Dialects/Accents in the Movies

[hatophile]

Forgive me if there is already a thread on this subject. It occured to me when posting in the "What languages do you speak" thread, that our native countries all have certain dialects or accents peculiar to certain regions.

With that in mind, what films have you seen that seem to capture the flavor of a particular accent or dialect, as opposed to those that have generic accents despite the location of the
movie? (My pet peeve).

I recently watched movies about rural Missouri (Winter's Bone) and Louisiana(In the Electric Mist) where the accents sounded authentic, and I believe many of the bit characters where native to the areas.

Any others come to mind?

 

[MikePotts]

Brad Pitt (was it Brad pitt?)........did a great job as an Irish Tinker/Gypsy/Traveller in 'Snatch' I thought.

 

[C-dot]

In Down Argentine Way (1940), Don Ameche had a beautiful Spanish accent.

Bette Davis (I don't miiiiind...) famously put on a working-class English accent in Of Human Bondage (1934).

Top Hat (1935) had Erik Rhodes use a flamboyant Italian Accent as nit-witted Alberto Beddini.

And, who could forget Chico Marx in character, especially in A Night at the Opera (1935): "You can't fool me, there ain't no Sanity Clause."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Although he wasn't actually trying to have an accent, I've always liked the rather simpy, upper-class Massachusetts accent Charles Farrell displayed in his earliest talkies. It perfectly fits the rich young gad-about character he plays in "Sunnyside Up," even though it meant he'd never be credible playing he-man roles in talking pictures. (You can't be a oily-chested he-man and talk like Leverett Saltonstall, no matter how handsome you are.)

As far as comedy dialects are concerned, you need look no further than just down the cast list in "Sunnyside Up" to find everyone's favorite bumbling Swede, El Brendel. Yumpin' yiminy! And if you want a funny German, in the days when such things were still possible, there's always Herman Bing. Ach du lieber!

 

[lolly_loisides]

Here's a link to a short clip from the 1934 Australian movie "Strike me lucky". It has a mix of migrant accents and working class and upper class Australian accents.

 

[Saint-Just]

Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins... :lol: :lol: :eusa_doh:


At the other end of the quality spectrum, Marcel Pagnol films and actors... But then they really were local to the Marseille area

 

[MisterCairo]

Fargo by the Cohen brothers. I had no idea Minnesotans had a distinct accent, never mind the particular accent depicted in the film.

 

[Flipped Lid]

Minnesotans do have a distinct accent, but I thought Frances McDormand overdid it by a wide margin. I loved the movie though. I've also heard a lot of really bad southern accents in various movies over the years. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump comes to mind. I also thought Sean Connery's Irish accent in "The Untouchables" failed the sniff test although his performance was magnificent otherwise. He's a Scotchman through and through.

 

[hatophile]

Minnesotans do have a distinct accent, but I thought Frances McDormand overdid it by a wide margin. I loved the movie though. I've also heard a lot of really bad southern accents in various movies over the years. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump comes to mind. I also thought Sean Connery's Irish accent in "The Untouchables" failed the sniff test although his performance was magnificent otherwise. He's a Scotchman through and through.

Connery is one of those who retains his Edinburgh brogue in all of his movies. Despite that, I still enjoy his acting.

Southern accents can be difficult to do properly, depending on the era and location. Coastal and lowland southerners tend to drop "r''s or have soft "r"s, where inland and mountain southerners usually have hard "r"s.
Many non-southerners tend to mix the two when they're trying to do the accent, or overdo the "ya'll"s.

 

[VitaminG]

Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins... :lol: :lol: :eusa_doh:

how about James Coburn's delightful Aussie accent in The Great Escape? :lol:

I also thought Sean Connery's Irish accent in "The Untouchables" failed the sniff test although his performance was magnificent otherwise. He's a Scotchman through and through.

how about his awesome Russian in Hunt for Red October? Nailed that one .

 

[LizzieMaine]

No movie, made by anyone, anywhere, at any time, has ever truly captured a proper Maine accent. What you usually end up with is a Kennedy Boston accent mixed with leavings from a "Bert and I" record album. That ain't the real thing, nosah.

 

[hatophile]

No movie, made by anyone, anywhere, at any time, has ever truly captured a proper Maine accent. What you usually end up with is a Kennedy Boston accent mixed with leavings from a "Bert and I" record album. That ain't the real thing, nosah.

Maine is a hahd one, ayuh!

 

[C-dot]

That ain't the real thing, nosah.

Oh deah... Someone will try anotha time an' fail, yessah.

 

[Rathdown]

... I also thought Sean Connery's Irish accent in "The Untouchables" failed the sniff test although his performance was magnificent otherwise. He's a Scotchman through and through.

May come as a bit of a shock, but not all us Paddy's talk like Barry Fitzgerald... There are parts of Ireland, up North, where folks really do sound pretty much like Mr. Connery. Perhaps if he'd worn a red wig he'd have been more convincing...

 

[Saint-Just]

Perhaps if he'd worn a red wig he'd have been more convincing...

Undoubtedly. He does wear well film-specific props.

:eusa_doh:

 

[hatophile]

Tim Blake Nelson and Holly Hunter did good Southern for "O Brother Where Art Thou", but they're Southerners anyway. I enjoyed George Clooney's acting, but he retained a Midwestern Accent.

Clooney also kept a neutral accent for "The Perfect Storm", set in the North Shore of Massachusetts. Mark Wahlberg is from a Boston suburb, so he sounded like a NE fisherman.

 

[DNO]

I loved Tom Hanks' southern accent in The Ladykillers. I don't know how authentic it was but it certainly fit the character.

 

[Flipped Lid]

You'd certainly know better than I. I didn't mean to offend anyone and I'm a huge Sean Connery fan. I'll amend that to say that it didn't sound like the Irish accent that I'm most familiar with. And no, I don't think the red wig would have worked for Jimmy Malone.

May come as a bit of a shock, but not all us Paddy's talk like Barry Fitzgerald... There are parts of Ireland, up North, where folks really do sound pretty much like Mr. Connery. Perhaps if he'd worn a red wig he'd have been more convincing...

 

[Atticus Finch]

Of course, there are many "Southern" accents. But what is common among them is that they all seem to be incredibly difficult to accurately render...except by born and bred Southerners and Britons. Jessica Tandy, for example, pulled off a flawless Southern accent in Driving Miss Daisy. And I still think Vivien Leigh’s accent was spot on for the character and period she was depicting.

AF

 

[Miss Golightly]

I find most non-Irish actors have a hard time putting across a decent Irish accent - a lot of the time it strays into Oirish territory or at worst Darby O'Gill. I have read that the Irish accent is one of the hardest to do - I'm trying to think of someone that has done it successfully and am having some difficulty.