Anybody else bugged by Harvey's terrible American accent?
-
decroissance — 14 years ago(June 19, 2011 10:04 AM)
I agree his performance was really good other than the accent. It's sad when people can't do accents. I just saw a movie called the Children of Huang Shi, with Jonathan Rhys-Myers and Radha Mitchell, and it would have been a decent film except for Mitchell's total inability to maintain an American accent.
Not exactly on topic but god it was annoying. -
movie_nazi — 14 years ago(June 19, 2011 04:23 PM)
Not exactly on topic but god it was annoying.
Actually you are right on topic. The topic is bad accents in movies. Funny thing is usually English, Irish, and Australian actors are better at pulling off the American accent than vice versa. I often question whether or not the Brits are just better actors over all or whether the American accent is just easier to imitate. I'm an American so I cannot tell. I do know it is awfully hard to maintain an believable English accent whether it be proper English or cockney. There are just SO many words they say differently than we Americans you are bound to slip up.
A couple of examples of American actors doing good English accents are Johnny Depp in just about anything he did that required an English accent and more recently Peter Dinklage on HBO's
Game of Thrones
which I highly recommend by the way.
My vote history link:
http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=5504773 -
decroissance — 14 years ago(June 22, 2011 11:37 AM)
I haven't seen Peter Dinklage in that, I'll have to wait till it's on DVD.
I like Johnny Depp and his accents, but I always wonder how authentic they sound to an English person. Same question about Gwyneth Paltrow.
Yeah, usually the Brits and Aussies etc. can do a great American accent. I like to think it's easier to go that direction than the other, that is, there's something about American vowels that are just easier than English vowels???
There are a few English actors who can't consistently keep an American accent, including the adorable Alan Rickman, sad to say. -
-
vpilutis — 14 years ago(August 27, 2011 08:57 PM)
I hear the English still haven't forgiven Dick Van Dyke for his very bad English accent in "Mary Poppins"
See some stars here
http://www.vbphoto.biz/ -
deadzombie — 14 years ago(January 27, 2012 01:15 PM)
Who did the casting on this movie.??? Doesn't make any sense. Whats with the foreign actors portraying Americans. Harvey and Angela Lansbury. there were hundreds of American actors that could have played these roles. For some reason someone wanted British accents.I still believe Frank Sinatra had something to do with this production. Even though they don;t show him as executive producer or Producer.somehow he obtained the distribution rights. In those days all kinds of deals were made without any publicity. How did Alexrod and Frankenheimer end up as Producers on the credits.
-
Brennan-8 — 14 years ago(October 13, 2011 09:45 AM)
His whole persona was a performance - he wasn't even an Englishman, but a Lithuanian Jew raised in South Africa.
I don't know why he couldn't pull it off in this film, but he had done a perfect American Southern accent in "Walk on the Wild Side" with Jane Fonda, "Summer & Smoke" and a passably good Texas twang in "The Alamo" w/ John Wayne. Maybe what threw him was the bland standard American accent. -
deadzombie — 14 years ago(January 26, 2012 08:40 PM)
Yes. I could not understand how a Korean War Miltary Officer,who wins the Congressional Medal Of Honor.is Ordering troops in battle with a Drawing Room English accent. I still believe Frank Sinatra had something to do with Lawrence Harvey getting this role. Also I thought Frank had bought the rights to this project he was the one calling the shots the credits show Frankenheimer,Alexrod,and some other writer as Producers, Also how did Nancy Sinatra get rights to second movie with Denzel Washington?
-
mojo2004 — 12 years ago(July 24, 2013 01:33 PM)
Yes. I could not understand how a Korean War Miltary Officer,who wins the Congressional Medal Of Honor.is Ordering troops in battle with a Drawing Room English accent. I still believe Frank Sinatra had something to do with Lawrence Harvey getting this role. Also I thought Frank had bought the rights to this project he was the one calling the shots the credits show Frankenheimer,Alexrod,and some other writer as Producers,
Also how did Nancy Sinatra get rights to second movie with Denzel Washington?
