good movie - The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961) Discussion

[–] rayshaw44 17 years ago

One of my favorites. I love Laurence Harvey and along with The Manchurian Candidate, Room at the Top and Expresso Bongo, this is one of his best performances.

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[–] dunbar91-1 17 years ago

...apart from the phoney Cockney accent

:P "Hello Zep...."
Hammersmith Hardman #15

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[–] GladtobeGrey 9 years ago

oh, it was Cockney.... I wondered what it was supposed to be. One minute he sounded South African, then Australian, in fact he ruined this film for me. I think it was one of his worst performances ever.

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[–] Jason_Radley 9 years ago

Forget about Harvey; it was established early on that he was a Londoner; was Todd meant to be an Aussie?

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[–] spookyrat1 8 years ago

I think they were all supposed to be British, but yes, some of the accents appeared to vary throughout the film, as it appeared one or two of the characters tried for an Australian accent to match their Aussie slouch hats. Ironically John Meillon, who was an Aussie and who played Smudge, maintained his English accent throughout.🐭

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[–] den2-1 16 years ago

I totally agree, been waiting to get my hand on this for years I dont care what anyone says against it, its brilliant in every way.

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[–] ContinentalOp 14 years ago

It is one of my picks for best English war film. I am shocked that it didn't actually do very well as I have always loved this film.

"Namu-myoho-renge-kyo"

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[–] drystyx 14 years ago

I know. I ranked it in my top ten all time films. This is classic. Hard to understand the knocks some make against it. It has grat characters, and plenty of action. As dramatic as Ox Bow Incident, Hang Em High, Southern Comfort, and the other film classics that attack lynch mob mentality.

Very real, too, with men involved in writing and acting who had real military experience at the time.

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time
that's not funny!

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[–] hugh1971 13 years ago

It's a great film. The only slight letdown is Mr Harvey's accent. It's certainly not a London accent. Also, the censorship of the time didn't allow the kind of bad language soldiers would really have used, so we get people being called berks, nits etc, so this gives it a slightly sanitised feel.

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[–] ContinentalOp 13 years ago

They use ''bastard'' in it, though, and ethnic slurs which was quite daring.

Actually I do not have much of a problem with Harvey's accent, I though he sounded that way because he was a bit of a joker, and he sounded southern to me, but then, I live in Northumbria.

The film is a great film and I would easily class it as one of the greatest films ever made, worthy of a 9 rating on this site. All the characters have faults and good qualities. The film and the play are amazing.

"Namu-myoho-renge-kyo"

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[–] Prismark10 11 years ago

I liked the book better than the film and its very much of its time.

Its that man again!!

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[–] Classics-Movie-Fan 9 years ago

Wonderful movie one of the best British war films ever made does not get the credit it deserves as a solid well acted/written character study.

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