Film / Brassed Off

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Grimley, a small town Oop North, is based around two things, the colliery (Oop North-ish for "coal mine") and the colliery band. Gloria Mullins (Tara Fitzgerald), the granddaughter of the late bandmember Arthur Mullins, moves back to Grimley, and becomes the first female band member under the direction of Danny Ormondroyd (Pete Postlethwaite) while reuniting with her former lover and tenor horn player Andy Barrow (Ewan McGregor). At the same time, the mine is threatened by closure, which would result in widespread local unemployment and could effectively kill the town.

The film also stars Jim Carter as Harry, Mary Healey as Ida, Melanie Hill as Sandra Ormondroyd, Philip Jackson as Jim, Sue Johnston as Vera, Peter Martin as Ernie, Stephen Moore as McKenzie and Stephen Tompkinson as Phil Ormondroyd.

The film was released on 1 November 1996.

Brassed Off provides examples of:

• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Downplayed. Andy regularly gambles small amounts of money on games of pool with Simmo. After the pit has closed, Andy has lost his job, and he is certain that the brass band will not play in the finals, he stakes his brass instrument in the game. He loses the game, and his instrument, prompting the dialogue below. When it turns out that the band will play in the finals after all, he plays another game to win his instrument back, watched by all his friends. Fortunately, he wins.
  Simmo: Andy, I don't want to fall out, mate. You're my main source of income!
  Andy: (Not cheerful) That's all right. I've lost more this week than a bloody trumpet.
• A Day in Her Apron: Downplayed, in that on the day Phil is playing in the parade through fourteen villages, Sandra irritably demands to have the day away by herself, leaving Phil to look after their four children. Although he manages it, the presence of the children adds to the chaos of the day, especially as baby Kylie's nappies need changing regularly, and Danny is not pleased about the presence of the children.
  Danny: (seeing Phil approaching with the children) Oh tell me you're bloody joking, son, please!
  Phil: Sorry dad, it's all of us, or none at all.
• Adminisphere: Compare the literal coalface where the band work to Gloria's building.
• All for Nothing: Gloria's profitability report proved to be pointless when the managers revealed that they decided to close the pit two years earlier.
• And Starring: Stephen Tompkinson is billed as "And Stephen Tompkinson" in the opening credits.
• As You Know: A brief one when Mrs Foggan looks curiously at a box belonging to Gloria, possibly for the benefit of the audience who are not familiar with brass instruments.
  Mrs Foggan: What's this, then?
  Gloria: It's just a flugel. (Beat) A trumpet.
• Bait-and-Switch: In-universe. When Gloria donates her earnings to the band so they can take part in the final, Jim sounds as if he is not going to allow her to play with them.
  Jim: You want to play with us, right?
  Gloria: I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing it for you, and Danny.
  Jim: Danny would want us to win. Well, we're not going to win, (Beat) without a flaming flugel, are we?
• Based on a True Story: Grimley is a thinly veiled version of Grimethorpe, which went through a similar chain of events, and the film was shot on location in Grimethorpe. The Grimethorpe Colliery Band plays the Grimley Colliery Band in the film, and that's them on the soundtrack (except for a few orchestral cues written by Trevor Jones).
• Berserk Button:
  • Phil is furious that the management wants to close a profitable pit; he went on strike in 1984 to protest closure, and he's even angrier now about the whole idea.
  • Andy being called a scab by Jim: the whole conversation is carried out with Tranquil Fury.
    Andy: I'm not a kid anymore, all right?
    Jim: Oh aye, old enough to be a scab then.
    (Stunned silence. Andy picks up a pool cue and holds it like a club.)
    Ernie: It's all right, Andy, he doesn't mean it.
    Andy: (To Jim) You don't mess about with words like that.
    Jim: I take it back. You're just a stupid fucker.
    Andy: That's more like it.
  • For Phil's wife Sandra, the mere mention of Phil doing the job of being Mr Chuckles the clown for children's parties, as it would provide nowhere near enough to live on. She pursues him out of the door as Danny arrives, throwing a plate at him, in a scene which appears in the trailer.