How is that hard to figure out? Frank likely left them to her or she bought them from his widow & her stepmother , Barbara. The rights reverted to Frank Sinatra in 1972. (
from the trivia section
)
Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon." -
deadzombie — 14 years ago(January 27, 2012 12:59 PM)
I really believe Frank Sinatra liked this guy. So he must have had a lot of influence on the producers, I think Frank wanted this project,he wanted that role of Major Bennett Marco, so he put this project together. The casting seems odd. Janet Leigh as a Friend ,girl friend. seems silly, she just met him on the train like a week ago. She leaves her "finance" the same night she met Frank ,give me a break. I liked John Frankenheimer,he directed Black Sunday,Seven days in May,a lot of other movies I never heard of.Explain to me how major Marco gets in a fight too the death with Henry Silva,"Chunjin" and nothing ever happens to either person. like it never happened. Chunjin is back serving Lawrence Harvey Champagne and Major Marco is drinking with him. All has to do about "brainwashing" with the Queen of Spades. Lawrence Harvey walks into Central Park lake in middle of winter. I still like this weird ,strange movie. I watched the Manchurian candidate II ,I believe Nancy sinatra still has the rights to the property !
-
Agent-69 — 14 years ago(August 31, 2011 03:22 AM)
It most certainly did bother me. And I agree with you, it's the most irritating and obvious flaw of the film. The whole film I just kept thinking why does he speak in a fake British accent?
"Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!" -
marktayloruk — 14 years ago(September 29, 2011 08:17 AM)
I suppose it's possible that his mother was English originally. Uppercrust East Coast,as someone else said. What I wondered was-how much did Iselin know about his wifge's activities?He knew about the plot to shoot Arthur -but did he know about his wife's being a Communist agent? And what if they'd got away with it?Mrs.Iselin said that she would take revenge on the Reds so
-
pastorwillie-1 — 14 years ago(October 13, 2011 01:55 PM)
I've seen this movie 3 or 4 times and still wonder why they used a British actor to play the part of Raymond Shaw. Surely there were enough American actors to choose from. I spent 20 years in the military and can't remember a single British G.I. A few Germans but none British. Another example was Max von Sydow playing the part of an American M/Sgt in "The Brass Target."
-
gevansmd — 14 years ago(October 17, 2011 08:36 PM)
There is a faux British accent that is or was common among the upper crust of society. Actually, you can still here it in some places. There's an Episcopal church in Gergetown DC led by a female pastor who has the same accent although she has always lived in the DC area.
-
EvasiveApollo03 — 14 years ago(November 09, 2011 10:10 PM)
His accent was just bad. It was to the point where I wonder if he was even trying to pass as an American. It's as bad as when I saw Frankie Avalon playing a British teen in a 1971 Horror film where he doesn't seem to even attempt to come off as a british teenager but rather a middle aged Frankie Avalon.
-
deadzombie — 14 years ago(January 27, 2012 03:57 PM)
I agree 100% Awarded Medal of Honor for leading his troops in battle in Korea speaking Proper drawing room English. He gets captured by North Korea,they get "brainwashed" by Russian or Red Chinese or North Korean secret agents.They get released.Major Bennett Marco is the only captured solider not brainwashed and he was in charge.It gets better.Major marco meets Janet Leigh on a train,and she decides to leave her "fiance" for Major Marco even though he is arrested for beating Henry Silva the same day.
-
ContinentalOp — 14 years ago(December 01, 2011 04:31 AM)
To cut him some slack:
Laruschka Mischa Skikne, Laurence Harvey, was born and lived in Lithuania until he was five. He then moved to South Africa and then moved to England after the warso he had to master two foreign accents since the age of five.
If you love Jesus 100% keep it to yourselves, perverts! -
movie_nazi — 14 years ago(December 02, 2011 07:33 AM)
Laruschka Mischa Skikne, Laurence Harvey, was born and lived in Lithuania until he was five. He then moved to South Africa and then moved to England after the warso he had to master two foreign accents since the age of five.
Uh, yeah, that's nice he's an ACTOR. It's his job to pretend he is from the United States. On the other hand many "actors" of the time never even tried to pull off accents.
My vote history link:
http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=5504773