Themes: Social Injustice, Labor Unions, Fighting the System
Main Cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Stephen Tompkinson, Philip Jackson
Release Year: 1996
Country: UK
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Economics and music are the twin focal points of this comedy/drama about a community in crisis. The small British town of Grimley has long been dominated by the coal mine where most of the men work, and the town's greatest source of pride is the Grimley Colliery Band, a brass ensemble that's won a number of nationwide competitions. Danny (Pete Postlewaite) is a retired miner in poor health who directs the band; a national championship is coming up, and Danny is determined that Grimley will walk away with a trophy. But many of his musicians have other things on their minds: word has it that the mine may soon close down, and, in a city already suffering an economic downturn, this is just short of a death sentence. Adding to the intrigue is the return of Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald), who used to live in Grimley and is back in town for a while on an assignment. While the band has traditionally been all-male, Danny considers bending the rules to allow Gloria in the band, as she's a fine fluglehorn player, but her presence is bad news for the town: she works for the government and is investigating the feasibility of closing down the mine. Ace trumpeter Andy (Ewan McGregor) also has mixed feelings about Gloria; they were once a couple, and he still has feelings for her, but he's not sure he wants to set himself up for another breakup. The real-life Grimethorpe Colliery Band performs on the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Brassed Off! starts out like a predecessor to The Full Monty, only with trumpets instead of g-strings. It uses similar themes of British blue-collar hardship that Monty took to grand heights of wry humor a year later, but it switches from a light comedy to a heavier melodrama partway through, which may have prevented it from receiving a warmer reception. Still, all the ingredients are there for a generally uplifting tale that's charmingly acted, with lively dialogue full of clipped sentiments that are both funny and thoroughly British. It's probably a better movie for not resorting to easy answers to the massive mine closures, perpetuated by Margaret Thatcher's Tory party, that plagued the workforce in the early '90s. The dour moments, and there are a few, are true to history. Ewan McGregor heads up a cast that includes the lovely Tara Fitzgerald, plus a touching performance from Stephen Tompkinson as a die-hard union man at the end of his rope with his wife and creditors, forced to resort to a second career as a hapless clown named Mr. Chuckles. Pete Postlethwaite is the proud band leader, whose fiery climactic speech is quoted by the musical group Chumbawamba at the beginning of its power-to-the-people hit "Tubthumping." The Grimethorpe Colliery Band provides the score, by turns rousing and pensive, like the movie itself. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Peter Martin - Ernie; Kenneth Colley - Greasley; David Essex - Grimley Colliery Band; Adam Fogerty - Miner; Ken Kitson - Heavy; Stephen Moore - Mackenzie; Ronnie Stevens - Albert Hall Judge; Peter Wallis - Elderly Man; Mark Arnold - Grimley Colliery Band; Michael Kennedy - Grimley Colliery Band; Peter Gunn - Simmo; Mary Healey - Ida; Bernard Wrigley - Chapman; Melanie Hill - Sandra; Sue Johnston - Vera; Lill Roughley - Rita; Adrian Hood - Heavy; Katherine Dow Blyton - Nurse; Paul Hughes - Grimley Colliery Band; Sally Adams - Ward Sister; Tubby Andrews - Bus Driver; Robert Archer - Grimley Colliery Band; Andrew Armstrong - Grimley Colliery Band; David Barraclough - Grimley Colliery Band; Jonathan Beatty - Grimley Colliery Band; Roy Bowater - Grimley Colliery Band; Colin Brook - Grimley Colliery Band; Duncan Byers - Grimley Colliery Band; Malcolm Clegg - Grimley Colliery Band; Charles Faulkner - Grimley Colliery Band; Toni Galacki - Gary; Olga Grahame - Mrs Foggan; Andrew Hirst - Grimley Colliery Band; Alan Hobbins - Grimley Colliery Band; Cliff Hopes - Grimley Colliery Band; Sky Ingram - Kylie; Vanessa Knox-Mawer - 2nd Mother; Sally Ann Matthews - Waitress; Paul McDonald - Grimley Colliery Band; Luke McGann - Shane; Jacqueline Naylor - 1st Mother; Stephan Peacock - Grimley Colliery Band; Shaun Randall - Grimley Colliery Band; Bob Rodgers - Halifax Judge; Jim Shepherd - Grimley Colliery Band; Irene Skillington - Passing Nurse; Max Smith - Nightwatchman; Christopher Tetlow - Craig; Simon Willis - Grimley Colliery Band; David Arnold - Grimley Colliery Band; Paul Davies - Grimley Colliery Band; Robin Lord Taylor - Grimley Colliery Band