    Sandra: Phil, Phil, Phil! You have a wife and four bloody kids, a house no one will buy, mortgage up to the bloody roof, loan sharks on our backs, no bloody money, no bloody job, and what are you going to do? Fucking Chuckles! (Throws a plate at him)
• Big Honking Traffic Jam: When the band's bus heads into London, there is a huge traffic jam, complete with car horns sounding (loud enough to be heard over the background brass band music), while the bus sails past the traffic in the bus lane.
• Bittersweet Ending: The band wins the National Championships for the first time ever but the pit has closed, Danny is terminally ill and they're all facing the destruction of the coal industry.
• Black Comedy: Phil’s Mr. Chuckles storyline is full of it; his clown nose squeaks when he gets punched by a loan shark, he struggles to waddle about in his oversized clown shoes during several emotional scenes, and following his suicide attempt, we see him get wheeled past Danny’s hospital door, clown shoes and all.
• Continuously Crying Child:
  • Phil’s baby daughter Kylie is heard crying almost every time she is shown, highlighting his family’s stress in dealing with four children in poverty, especially when Phil has to take them all out to the band parade, without his wife.
  • However, this acts as a moment of comfort later. During the finals at the Albert Hall, Phil hears Kylie crying, and sees Sandra and the children in the audience, when he believes that they have abandoned him.
• Comically Missing the Point: The result of the ballot on the closure of the pit is announced on the same day as the brass band semi-finals: the only thing that matters to Danny, while everybody else is thinking about the pit.
  Danny: I didn't think you were that bothered, pet.
  Mrs Foggan: The whole town be bothered, love. Can't do without pit.
  Danny: Oh, that? I thought you were talking about semi-finals.
  Mrs Foggan: Honestly, Danny, a day like today: you think anyone's interested in the result of some damn football match?
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: The managers who ordered the profitability survey in spite of having made the closure decision two years earlier.
• Covers Always Lie: When the film was acquired by Miramax Films for US release, they inexplicably opted to market it as a romcom; there are more than a few VHS/DVD releases of this film which would have you believe that. The Andy/Gloria relationship is the only romcom element, but it's very much a subplot.
• The Cynic: Jim, eventually downplayed. Of all the bandsmen characters, he's the most dour and pessimistic and the first to distrust Gloria. He disapproves of Andy's relationship with her and comes close to calling Andy a scab. When he thinks she's recommended that the pit be closed, he's the first to turn his back on her, and turns down her offer to pay for the band to go to the national finals. However, Phil's suicide attempt seems to make him take a level in idealism; he makes Phil come and have a drink with them, and at the end of the film, when they've won the award, he casually asks Gloria if she's all right, prompting Andy to comment "Never seen him gush like that before."
• Deadpan Snarker: Everyone. Goes with the territory when your story takes place Oop North.
  Jim: Sixty years between us, down pit, frightened of nowt. When it comes to telling Danny Boy we're packing band in...
  Ernie: We're shitting bloody bricks.
• Double Entendre: When Andy is mooning after Gloria in the rehearsal room, Danny notices.
  Danny: Poor lad. Still got your mind on that pit?
• Dreaded Kids' Party Entertainer Job: Phil's attempt to support his family as Coco the Clown after the coal mine closed. Everyone treats poor Phil as a complete joke, until he, after one insult too many, goes off on his infamous "Coco the Scab"-rant in front of a church full of children.
• Driven to Suicide: Phil attempts suicide after he gets involved in the pit closure by hanging himself. Fortunately, he survives and Danny consoles him.
• Eccentric Mentor: Danny. He's a gifted musician and brilliant conductor, but he's so focused on the band and its music that he fails to notice the level of despair that the musicians are in. The others tend to find this funny until they return from winning the semi-finals to find that the management has closed the pit, and the shock of it almost kills him.
• Emotional Hospital Visit: There are two emotional hospital scenes involving Danny, the leader of the brass band, who cares about absolutely nothing but the band's success, and the fact that the band players are in danger of losing their jobs is of no importance to him, until he himself is hospitalised from having coal dust in his lungs, which serves as Character Development for him.
  • When the band return from winning the brass band semi-finals, they learn that their coal mine has been closed. Danny suddenly collapses in the street, is rushed to hospital, and is unconscious for a long time. Late that evening, while Danny is still in a coma, the band wear their mining helmets and lamps, and play a slow rendition of "Danny Boy" outside the hospital; Danny's son Phil has tears in his eyes as he plays. The music revives Danny, who wakes. The band all crowd into the hospital to see him, but nobody can bring themselves to tell Danny that the band is packing in and not attending the finals, as they have lost their jobs.
