needysboy
Sophomore
@needysboy
Posts: 347
Likes: 129
 
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Post by needysboy on Mar 23, 2018 23:21:04 GMT
Does this show feature the worst British accent in history?
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 24, 2018 0:01:12 GMT
Does this show feature the worst British accent in history? Dehner's accent didn't bother me as much as the fact that he was an oater mainstay, and he didn't sound out of place out west at all. In the pilot the role had been played by Ben Wright, who IMHO was much better suited to it. This was such a great premise for a series -- too bad it was only a short-lived radio show. In my private alternate universe Nigel Patrick stayed in Hollywood after Raintree County, and in 1958 starred in a TV version of Frontier Gentleman, which last for three seasons. Jerry Goldsmith's classic theme: More on Frontier Gentleman(PS: If you really want to hear a bad English accent, watch Robert Duvall in The 7 Percent Solution and get back to me) |
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Post by telegonus on Mar 25, 2018 6:48:21 GMT
Does this show feature the worst British accent in history? Dehner's accent didn't bother me as much as the fact that he was an oater mainstay, and he didn't sound out of place out west at all. In the pilot the role had been played by Ben Wright, who IMHO was much better suited to it. This was such a great premise for a series -- too bad it was only a short-lived radio show. In my private alternate universe Nigel Patrick stayed in Hollywood after Raintree County, and in 1958 starred in a TV version of Frontier Gentleman, which last for three seasons. Jerry Goldsmith's classic theme: More on Frontier Gentleman(PS: If you really want to hear a bad English accent, watch Robert Duvall in The 7 Percent Solution and get back to me) Duvall's accent in 7 Percent Solution is atrocious. I can't see why the cast him in that film at all. Alan Arkin didn't seem right to me for Freud but he didn't seem out of place the way Duvall did. |
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Post by mattgarth on Mar 25, 2018 16:57:24 GMT
John Dehner, who also portrayed 'Paladin' on the radio version of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, sounded just fine as 'J.B. Kendall.'
His opening -- "Herewith, an Englishman's account of life and death in the West."
Among his travels, wherein he met up with such figures as Calamity Jane and Jesse James, Kendall was at the same Deadwood poker game when Jack McCall shot Wild Bill Hickok in the back.
Best episode that I have -- 'Random Notes.' On a long stage trip, Kendall relates a collection of vignettes he encountered in Western America -- a condemned killer asking the London Times journalist to write his story, a hick town production of Shakespeare that turns to shambles.
On film, Dehner was one of Broderick Crawford's henchman (along with Noah Beery Jr.) in THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE. Crawford was too old, too paunchy, too urban for that role -- which needed more of a young 'Billy the Kid' type. They should have cast Richard Jaeckel, who created the part in its original TV production ('The Last Notch').
On TV, Dehner was central to my favorite MAVERICK episode ('Shady Deal at Sunny Acres') as the crooked banker who tries to swindle James Garner's 'Bret' ("If you can't trust your banker, who can you trust?").
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 25, 2018 19:56:23 GMT
On film, Dehner was one of Broderick Crawford's henchman (along with Noah Beery Jr.) in THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE. Crawford was too old, too paunchy, too urban for that role And a pretty slow draw IIRCDoes this survive? Per Phil Hardy's classic Westerns encyclopedia, TFGL was a modestly produced B&W adaptation of a TV play that shocked everyone, even the studio itself, by becoming a huge B.O. hit. It was seen as further proof that the western was in a period of ever-increasing popularity. Check out the Rockford Files remake, "A Ship In Every Port", in which Dehner plays a sympathetic role as a member of Jim's team pulling the revenge con. |
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needysboy
Sophomore
@needysboy
Posts: 347
Likes: 129
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Post by needysboy on Mar 30, 2018 19:33:15 GMT
Sorry, but Kendall did not sound English at all!
His accent is a real distraction in this show. In one episode, someone asks him if he's English, and I laughed out loud. (And the show was not a comedy.)
The stories are really good; but the producer who thought that accent was good, needed a hearing aid! Very bad casting.
Yes, "Have Gun Will Travel" is really good: Dehner is a much better fit in this.
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