Frank's accent is more NYC than Chicago. All of the detectives sounded like native Chicagoans, however.
Every time Frank spoke I thought of Andy Sipowicz in NYPD Blue. He was supposedly a native New Yorker, but his accent was totally South Side.
Do Chicago and NYC accents sound interchangeable to people who don't live in either city?
To me they do. But I hail from southwestern Idaho - which is considered to be part of the Northwestern United States. We don't have accents over here. About as generic as you can get. So to my ear a Chicago accent and a NYC accent sound pretty close.
shareChicago accents are a little nasally and have a hint of upper-Midwest in them (think Fargo). NYC accents sound more like buzz saws.
shareGood catch; James Caan betrays his 40s Queens upbringing. (Pacino also, in Heat, does not sound like a Chicago cop, but not unbelievable, either) Quite different dialects; the working-class Chicago (very similar to my native Milwaukee) with its hard "r" sound, and the distinctive "ah" vowel, as in "rob", "Bob", etc. (For us, DON and DAWN are distinctly different) Caan's typical New Yawk dialect is non-rhotic (dropping /r/ at the end of syllables), among other differences. "Drill into WHAHT?" Not very Chicago, but still awesome. Despite this, I wouldn't change a thing.
shareCaan's accent was NOT from the boros, simply cause there really ain't no real New York accent to speak of. Meaning when someone says a New York accent, those accents are usually from the Five boros of the City. Queens, where I was brought up in, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, (which to me really doesn't 'cut' a true distinct accent) and Manhattan. Manhattan itself should be cut into a lot of pieces, due to where in Manhattan people actually grew up in. There's the 'Lower East Side', 'Little Italy', 'The Bowery', and sometimes different 'dialects' that can be made out from places on high, like the 'Upper West Side', where the yuppies give a try at their very own 'higher intellect speak'. Not much of an accent from the Park Avenue crowd, but they try their best to NOT have a similar accent to the other groups.
A Brooklyn accent is the accent where everything is 'rushed' and semi-slurred to a point, if that makes any sense at all. I've been outta New York for over half my life, and I still get folks, turning their heads whenever I speak out loud, or in a public typa spot. I thank the Lord above for my accent, it's still very pronounced (So I've been told), and I know that you can never lose your home grown accent, only if you really want to get rid of it, and choose to do so.
James Caan's Chicago accent was, to me, extremely annoying. All those facial gestures while trying to throw in some 'heavy duty' Chicago slang while in the diner scene with the beautiful Tuesday Weld was too much over-the-top, and sadly put out. So, his pals and associates didn't even come close to his weird fake Chicago speak, yet his (In the movie) was so heavy and thick. Made no sense whatsoever.
You want a truer than true, dyed-in-the-wool, genuine Chicago land accent?! You try the now sadly deceased Dennis Farina (Incredible actor in his time, No Doubt!)He was straight Chicago before he even turned the corner to meet you. God Bless! Just my Two and a Half Cents on the near subject at hand. Thanks for the listen!
Or Mike Ditka
shareI was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, and I can tell you that Caan's accent is closer to Idaho that it is Chicago.
New York? Maybe... NOT Chicago.
All the detectives have authentic Chicago accents. Totally different than Caan's terrible attempt...
Otherwise, great flick...