  • Later, when his wife and children have deserted him, Phil tries to commit suicide. He fails, is taken to hospital, and there is a very intense and tearful scene between him and Danny, in which Phil lists the things he has lost, and finally tells Danny that the band is finished. Danny looks as if he is going to strangle Phil, until a nurse intervenes, but this is probably Danny's realisation that people matter more than music does. This is confirmed when the band wins the final, but Danny makes an emotional speech refusing to accept the trophy, to draw attention to the miners having lost their jobs, and how people matter.
• Evil Stole My Faith: Mr. Chuckles, after memorably screwing up a children's party:
  Angry Middle-Class Mum: May God forgive you.
  Mr Chuckles: God? Oh right, there now, there's the fella. I mean what's he doin', eh? He can take John Lennon, he can take those three young lads down at Ainsley Pit, he's even thinkin' of taking my old man, and Margaret bloody Thatcher lives? I mean, what's he soddin' playin' at, eh? ... You've been great. My name's Coco the Scab.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Ida and Vera dye their hair purple (the same colour as the band's uniforms), to show their solidarity. This comes ironically while they are discussing how the band has taken over Danny's life, and how they would never let it happen to them. Danny mutters "bloody hell!" when he sees them.
• Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Defied. Not only does the elderly Danny not wear a helmet on his bicycle, but he carries Phil as a passenger without a proper seat, while Phil carries his trombone. When Danny puts out his arm to signal a turn, Phil sticks his trombone out as well.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Quite a few examples, given that the band is falling apart at the beginning of the film but gradually becomes more cohesive as it goes on, but the most conspicuous example is Jim and Gloria, after he realises that she was on the miners' side all along. Lampshaded by Gloria and Andy at the end after Jim casually asks her if she's all right:
  Gloria: Was that a thank you?
  Andy: More than that. Never known him gush like that before.
• Foreshadowing: Several times, Danny is seen coughing up coal dust, before he later falls ill. See Icy Blue Eyes below.
• Get Out!: A characteristically low-key Yorkshire version, when Jim thinks that Gloria's report has recommended that the pit be closed:
  Jim: You still here, love? I reckon it's gotta be ta-ra now, don't you?
• Heroic BSoD: Phil has one of these, just before the Harvest Festival gig where he finally crosses the Despair Event Horizon.
• Icy Blue Eyes: When Phil suddenly spots something black on Danny's hanky, Danny denies anything is wrong, and stares back at Phil.
  Phil: What's that on your hanky?
  Danny: Oh, nowt. Chain come off me bike. (Stares)
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The fictitious town in which the film is set, where the local industry is being shut down and nearly everyone is depressed and soon-to-be-unemployed, is called "Grimley". Arguably Lighter and Softer than the real town which it's based on, and where the film was actually shot, and whose band plays the Grimley Colliery band: Grimethorpe.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Justified Trope. Coal lung has all the symptoms and is incurable and invariably lethal. Danny, being a retired miner who has probably worked in the pit for over thirty years, most of it before protective gear... it fits.
• Insistent Terminology: Harry's instrument is not merely a "bloody trumpet", it's a "bloody euphonium".
• It's All Junk: Danny's view of the British Brass Band Championship trophy Jim disagrees, however.
• It's a Small World, After All: There are several moments of characters randomly meeting up, especially at night:
  • When Phil considers breaking into a shop at night for a trombone, Jim, Ernie and Harry appear out of nowhere.
    Jim: Ay up, Phil. Did you like it so much you want to go back?... Wakefield prison?
  • Danny happens to meet Andy sneaking out of Gloria's digs, in the middle of the night.
    Danny: Hi Andy lad. What are you up to?
    Andy: Oh, a bit of extra practice, like.
    Danny: Well, you're a genius, you are. It takes a special talent: practising, without your instrument.
• Kitchen Sink Drama: The film focuses on the very real struggles of the miners of Grimley, and their families.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre:
  Gloria: Do you want to come up for a coffee?
  Andy: I don't drink coffee.
  Gloria: I haven't got any.
