# Movies with inappropriate fake accents
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 10, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462 "2005-08-10T16:37:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/101 "2005-08-15T16:50:16Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#):
>
> **Fall River**
> My late uncle was born in Fall River and grew up there and in Brooklyn. He talked kind of like Sheldon “Hey Bud” Leonard, the late character actor. Now was that the Fall River in him or the Brooklyn in him? I wonder…
Since Emeril Legasse is also from Fall River I’m guessing it was the Fall River in him. Not that anybody from the “nice side of town” ever spoke like that but I still like to think of Lizzie Borden saying “dese” and “dose” and yelling “BAM!” with each blow of the axe.
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### Author:  [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/102 "2005-08-15T17:06:00Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Not that anybody from the “nice side of town” ever spoke like that but I still like to think of Lizzie Borden saying “dese” and “dose” and yelling “BAM!” with each blow of the axe.
That is exactly what I’ve been thinking ever since I read the post about Emeril being from Fall River. It’s been amusing me for _days_.
Glad to know I’m not the only one. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/103 "2005-08-15T18:00:03Z")
In the teen movie [Gotcha](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089222/) Anthony Edwards is seducede by Linda Fiorentino who has one of the most bizarre accents on screen. I suppose she was trying for a Czech or Hungarian-Russian mix, but I remember being distracted by it in the film.
Another film where it was loads of fun to listen to it was [Snatch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208092/) . Brad Pitt’s Gypsy accent was nothing short of brilliant and completely distracting. I love it more every time I watch this film.
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### Author:  [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/104 "2005-08-15T18:46:14Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> IAnother film where it was loads of fun to listen to it was [Snatch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208092/) . Brad Pitt’s Gypsy accent was nothing short of brilliant and completely distracting. I love it more every time I watch this film.
It’s not listed as such on Amazon, but I’ve been told the special edition DVD has Pikey subtitles available for the whole film. I keep meaning to pick it up and getting distracted by other things. 🙂
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/105 "2005-08-15T19:04:27Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#):
>
> Well, this has been posted time and time again, but how about Picard, of Star Trek: TNG, having a British accent, even though the character is suppose to be French. Hell, what about all the Romans in old films sounding British?
I remember seeing and old robe & sandals movie from the 60s where the Romans spoke with British accents and the Hebrews spoke with American accents. I think it’s meant to evoke a sense of Empire to American audiences. Passion of the Christ (FYI they should have been speaking **Greek** _not_ Latin, Judea was eastern empire!) aside it would be hard for a movie set in ancient Rome to justify it’s budget if the characters spoke classical Latin.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/106 "2005-08-15T19:15:46Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> I remember seeing and old robe & sandals movie from the 60s where the Romans spoke with British accents and the Hebrews spoke with American accents.
Was it _Spartacus_? The Romans (Laurence Olivier, etc.) were British. There weren’t Hebrews, but the revolting slaves (Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, etc.) had American accents. Except for Jean Simmons’s character, because she was from “Britannia,” so she had an R.P. accent. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2005, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/107 "2005-08-16T09:53:34Z")
**Draelin** - word to the wise, “pikey” is not a nice word.
It is the Travelling Community’s version of the n-word.
Gypsy is also not well liked.
In the movie _Snatch_ Brad Pitt played an Irish Traveller.
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### Author:  [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/108 "2005-08-16T13:11:41Z")
> [@irishgirl](#):
>
> **Draelin** - word to the wise, “pikey” is not a nice word.
> It is the Travelling Community’s version of the n-word.
Ack! Sorry! I’m an ignorant American, and that’s the way it was explained to me. :eek:
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### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/109 "2005-08-16T18:06:02Z")
3 pages and(If I’m not missing anything) no one has mentioned Kevin Costener’s Accent in **13 Days**?
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/110 "2005-08-28T02:31:23Z")
> [@Raguleader](#):
>
> …
>
> I like how they did the foreign language thing on Hunt For Red October. For the first, oh, 5 or 10 minutes of the movie, you’re following these Russian crewmembers around as they speak Russian with English subtitles. Then it switches from subbed Russian to English in the actors’ native accents… IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE. 😃
>
> …
Yes, this was a brilliant technique. Basically, the director said to the audience “From now on, these characters will be speaking English, but it’s Russian. Got it?”
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### Author:  [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/111 "2005-08-28T04:02:29Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#):
>
> Yes, this was a brilliant technique. Basically, the director said to the audience “From now on, these characters will be speaking English, but it’s Russian. Got it?”
The same method was used in _Judgment at Nuremberg_. As the counselor for the defendants, Maximillian Schell gives his opening in German, which the court interpreters translate for the non-German-speakers in the courtroom (including the judges and prosecutors). After about two minutes of this, suddenly the camera swoops in on Schell as he abruptly switches to English – which he and the other actors playing German characters maintain for the rest of the film.
Even so, whenever listening to the other side’s testimony, the actors still pause for the translations in their headphone. This maintains the illusion that, even though everyone’s speaking English, there are still language barriers that cause delays during the trial.
I also like the methods used in _Amadeus_ and _Dangerous Liasions_. They take place in Austria and France, respectively, but the actors use their normal American accents rather than bothering with the Official Historical Drama Accent … which sounds suspiciously like British English.
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### Author:  [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/112 "2005-08-28T04:37:12Z")
As much as I love Robert DeNiro, his accent in **Men of Honor** with Cuba Gooding was horrific. It sounded exactly like what it was: a native New Yorker trying to imitate a southern accent.
Same goes for Russel Crowe in **A Beautiful Mind**. During the opening and ending of that movie I thought he was trying to enact a British accent. The middle part was okay…but man, it was bad at times.
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