The Damned United (2009)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Tom Hooper

Writers:

Peter Morgan (screenplay)
David Peace (novel)

Release Date:

27 March 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

"They love me for what I'm not... ...they hate me for what I am."

Plot:

A look at Brian Clough's 44-day reign as the coach of Leeds United.

Plot Keywords:

Leeds | Yorkshire | Football | Soccer Star | England

US Showtimes:

Beverly Center Cinemas

12:20pm | 2:40 | 5:00 | 7:40 | 9:55

(personalize)

Cast

Colm Meaney	...	Don Revie
Henry Goodman	...	Manny Cussins
David Roper	...	Sam Bolton
Jimmy Reddington	...	Keith Archer
Oliver Stokes	...	Nigel Clough
Ryan Day	...	Simon Clough
Michael Sheen	...	Brian Clough
Mark Bazeley	...	Austin Mitchell
Timothy Spall	...	Peter Taylor
Maurice Roëves	...	Jimmy Gordon
Stephen Graham	...	Billy Bremner
Peter McDonald	...	Johnny Giles
Mark Cameron	...	Norman Hunter
Frank Skillin	...	Younger Nigel Clough
Dylan Van Hoof	...	Younger Simon Clough

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | USA:R (certificate #45085) | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-11 | Canada:14A (Alberta/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Sweden:7 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Derbyshire, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

The scenes in the film set at the Derby County training ground were actually filmed in Leeds at a football pitch ironically overlooking the Leeds United stadium.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Dave Mackay is named on the team sheet for the fictional game against Leeds prior to the Juventus game in 1973 and is the only Derby player not to support Clough's reinstatement as manager. In reality Mackay had left Derby County in 1971. Alan Hinton is also named as in the team for the Leeds game, but he was injured at the time.

Quotes:

Brian Clough: [Arriving in Brighton. Sings] Oh, I don't like to be beside the seaside...

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2009-10-17)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Flight of the Rat

Unworthy impression of the man that lacks insight about his genius

Brian Clough was one of Britain's greatest personalities. I am just about old enough to remember the buzz generated when he was interviewed on TV. Life and TV were grey but Cloughie was not. He sparkled and spoke his mind freely, where other pundits were too scared to do so; with so few channels many could not risk upsetting the status quo. For that reason a grateful nation admired and loved the bright young manager. Whatever his insight about football you respected it because he'd proved he knew what he was talking about. His teams won. And with limited resources he won big. This tells of the years Mr Clough achieved his greatest success and how through belligerence, pride, passion and belief he threw it all away. It does not however give insight into the man himself, which I believe should have been the core of the story. I am still non- the wiser as to what made Clough such a great team manager. Yes he had beliefs and conviction but his real talent was getting Derby County to play his way on the field, not his gift of TV chat. All of Mr. Clough success was based on his ability to motivate a team to outplay and outwit the wealthy and powerful. Watching the recent ITV Documentary 'Clough' calls attention to this point. Only one scene in the film touches on this, when he has a quiet word with players in the changing room before sending them out to do exactly what he'd asked against Leeds United. For me these scenes were real highlights I'd have liked more. Instead Dammed United leans heavily on the topsy-turvy relationship between Manager and Assistant Manager during this time to give the story narrative. To its credit this is not a film about football - but then even a few weeks after seeing it – I'm still not sure what it is about. It fails to give a insightful portrait of the man, manger or times. One last though is it did not make any attempt to compare today's soulless media controlled game with the old days – I'm sure Mr Clough would have had a lot to say about that.