• The Leader: Jim is the self-appointed de facto leader of the group, expecting the other members to do as he directs - and the others generally defer to him. Shown in microcosm in the scene in which he both organises the collection for Danny and gives a Get Out! to Gloria.
• Leitmotif: Sometimes the background music (brass, of course) matches the mood on the screen. In "En Aranjuez", the union leaders are seen waving their arms almost in time to the music; and in "Florentiner March", the demonstrators sadly walking home having lost their fight coincides with a slow part of the music.
• Lies to Children: Early on, when two loan sharks have turned up threaten Phil, Phil's son asks why. Phil tells him that the two men are from the pleasure department, telling them that they must have a good day, or they will be in trouble. The son says "I'm eight and a half", but later repeats the "pleasure department" line to a bemused Danny.
• Literally Apoplectic: When Jim and Ernie plan to resign from the band, they casually discuss the reaction of the elderly band leader Danny, which might be Danny having a heart attack, or themselves waking up in casualty. This serves as Foreshadowing: when the band finds out that their coal mine has been closed, Danny collapses in the street from years of inhaling coal dust, and is close to death. He is revived by the band playing "Danny Boy" outside the hospital, and the news that they will participate in the finals at the Albert Hall, after it seemed that they would not.
• Loan Shark: They're after Phil, to collect the money he borrowed to support his family during the Great Strike, and think nothing of using physical violence.
• Lots of Luggage: Briefly shown when Gloria moves into her bedsit for her work assignment, and Mrs Foggan helps her to carry masses of luggage in.
  Mrs Foggan: A few days, you say? You're not a light traveller, are you, pet?
  Gloria: Sorry, it's mainly work.
  Mrs Foggan: I wouldn't apologise for having work, flower, not round here. (Seeing the case containing Gloria's instrument) What's this, then?
  Gloria: It's just a flugel. A trumpet.
• No Antagonist: There's no major antagonist threatening the main characters, who are brass band musicians. However, the colliery management, especially the rather smug McKenzie, does function as a Hate Sink.
• Papa Wolf: When one of Phil's sons tries to stop the loan shark taking away their television set, Phil arrives back home, still in his clown outfit. He snarls at the loan shark "if you touch my kids again, I'll fucking kill you!" The loan shark simply punches him.
• The Patient Has Left the Building: Even though the hospital won't let Danny out of hospital for the final, he discharges himself when Phil leaves him a note saying "We're going!".
• Pivotal Business: The colliery is the main cohesive business in the town, and if it closes, will almost certainly result in a Dying Town.
• Post-War British Politics: More specifically Margaret Thatcher. Described throughout using four-letter words.
• P.O.V. Cam: When Sandra is being driven away from outside Phil's house, with the children gazing out of the back window at Phil, there is a shot from their point of view, of Phil standing and waving sadly.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • At the end of Danny's emotional "This government has systematically destroyed an entire industry" speech in the Royal Albert Hall: "Oh aye, they can knock out a bloody good tune. But what the fuck does that matter?"
  • This also happens when Phil is in his clown outfit, and suddenly lets his feelings loose in a church full of children.
    Phil: Harvest Festival. To tell you the truth, I don't know too much about harvest festival, but I do know a story about God. So, God was creating man, and his angels said "hey, we've run out of brains, we've run out of hearts and we've run out of vocal chords", and God said: "Fuck it! Smack smiles on them, make them talk out of their arses and send them up anyway. And lo, God created the Tory party!
• Rage Against the Heavens: Phil's "Coco the Scab" speech.
  Phil: 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?
• Rehearsing a Conversation: When Jim and Ernie are about to resign from the band, they rehearse what they will say to the band leader Danny, who is likely to be extremely angry on hearing this news.
  Jim: (Rehearsing) "Sorry Danny, in view of present climate, we've decided to tighten our belts, like, and only spend money on essential items. And right now, we don't regard band as one of aforementioned essential items."
  Ernie: "And therefore, we feel obliged to tender our resignations forthwith."
  Jim: (Beat) And then, we wake up in Casualty. Oh what the hell: if Danny don't like it, bollocks to him.
  (Danny passes on his bike; they call out cheerfully to him)
  Jim: Sixty years down pit, you and me, frightened o' nowt. When it comes to telling Danny Boy we're packing band in...
