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Steve Martin does a dreadful Italian accent

posted 14 years ago by zeeke
3 replies | jump to latest

but its brilliant. I love Vinnie, its so over the top yet so believable. as soon as he walks on I'm in stitches
"you could melt all this cold stuff"

"...I'm a contradiction"

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 14 years ago

Well yeah, I think that was the point. The whole movie is an over-the-top parody of the gangster genre, including the phony italian accent.
MBH is fun stuff, perhaps not amongst the best of Steve Martin, but quite entertaining nonetheless.

[–] NewtonFigg 13 years ago

I agree. The bad accent was what made it funny. Imagine if Sylvester Stallone or Robert DeNiro or Joe Pesce had played Vinnie. More authentic, yes. But funnier? Sometimes satire needs that touch of unreality to make its point. Anybody remenber the Fonz?

[–] thexeminence 10 years ago

That's not an "Italian" accent, but I guess Hollywood has done worse in stigmatizing certain cultures.

The accent you're referring to is nothing but a New York accent. It is spoken in all of the surrounding areas, including New Jersey and Long Island. It's more common amongst lower class people. It was made popular in gangster films, and so people that are unfamiliar with it will associate with Italians. Put it this way, Andrew Dice Clay is a Jew from Brooklyn. He has what is considered a heavy Brooklyn accent, but he is NOT Italian.

A real Italian accent would sound more like a Spanish accent, as the phonics between Italian and Spanish are almost identical.