Credit
Felicity Joll - Art Director, Olivia Stewart - Co-producer, Amy Roberts - Costume Designer, Jonathan Benson - First Assistant Director, Mark Herman - Director, Michael Ellis - Editor, Trevor Jones - Songwriter, Andy Collins - Camera Operator, Don Taylor - Production Designer, Steve Abbott - Producer, Peter Lindsay - Sound/Sound Designer, Mark Herman - Screenwriter
Brassed Off is a 1996British film written and directed by Mark Herman. This film is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit. The soundtrack for the film was provided by The Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and the plot is based on Grimethorpe's own struggles against pit closures. It is generally very positively received for its role in promoting brass bands and their music. Parts of the film make reference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry and the struggle to retain hope in the circumstances.
Channel 4 and The Guardian both sponsored what was expected to be a low-profile film; it was not expected to gain the wide audience that it has done. Having expected viewers to be mostly those with past links to coal-mining, the film does not make explicit the political background to the plot. The American marketing for the film (and subsequent VHS and DVD releases) portrays the film as a cheerful romantic comedy with nearly no mention at all about the musical or political elements.
The film stars Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor. The film was well received as a comedy, and by some as a political statement about the state of traditional coal mining communities in Britain. The film has also become an infamous example of a poor imitation of the Yorkshire dialect and accent, and is often contrasted with Kes, which was set in nearby Barnsley.
The film was particularly well received in former mining communities, who felt it accurately reflected the suffering they faced due to the decline of their industry during the years of the Thatcher and Major governments. It is set during the reign of Major, when Michael Heseltine presided over a huge programme of pit closures, as President of the Board of Trade.
The film is set in "Grimley" in the mid-1990s — a thinly disguised version of the real South Yorkshire village of Grimethorpe, which had been named as the poorest village in Britain two years earlier by the European Union. The nearby areas of the Dearne Valley and the Hemsworth area were also identified as in need of serious aid. Indeed, the soundtrack for the film was recorded by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and the story roughly reflects Grimethorpe Colliery Band's history.
The miners in the film put up little resistance to the coal board's harsh redundancy policy. This can be understood in the context of the 1984 UK miners' strike, which effectively destroyed trade union power in British coal mining industry. The film depicts the spirit of hopelessness 10 years after the strike, and the miners' attempts to find redemption. An ongoing piece of symbolism in the first half of the film is the lack of conversation between one miner and his wife, until she finally criticises him harshly for not making a show of resistance against the closure, when he had been so full of fight in 1984.
Story
Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) has been sent to her old hometown of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal. She also plays the flugelhorn brilliantly, and is allowed to play with the local brass band, made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor), which soon leads to complications.
The passionate band conductor, Danny (Pete Postlethwaite), finds he is fighting a losing battle to keep the rest of the band members committed. His son Phil (Stephen Tompkinson) is badly in debt and becomes a clown for children's parties, but fails to prevent his wife and children walking out on him. As his father Danny is hospitalised from pneumoconiosis or a similar disease, Phil has a breakdown while entertaining a group of children in a church (one of the darkest scenes of the film), and later attempts suicide.
As the coal mine itself is finally closed, the band finds success in the national brass band competition. Despite several setbacks, the band eventually reaches the final at the Royal Albert Hall in London. After winning the competition Danny refuses to accept the trophy stating that it's only human beings that matter and not music or the trophy but the "government has systematically destroyed an entire industry. OUR industry. And not just our industry – our communities, our homes, our lives. All in the name of 'progress'. And for a few lousy bob".
