Any idea why he was cast? I thought that it was an odd choice.
Box office appeal and availability. Coburn would bring in more customers to theatres than any Australian actor of the time. I doubt there were many Australian actors in the US or Britain at the time who would have been suitable. They also were not as concerned with realism for its own sake back in those days. I don't know if they had an accent coach, but as far as most of the audience then was concerned, his accent was close enough to be believable enough. Modern audiences would likely disagree, and contemporary Australian audiences might have been satisfied enough that badly as it was done, at least they did show Australians were involved.
Hollywood made casting choices then that wouldn't fly now. Remember Dick Van Dyke as a Cockney in Mary Poppins or John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror?
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Hotrodder
7 years ago
Rod Taylor- born in 1930, as was Coburn- would have been a better choice l suppose. Not a lot of big box office Aussie stars around then. Thankfully, they didn't choose Rolf Harris...
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liscarkat (16496)
6 years ago
Yes, Taylor would have been a good choice. An authentic Australian (although he most often played Americans), and, at that time, he was actually a bigger star than Coburn. I do like Coburn, though.
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thbryn (226)
2 years ago
Sturges was his director in "Magnificent Seven." He just prob wanted to work with JC again in "Great Escape" as with Bronson and McQueen.
(yes the accent was off but he didn't have a great deal of dialogue )
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BillySlater (4096)
2 years ago
Yes but why not just make his character American? It always bugged me how bad his Aussie accent was.
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