Brassed Off (1996)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Mark Herman

Writer:

Mark Herman (writer)

Release Date:

23 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Music

Tagline:

Fed up with the system. Ticked off at the establishment. And mad about... each other.

Plot:

The coal mine in a northern English village may be closing, which would also mean the end of the miners' brass band.

Plot Keywords:

Brass Band | Miner | Competition | Mining | Coal Mine

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 10 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Pete Postlethwaite	...	Danny
Tara Fitzgerald	...	Gloria
Ewan McGregor	...	Andy
Stephen Tompkinson	...	Phil
Jim Carter	...	Harry
Philip Jackson	...	Jim
Peter Martin	...	Ernie
Sue Johnston	...	Vera
Mary Healey	...	Ida
Melanie Hill	...	Sandra
Lill Roughley	...	Rita
Peter Gunn	...	Simmo
Stephen Moore	...	McKenzie
Kenneth Colley	...	Greasley (as Ken Colley)
Olga Grahame	...	Mrs. Foggan

Also Known As:

Brassed Off! (USA) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:14A (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-8 | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

Pete Postlethwaite's final speech was not rehearsed in front of the rest of the cast. This was because the director wanted genuine reactions from everyone on hearing it.

Quotes:

[about God]
Phil: [as Mr. Chuckles] What's He doing? He can take John Lennon. He can take those three young lads down at Ainsley Pit. He's even thinking of taking my old man. And Margaret bloody Thatcher lives! What's He sodding playing at, eh?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Long Way Round" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Pomp And Circumstance

Wonderful film with few weaknesses.

A superb film. A film which did not seek to glamourise the effect of long term unemployment and the break up of communities. And a film which WAS based very closely on a true story. The band members you see actually playing the music? That's the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, winners of the national Battle of the Bands competition in the year that the colliery closed down. And they did turn professional too!

Films like Brassed Off, which seek to present a view of a sensitive issue, are often derided for not offering a solution which can be written on the back of a cereal box. Personally, I take that as a recommendation!

The point of the film is this: put people in situations that most of us will happily never face, and they react in extreme fashions. There was little or no 'political' argument, other than the fact that the Conservative Government of the time did destroy an entire industry. That same government them spent millions of pounds a year buying coal from Europe and South America. Angry? I would be.

I saw characters portrayed in their entirety, which meant 'scabs' and 'sellouts' rubbed shoulders with the committed and poor. I saw unflattering portraits of basically decent people, prepared to risk friendships and relationships to keep alive an industry which was killing them but without which they could not live. It was a desperate time, and the fact that families have been split since the 1984 strike shows just how deep feelings can run on this issue.

And I saw no skipping over the holes in the logic either. No mention of the 4-1 vote in favour of closing the mine? Half of the chuffing film was about that! What about the fate of Gloria's report? What about Phil, a striker from 1984, voting for closure? Did no-one notice that he was one of the major characters?

I do think that there were some problems with the structure of the film (although it was dramatically more satisfying than the Full Monty). Gloria was unconvincing; the wives were underused, and the speech at the end, yes, I found it embarrassing too!

But please, before you attack the veracity of such a rounded and honest film as Brassed Off, take the time and trouble to watch it properly first!