The Damned United (2009)

Excellent but underrated film

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Damned United is probably the best film about soccer/European Football out there. That being said, this movie isn't just a sports movie or bromance, but it also qualifies as a dramatic gem. Tom Hooper, director of the King's Speech and Les Misérables, takes helm of this small independent film, and Peter Morgan, writer of The Last King of Scotland and Rush, pens the script. Both come together and give it absolute quality. The story's main character is the cocky and arrogant, yet undoubtedly talented Brian Clough (Michael Sheen). It shows his 44-day reign as the coach of Leeds United, one of the top clubs in England, and has flashbacks of how he got there. Clough made his name prior to taking the helm at Leeds by bringing glory to their rivals Derby County. Clough takes the reins from a person he hates, celebrated coach Don Revie (Colm Meaney), who has decided to end his reign to take the job as England manager. The film goes back and forth between Clough's rough time alone at Leeds and the successful time he had, with his assistant coach Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), at Derby. The film strongly depicts a relationship between closest friends and dearest rivals. It is one that will probably not show up on most people's radars, but if it pops up should never be missed. The end product is something special. And given its topic and indie status, it pleasantly surprises and is something all can enjoy and learn from.

The story, being a factual one is a great background to see. How the focus role Clough rise to his highest level, plunged into nothingness, all with his great ambitions, and ultimately reunite with his tandem to regain what was lost and even surpassing those, is the whole idea of this biography. The dramatization of Clough's rather irritating character is also done well through the nice direction. Michael Sheen really got into character of being irritating. He got his facial expressions nicely in the length of the movie. Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent and Colin Meaney acted out nicely the critical conflicts that utterly define the center focus of Clough's character.

For me, in addition to the fine writing, acting and directing, "The Damned United" was a movie to cause some self-reflection as I saw myself in the character of Brian Clough. The self pride and arrogance that results from fixating on a particular goal for vengeful purposes which, in my professional life, I have been guilty of myself.The collateral damage caused to the ones who care about you in those circumstances can be devastating and result in the loss of friendships. Thankfully in the case of Mr. Clough it is eventually a lesson learned but even then comes the rebuilding of bridges.This movie has become one of my favorites as I was able to apply the moral to my own self in a way that can have a positive result while entertaining me with all the humor, drama, action and emotional passion that is the mark of a solidly good film.Although I feel that the movie is presented in a manner that provides entertainment to a wide scoping audience, fans of European Soccer as well as fans of competitive sports overall would particularly appreciate this movie.

Brian Clough (1935-2004) has some claim to be regarded as the greatest ever club manager in English football. Others, such as Bob Paisley and Sir Alex Ferguson, may have won more in terms of trophies, but they did so after taking over clubs which were already wealthy, successful and established. Clough's unique achievement was to take over a struggling, unsuccessful Second Division club, Derby County, turn them into English champions, and then to repeat this feat with a second struggling, unsuccessful Second Division club, Nottingham Forest, who went on to become not only English champions but also European champions.Clough's career in football management, however, was not an uninterrupted success story, and "The Damned United" tells the story of his greatest failure, his 44-day tenure as manager of Leeds United in 1974. Over the past decade, under the management of Don Revie, Leeds had become one of the leading clubs in England, and in 1974 were reigning League champions. They were, however, also the most hated club in England, having become notorious not only for a cautious, defensive attitude to the game but also for gamesmanship and violent play.Although Clough and Revie loathed one another, they had much in common. Both came from the same town, Middlesbrough, growing up only a few streets apart. Both had enjoyed successful playing careers, playing at centre-forward, both had been capped for England, and both had played for the same club, Sunderland. Revie had also taken over Leeds United as a struggling Second Division club and had turned them into champions. Yet they had very different attitudes to the game. In contrast to Revie's "win-at-all-costs" attitude, Clough was an idealist with a firm belief in fair play and open, attacking football; he frequently referred to "the beautiful game", long before this phrase had become the cliché it is today. When Revie was appointed as England manager, Clough therefore seemed a strange choice to replace him as Leeds manager, especially as he had been one fiercest critics both of the club and of Revie. (Many other managers, in fact, agreed with Clough's opinions in private, but few had dared to express them quite so publicly).Clough's main weakness as a manager appears to have been his lack of tact and diplomacy. He was fond of speaking his mind, and despite winning the Championship with Derby had been ousted as manager of that club following clashes with the club chairman Sam Longson. According to this film, Clough's first act as Leeds manager was to tell his players to throw away all their medals and trophies, "because they won them by cheating". Given this attitude, it is hardly surprising that Clough was disliked by the Leeds players, most of whom had idolised Revie. They were determined not to take Clough's message of "good, clean attractive football" to heart; during his first match in charge of Leeds, the Charity Shield against Liverpool, the club captain, Billy Bremner, was red-carded for brawling on the pitch with an opponent. (He received an 11-game suspension and never played again under Clough's management). Discontent among the players was a major factor in persuading the club's directors to dismiss Clough after a run of poor results.The film is not a comprehensive biopic of Clough; it concentrates on his brief spell at Leeds, with the story of his days at Derby being told in flashback. It does not deal with his early life or playing career at all, only briefly touches on his private life outside the game, and his successes with Nottingham Forest are only mentioned in passing in an epilogue at the end. It presents a fictionalised version of his life and occasionally takes liberties with the facts. (Contrary to the impression given here, Dave Mackay, a one-time Derby player who succeeded Clough as manager, was not on the club's playing staff at the time of his appointment).The film's main virtues are an excellent script from Peter Morgan and some equally excellent acting. Michael Sheen seems to specialise in playing real people, and although he bears a certain physical resemblance to Clough he avoids the mistake he made when playing Tony Blair in "The Queen", that of trying to imitate his subject too exactly as though he were a Mike Yarwood-style impressionist rather than a dramatic actor. The other excellent contributions come from Colm Meaney as the self-righteous Revie, genuinely unable to understand why anyone might object to his team's playing style, from Jim Broadbent as Longson, a self-important small-town businessman who has attached himself to the town's football club despite an almost total ignorance of the game, and from Timothy Spall as Clough's assistant, Peter Taylor. Unlike Sheen and Meaney, Spall bears very little resemblance to the man he is playing, but as Taylor generally kept a much lower profile than Clough this does not really matter. Taylor, a more substantial figure than most assistant club managers, nevertheless played a key role at Derby, so he is an important character in this drama. He did not follow Clough to Leeds; had he done so, Clough's appointment might have been a greater success.Despite its international popularity, football has inspired surprisingly few good films, and virtually no great ones. In the 2000s, however, the British cinema managed to produce two very good films about the sport, of which this is the second. (The first was "Bend It like Beckham"). The film's main appeal will, I suspect, be to sports fans and to those with an interest in football history, especially those who, like myself, are old enough to remember the events of the 1970s. Nevertheless, there is enough human drama in "The Damned United" to appeal to film-lovers who have only a passing interest in football. 8/10