Worst performance of an English actor playing an American - Hurry Sundown (1967) Discussion

[–] ijonesiii 18 years ago

I must agree that Michael Caine is dreadful in this movie. Caine is usually a wonderful actor but he really missed the boat here and the comparison of his dialect to Van Dyke's in MARY POPPINS is on the money.

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[–] tightspotkilo 18 years ago

He tried it again in 2003 in Secondhand Lions with about the same effect.

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[–] alxnrth 18 years ago

This is a stretch, but she WAS born in London, but i'd be hard-pressed to think of a worse Southern accent than Elizabeth Taylor's in Reflections in a Golden Eye. . ."Ma Fiahbud!" (Firebird)

Dale

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[–] don-lockwood 15 years ago

She was convincing in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, though.

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[–] Registered_User 15 years ago

I'm dying to hear it. I've tried searching YouTube and got nothing.

To thine own self be true.

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[–] singjohn 8 years ago

This movie is on Amazon Prime.

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[–] scotbpens 15 years ago

Michael Caine's heroic attempt at a Texas accent will bring tears to your eyes.

Texas? The story takes place in rural Georgia, and Michael Caine was doing a bad Deep South accent, not a bad Texas accent. They're quite different, you know.

All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

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[–] cwhrx 14 years ago

Yep... I, being a citizen from Georgia, USA, had a difficult time recognizing his accent. Cockney southern, I guess. I have followed Michael throughout his career and have enjoyed most of his performances. I do not think this was his worst. The cast saved this movie.

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[–] Gooper 13 years ago

Bad accents in films can sometimes create a lively bizarreness. Brando in 'Sayonara'is only one example. And yes, Liz Taylor has more than a few.

I think Caine's 'bad' accent added to his character's funkiness - not that this was an intentional effect.

There's also a lot of linguistic evidence that British accents developed in more pronounced ways in the American south than in, say, New England. So Caine's version might actually be defensible!

At any rate, 'Hurry' ain't no 'In The Heat of the Night', but I'm very fond of it, bizarreness and all.

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[–] dwhw 13 years ago

In Caine's "Inside the Actors Studio" interview, he stated that his role in "The Cider House Rules" was the "first time" he got to play an American. Since James Lipton is such a sycophant, he didn't gainsay this statement--although I'm sure that he knew this wasn't true, since he seems to know more about his guests' biographies than they do themselves.

Another example of this is when Steven Spielberg said his name meant "play mountain in Austrian." In fact, there is no such thing as an "Austrian language" (as opposed to an Austrian dialect). In this case, I don't think Spielberg could bring himself to say that his name meant "play mountain" in German--or more specifically Judeo-German; i.e. Yiddish.

And yes, I agree that Caine's pathetic attempt to sound like a "Georgia Cracker" in "Hurry Sundown" was
truly abominable.

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[–] mariposa-9 13 years ago

It's easy to attack his accent because we all know that Michael Caine is british. But if he was just an actor who grew up in the south it would've gone unnoticed.

It's not that I don't trust you, it's the devil in you that I don't trust,

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[–] WarpedRecord 10 years ago

It's certainly not one of his better performances. In fact, I'd say it's one of his weakest ones. But the Georgia (not Texas) accent isn't so much a problem as the fact that he looks bored all the way through here — and who can blame him? All the accents here sound phony to me.

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[–] dougiedc 10 years ago

The 2d worst. The all-time winner for absolute horrible Southern Accent by an established British actor goes to James Mason for "Mandingo." Like "Hurry Sundown" Hollywood wasted no stone unturned to totally lambast the backward lowlife of the old Deep South of yesteryear

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[–] mariposa-9 9 years ago

You're talking about two of the worst movies ever made. The accents were the least of the problems in these turkeys.

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[–] singjohn 8 years ago

It is horrible. I was stunned when in the first scene he started shouting in that ridiculous accent. He's such a great actor that he should have known this wasn't working. I place the blame on the casting director and his dialogue coach. Caine could have taken lessons from Robert Reed. His accent was perfect.