Brassed Off
Unlike the other actors in the movie, Ewan McGregor knows how to play an instrument. He played the French horn when he was younger, which is an instrument with similar pitch to the Eb tenor horn his character plays in the movie.,When Gloria is playing the Concerto de Aranjuez, the second measure after the Flugelhorn comes in, she plays a note with the second valve that should be played with the first valve. The written note is a B-flat for Flugelhorn (concert A-Flat). Playing with the second valve would produce a B natural, a half step higher.,Danny: The truth is, I thought it mattered - I thought that music mattered. But does it bollocks? Not compared to how people matter.,On some prints, the words "The End" remain onscreen as three additional lines of "definitions" are added one by one underneath:
1. closure (as in 140 pits since 1984)
2. termination (as in 250,000 jobs)
3. conclusion (as in draw your own...),The British release does not have the dictionary definitions at the start or end of the film. These were added to the American release to introduce the US audience to British slang. The end of the film has the same information, but just as normal text.,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Addicted to Love/Gamera: Guardian of the Universe/The Van/Brassed Off (1997),Death Or Glory
Written by Robert Browne Hall (as R. B. Hall),I just want to correct a couple of things that the previous reviewer makes about the film.

Firstly, from a musical point of view, Gloria does not enter the Grimley bandroom with an obligato cornet, it's a flugelhorn.

The fact that a woman has entered the band room is important. For a long time, the brass band was the domain of men. Women weren't allowed to play in the bands and indeed, this is still the case today in two of the biggest names in the banding world.

Underpinning all this is the fact that the film is (at least) semi-biographical. The events unfolding in the film mirror in no small way the same events which befell the Grimethorpe pit in 1992, and impacted on the world-famous Grimethorpe Colliery band. Thatcher's Britain did result in the pit closing down, and threatened the band's future. The band did take the stage at the National Final, and so the reason that the band don't turn professional is because there is no room in the banding movement for a professional band.

For a point of information, there are 4 basses in a Brass Band, 2 Eb and 2 Bb (not 2 or 3). Oh yes, and bandsmen most certainly do carry there instruments through the street without a case, especially bass players.

On a slightly different point, Phil does not have a gambling habit. He is still paying off the loan that he took out in 1982 to cover the loss of earnings because "suspended I were. 18 b****** months it took that lot to sort it out. 18 b***** months on strike pay. That's how big a f***** deal it is mate.",