I have no interest in football.
So why on earth did I enjoy The Damned United so very much? Why did I even go see it in the first place?
Well, Michael Sheen is a good place to start. He's fast becoming one of the best actors in the country, and his ability for capturing the personality and physical tics of famous Brits - without resorting to impersonation or caricature - is second to none. And while I knew very little about Brian Clough's history, I was familiar with his larger than life persona: never off the TV while I was growing up.
Michael Sheen and David Peace's Clough is classic anti-hero material. If you'd met him in real life, chances are that arrogant cocksuredness would have soon worn thin. It's a credit to both actor and writer that we really empathise with the movie Clough, cast here in the defiant underdog role as he replaces former Leeds manager Don Revie to the anger of fans and players alike. His relationship with Timothy Spall's Peter Taylor is wonderfully realised too - the film is structured like a heterosexual male love story - while Jim Broadbent gives hilarious support as Derby County chairman Sam Longson.
And despite the fact that I never followed football - even as a child - the movie is incredibly nostalgic. It helps that I grew up in West Yorkshire in the 70s so recognise the faithful recreation of place, fashion, and even local TV. But The Damned United also hearkens back to a time when the passion for football seems much easier to grasp. A time when a bottom of the league team really could rise to the top through nothing more than hard work and dedication: when it wasn't all about how much money could be thrown at the game.
It starts and ends with Sheen though. Just an amazing performance. And it made me realise, if anyone could ever give us an accurate, heartfelt screen portrayal of another great Northern hero, Sheen is the only man for the job. Start twisting his arm now, before he gets too old: Michael Sheen as Morrissey in This Charming Man. I'm pre-ordering my ticket now.
Posts
9 rants and reactions:
I enjoyed your review. I loved the book but the film wasn't very well received.
Sheen for Morrissey?
I don't know - but he'd be better than Sean Bean.
Great review as always, Rol, and confirms my own approval of Sheen. He managed to lift the 3rd outing of the Underworld films too. He's a real chameleon and destined for great things (who knows? Even Morrissey?).
Sean Bean as Morrissey though... he he! That I'd pay to see.
I'd like to see Morrissey play Brian Clough.
I bet the quiffster would have sorted out the likes of Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles pretty sharply. Possibly by waving daffodils at them.
Book was outstanding. Trying to meke time to get along to the film...your review has whetted my appetite further.
Love the idea of him playing Morrissey. Priceless!
But who would play the other boys in The Smiths???
You know when people say, “It’s not as good as the book”? Well, in this case, the film and the book should be seen as totally separate entities.
If you languished in the uncompromising style of the book, you may consider the film a rather bland cop out. The film is often pink and perky with convivial ‘Made for TV’ lightness -incomparable to the harrowing, tortured paranoia within the darkness of the novel. Amiable and good humoured, I smiled and even laughed out loud at the film –particularly during the warm-hearted first hour or so.
Michael Sheen offers up a tremendous performance. Only occasionally does a sprinkling of David Frost appear, or a smidgeon of Kenneth Williams. (I also thought that perhaps ‘Ant’ of Ant and Dec fame had morphed into the character at one point!) Clough’s nuances and idiosyncrasies are captured perfectly.
I’m still unsure as to who will go and watch this film. (Except certain blokes of a certain age, with an inherent love of the not-so-beautiful game!) Perhaps one of many commercial risks it takes, is its virtual absence of any women characters. This of course rings true when portraying a grim all male workplace of around 4 decades ago, but it’s a point which may possibly alienate potential female audiences? And as for what American audiences will think of it … well frankly, who gives a f***!
Like a football match, there are some lovely touches in the 90 odd minutes. There are few lulls in the dialogue – in which an equally belligerent and charming Clough dominates throughout. Sheen is more than ably assisted by Timothy Spall as pragmatic super-scout sidekick Peter Taylor. Indeed it is the good-natured Peter Taylor who is one of the few folk to emerge from the film with reputation intact. The poignancy of their footballing ‘marriage’ is captured in their parting - as headline maker Clough turns away from lowly Brighton & Hove Albion -unable to resist the temptation of the job at Leeds Utd.
Clough’s abrasive swagger and overbearing cocksure manner is balanced against the passionate, likeable and endearing family man who simply displays poor judgment and mis-placed loyalty. His relationship with Derby Chairman and self-made businessman ‘Uncle Sam’ (Jim Broadbent) is a comical thread throughout.
From the off, Clough infuriates the dour Leeds Utd board by keeping them waiting, while he swans off en route to Elland Road to do an interview with YTV – where he publicly denounces the Champions and their manager Mr Revie.
