Terrible, terrible accent.
"Just going for a butchers, you know, butchers hook - look"....
Massive cringe.
Ruins the film.
I'm not even English and anytime I hear cockney in movies I cringe. It is so overdone. And the way they had his character explain the meaning of each bit of slang, really stupid. Why do it anyway, everybody knows what he means just from the context of his sentences and the scene. They always have to dumb everything down to the level of the stupidest potential viewer.
shareSo you have a go at his east end accent besides the fact he was born adn bred in East Ham.
They had to explain bits of slang otherwise you would be excluding massive portion of the filming public. In fact, cockneys, when using slang, if people look at them blank and do not understand what they are saying, will explain.
Hold on, cockney is not even English? lol
It's sort of stupid because if you know you are using words people will not understand, then have to spend twice as long backtracking to explain those words, then you might as well have just used words the person would understand in the first place, or better yet not bother explaining at all and just let the person get the meaning via the context.
And I'm not saying the accent itself is bad, I'm saying its overuse in movies for some sort of cool factor is bad.
Born in Stepney, raised in Bow and West Ham.
shareDon´t care about the typical whining over the accents. Stamp´s got a wonderful speaking voice though, a pleasure to listen to him.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
It seemed overdone but after a few viewings I wonder if it is a ploy by the character to unsettle the people he is dealing with. They struggle to understand his accent and the rhyming slang he uses and that puts them on the back foot.
Or maybe I am giving the character more credit than its due and the part was either written or acted too broad.
"Remember, you have to make it home to get paid" (The Dogs of War)
Takes a special kind of stupidity to criticise someone's accent when it's a) their natural accent from where they grew up and b) obviously sounds authentic because of it.
He sounded just fine.
Was that aimed at me? I hope not.
I have met Terence Stamp and have also lived in London for many years so I know the different accents across the various boroughs. Stamp's accent in The Limey is very strong at times - although to be fair it was his use of London and rhyming slang that I meant to say I think the character uses to put people on a backfoot and disconcert them. It is what he says, not how he says it.
"Remember, you have to make it home to get paid" (The Dogs of War)
thelastfaceyouwilleversee, BINGO! For a long time I have waited to see somebody on this site express this view, and you have done it. Stamp's plan was simply to use extreme cockney slang as a tactic to mislead and confuse all potential adversaries. That scene with the narco squad leader was a superbly written pieces of humor on two different levels. Besides being just flat out hilarious, that bit accurately illustrated what Wilson was up to with his exaggerated use of the vernacular, and was then summed up perfectly by the response of his inquisitor.
shareMany thanks wsucougarl1. I watched the movie again recently (great soundtrack too). I am now 100% sure the way TS speaks is to psych out the people he deals with. The scene with Bill Duke is hilarious. The film title alone is an obvious pointer. TS is supposed to be a fish out of water. His otherness in LA is as much a part of the story as the revenge plot.
shareTerrible, terrible accent.
"Just going for a butchers, you know, butchers hook - look"....
Massive cringe.
Ruins the film.
Watched the film last night and cringed at the rhyming slang.
Another was: "got myself a new china, you know, china plate - mate"
I am a working class Londoner, born and bred. I just wouldn't turn up in a foreign country and start talking like that. Ok, it feels slightly unnatural but I would force myself to speak in a more neutral accent. You know, proper like.
The only time would be down the pub with my mates or with my family. People don't use a lot of rhyming slang anymore, just the odd bit here and there.
Sorry, came here to see what the movie was about, this thread caught my eye and your post just made me laugh.
"I just wouldn't turn up in a foreign country and start talking like that." and then you have "You know, proper like." "The only time would be down the pub with my mates"...when you have the time to stop and think about what your saying/typing but you still sound cockney then on the fly conversation when you're o/seas isn't going to be any better.
I understood him quite well. I think it's funny that only when the accent is being used in movies it becomes a topic of scrutiny. Fast forward years later and nobody cares or it sounds normal
shareTerence was miscast in this movie imo. He's one of the best actors of his generation but this role didn't suit him. It's more of a Ray Winstone type of role. His accent was OTT and bad, but in his defense the script was diabolical. "Geezer" this, "My old china" that, it was indeed cringeworthy. It felt like it was written by someone who imagined this is what cockneys are like, rather than a true representation. He was a caricature.
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Duty Now For The Future
The only thing "cringeworthy" is that idiotic term. Do you not understand that he was supposed to be a caricature?
I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!
Tell us then oh great and wise sage, where in the film does it suggest he's supposed to be a caricature? Because I'm pretty sure I and everyone else in this thread missed that part. Do you not understand that people may have different perceptions than you, and stories are open to interpretation?
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Suburban Robot That Monitors Reality
Lol. It's all through the movie but the most obvious part, as has been stated was the part with the DEA man.
I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!