  Ernie: We're shitting bloody bricks.
• Right on Queue: When the miners cast their votes on whether to accept redundancy, or to take the pit to review procedure, they are seen in a queue. Later, after the pit has closed, a very long queue is seen of the miners handing in their safety gear for the last time.
• Running Gag: Several times, Harry meets his wife Rita (an activist for keeping the pit open) outside their front door, with one of them entering, the other leaving. They exchange pleasantries which become increasingly frosty, implying this is the only time they see each other; and eventually, Rita has a huge rant about how Harry does not fight for causes any more, only blows his bloody trumpet. Surprisingly, when the pit does close, she becomes much warmer to him.
• Sad Clown: Mr. Chuckles is a literal sad clown.
• Shower Scene: During the opening credits, and during a later montage of the miners at work, the miners shower together, showing no inhibitions about being naked in front of each other. Phil playfully ruffles Harry's wet hair, to Harry's annoyance.
• Shout-Out: Danny references Morecambe and Wise, just after the band has played the Floral Dance, apparently flawlessly:
  Danny: Crap. That's what that was, a load of bloody crap. What did Eric Morcambe say? All the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.
• Signature Team Transport: When the band travels to the Albert Hall for the final, their bus is absurdly decorated with streamers and balloons in the band colours, and a huge banner saying "Good luck Grimley".
• Silent Conversation: When Gloria is playing Rodrigo's Concerto d'Aranjuez with the band, a meeting is seen between the management of the pit, and the union leaders. No dialogue is heard, but the meeting is very heated, with lots of exaggerated body language, which happens vaguely in time to the music. The result of this meeting is revealed in a later scene.
• Sleight of Handoff: When Sandra is shopping, and is too poor to pay for everything she wants to buy, Vera behind the counter tells her she can pay tomorrow. She then says "don't forget your receipt", and hands it to her, with a five-pound note folded inside. Sandra acknowledges this with a smile.
• The Smurfette Principle: Gloria is the only female member of the band, which persuades Jim and Ernie to continue after vowing to leave the band.
• Sportsmanship Aesop: Danny's life is the Colliery Brass Band, and the only thing he cares about is the band winning the national finals at the Albert Hall. He does not care at all that the colliery is facing imminent closure, with the loss of a thousand jobs. This changes when the colliery is closed down on the day the band wins the semi-finals, and he himself is hospitalised and close to death because of many years of coal dust in his lungs. He sneaks out of hospital to attend the finals, and when the band wins, makes an impassioned speech about how people matter, rather than music, and he refuses the winning trophy. Jim takes it anyway.
• Surprisingly Happy Ending: The pit has closed. A thousand miners are unemployed. Phil has tried to kill himself, Danny is dying in hospital, and the only thing he might live for is the band winning the final, but even taking part is impossible, because it would cost three grand. Everything is looking very bad. And just as the group are mulling this over, Gloria solemnly donates the money she has earned to the band, so they can take part in the final after all.
• Talent Double: The Grimethorpe Colliery Band's then-flugelhorn player Paul Hughes provided Gloria's solo in the "En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor" sequence.
• Trauma Swing: After Sandra has left and taken the children with her, there is an emotive scene with Sandra and one of the children on a playground roundabout, at dusk, where the child is sad that he cannot see his father Phil. Sandra is also smoking a Cigarette of Anxiety.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: Gloria.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Danny, to Phil, in large part because Phil is his son.
• What Have I Become?: Phil after he's voted for the pit to close and in doing so has become a "scab", the thing he hates most in the world.
• What's a Henway?: When Gloria asks the way to a pub.
  Gloria: Where's the Collier's Arms?
  Ida: Hanging off his shoulders, pet.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Phil is hospitalised in the same place Danny is in, the latter is understandably upset with what his son did.
• You Go, Girl!: Subverted. Gloria does get some pushback for being both an outsider and a woman at first, but that goes out of the window as soon as it becomes apparent that she is the granddaughter of a well-respected band member and a damn fine flugelhorn player. She is temporarily thrown out of the band when they find out she works for the management who made them redundant, but she wins them over when she uses her earnings "dirty money" to fund them attending the championship final.

"All right then, lads and lasses. Land of Hope and bloody Glory, eh?"