gunpoint as soon as he opened his mouth.
(Clarification: No, I wasn't there.)
That guy on NBC’s Life and Chuck from Pushing Daisies come to mind.
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