Clough’s shame regarding his betrayal of Peter Taylor in favour of ruthless ambition, is clearly depicted when it all goes badly awry at Elland Road after just 44 days. He drives south (with his 2 sons in the back, of course) and seeks out a measured Taylor who is quietly tending to his garden.
The scene of Clough on his hands and knees begging for Taylor’s forgiveness and in having to ‘apologise unreservedly for being a twat’ stretches the point somewhat! Nevertheless, as Clough’s conscience, Taylor re-iterates that while Brian has always been the ‘shop window’ in their relationship, Peter is the reliable ‘goods in the back of the shop.’
Chesterfield’s Saltergate – acting as The Baseball Ground, Derby, offers a superb working class backdrop to the dingy decay that hung over football, its mud-bath pitches and dilapidated stadia in the late 60s and early 70s. The tribal (British) warfare, the wooden stands, the narrow pokey corridors and the terraced houses beyond the front gate reflect the time perfectly. Throw in the power cuts, the brown and beige fashion and the 3-day working week, and the monochrome mood is firmly set.
There's a delightful - if unlikely - sequence of Clough whilst at the floundering Derby, preparing the away team's dressing room, placing an orange – and an ashtray – by each player's towel. Under the circumstances, such ‘poetic licence’ is forgivable.
The Leeds players appear obstinately loyal to their superstitious and unprincipled old boss - Don Revie. This perhaps is unsuprising given the chalk and cheese differences between the gregarious Clough and his charisma-free nemesis Revie - played with great skill by Colm Meaney. Leeds were a truly great side and, in fact (not faction), no more uncompromising than many other teams of that time.
Clough’s later alcoholism is foreshadowed, but not overplayed, whilst his loneliness and bitter frustrations - within the confines of the old Dragonara Hotel - during his 44 days at Leeds illustrate a man arguably at his lowest career ebb.
Thankfully, the football action is kept to a minimum - with the mistakes of past footy films fully considered. The players are portrayed as either simpletons, or a seething rag-tag and bobtail bunch - with little more than a nod in the direction of their true characters.
Money, greed, revenge and cheating seem to be the mainstays of a footballer back in the day. Were the main protagonists still alive, I suspect more claims for ‘deformation of character’ would have arisen alongside that of ‘The Irishman’ Johnny Giles.
The filmed acting of the infamous Charity Shield match with Keegan and Bremner’s fisticuffs at Wembley is left on the cutting room floor in place of the actual BBC footage. Having witnessed the performance of a ginger-wigged Stephen Graham as Bremner being filmed at Elland Road last summer, I can understand why.
The various flashbacks and period jumping between ‘68 and ‘74 may become a little tiresome for the uninitiated within the audience. And I don’t buy into the ticket-sale argument that this is a film which will be fully appreciated by those with no knowledge of football or the period. (But then this doubt could easily be set aside when seeking the views of those who fit that description).
To some in the audience, the credibility of the production may be challenged by the mix of the fact with the fiction. It would be easy (heaven forbid) for the footballing officianado with a flair for nostalgia to point out the devil in the detail.
Nonetheless, the period re-creation is largely convincing and it is a film that rarely drags and, ultimately, succeeds as a hugely entertaining and watchable piece of work.
Kaz - there's an oak tree outside our house that Sean Bean would be perfect for.
Steve - you're still not persuading me to watch Underworld 3. ;-)
Matthew - that's genius.
JC - John Simm as Johnny Marr. Not sure about the other two.
Drew / Dick - thanks for the longest comment this blog has ever had - that's a post in itself. I guess I really ought to read the book now.
This might just drag me out, it's been intriguing me for ages. I've never read the book - I'm never really sure about "factional" stuff, especially when it's still pretty contemporary, although The Queen, I thought, was done excellently. The lack of implied criticism from "sources" rather makes one think it was pretty accurate.
Michael Sheen, for all his incredible observational talent, really is in danger of being typecast as a chameleon, which would be a shame as he's a fine actor. Somehow I just can't see Tony Blair singing Girlfriend in Coma.
Just chiming in a bit late here in response to dickvandyke's comment about the gender thing.
As a Leeds girl, I can confirm that the audience for this was 95% blokes, mostly of a certain age, mostly there straight from ales in the Vic. And no worse for that either.
I haven't read the book, am not really interested in football, but I loved it.
Thanks for that Beth. I'm asking around in a bid to guage the audience uptake. I guess that you were in Leeds centre from the Vic reference? It may be a bit less er, cosmopolitan in the suburbs?
There was little interest from female Uni students when I saw it in Headingley.
I did feel at times that the film had a 'Play For Today' TV feel to it? Which is no bad thing.
Post a Comment