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| “The Damned United”, more than a sports movie! |
| Written by Stan Robinson on Wednesday, 25 November 2009 04:13 | |||
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The US has its’ legendary football teams like the Green Bay Packers and coach Vince Lombardi, and the Chicago Bears and George Halas. “The Damned United” gives us a look at England’s legendary football team Leeds United and the historic year of 1974. If you’re thinking another sports movie, don’t. It’s more a movie of personality clashes, ideology, and egos that are the prime ingredients of business, any business, it just happens to be the business of football (soccer in England). It’s 1974. The young and upcoming Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) is hired to coach Great Britain’s championship team, Leeds United after the legendary coach Don Revie (Colm Meaney) who’s leaving to coach England’s national team. In contrast to Revie’s quiet, reserved, laid back style, Clough is controversial, quick mouthed, and uses the media at every opportunity to express viewpoints on the long, on-going animosity toward the exiting Revie. In parallel presentation, as Clough starts his tenure at Leeds, we learn the circumstances of his feelings, which revolve around the first meeting of the two men while coaching a lower tier team, and feelings of being looked down on, slighted, and ignored by Revie is fuel for winning. Clough is successful in taking his lower tier team to the top, beating the United Leeds, and all the while commenting to the media, on the “not so sportsmanship” conduct of the Leeds players and the coach who allows it! Brian Clough’s mission as he now gets the reigns of the coach of the Leeds, to exert his own philosophy of what a team should be. As we know from history, Brian Clough’s stay at Leeds was short, very short.  What we have with “The Damned United” is a look at the dynamics and the influences of that year in 1974, when the fierce competition of wills and ideology was fought off the field, as well as on. Michael Sheen excels once again as the young coach. His recent performances as real life persons including Prime Minister Tony Blair in “The Queen” (2006) and David Frost in “Frost/Nixon” (2008) which received 5 Oscar® nominations, and the screenplay by Peter Morgan, who also penned “The Queen” and “Frost/ Nixon”, presents a very compelling look at history. I’m sensing some sort of magic happens when Michael Sheen is given the character portrayals of Peter Morgan’s written words to bring to the screen… Starring Michael Sheen, Colm Meaney, Henry Goodman, David Roper, Jimmy Reddington, Oliver Stokes, and Ryan Day. Directed by Tom Hooper. Written by Peter Morgan. Rated R for language. Sony Pictures Classics release. Runtime: 97 minutes. The Damned United Trailer:
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