The Damned United [Blu-ray]

Director: Tom Hooper Tom Hooper

Overview

The creators of such docudramas as The Queen and Frost/Nixon re-team for this period sports chronicle set in 1974. In England, the Leeds United players retain a status as the preeminent champions of their football league. Unfortunately, the manager to whom the team owes much of its success, visionary Don Revie (Colm Meaney), promptly leaves the unit to take over the England team. His replacement, the slick and confident Brian Clough (Michael Sheen), is publicly known as a vociferous critic of the team's approach to games. Clough has some experience and success to back him up -- in flashbacks, the film details how he and his business partner Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) coached Derby County from the bottom of the Second Division to the League Championships, though they had much less success working with the Brighton team later on. For various reasons, Taylor refuses to accompany Clough to his new post in Leeds, so Clough must go it alone. Clough wastes no time aggressively attempting to modify the playing style of the team -- he dictates that they play more attractively, and less violently. This clashes with the intentions of the team members, however. When the players hit the field, they find it extraordinarily difficult to adapt to the mandates of their new coach, which sets the stage for a series of losses and puts Clough's reputation on the line.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2010
UPC:	0043396334175
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	R
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Language:	English
Time:	1:37:00
Sales rank:	36,186

Special Features

Commentary with Director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and Producer Andy Harries; "Cloughisms"; Perfect Pitch: The Making of The Damned United; Creating Clough: Michael Sheen Takes on 'Old Big 'Ead'; The Changing Game: Football in the Seventies

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Sheen	Brian Clough
Timothy Spall	Peter Taylor
Colm Meaney	Don Revie
Jim Broadbent	Sam Longson
Henry Goodman	Manny Cussins
Maurice Roeves	Jimmy Gordon
Stephen Graham	Billy Bremner
Brian McCardie	Dave Mackay
Peter MacDonald	Johnny Giles
Giles Anderson	Colin Todd
Mark Bazeley	Austin Mitchell
Martin Compston	John O'Hare
Joe Dempsey	Duncan McKenzie
David Roper	Sam Bolton
Jimmy Reddington	Keith Archer
Oliver Stokes	Nigel Clough
Ryan Day	Simon Clough
Mark Cameron	Norman Hunter
Frank Skillin	Younger Nigel Clough
Dylan Van Hoof	Younger Simon Clough
Sydney Wade	Younger Elizabeth Clough
Elizabeth Carling	Barbara Clough
Mark Jameson	Groundsman
Liam Thomas	Les Cocker
Glenn Cunningham	Syd Owen
Tony Gubba	Himself
Gillian Waugh	Lillian Taylor
Colin Harris	John McGovern
Stewart Robertson	Archie Gemmell
Laurie Rea	Terry Hennessey
Michael Parkinson	Himself
Ralph Ineson	Journalist
Philip Childs	Commentator (Wembley)
Terence Harvey	FA Committee Chairman
Gordon Hall	FA White-Haired Elder
John Craven	Himself
Isabella Eades-Jones	Elizabeth Clough
Paul Bown	Mike Bamber
Christopher Chilton	Floor Manager
Rob Lane	Conductor,Composer
Peter McDonald	Johnny Giles
Joe Dempsie	Duncan McKenzie,Actor

Technical Credits

Peter Morgan

Tom Hooper	Director
Peter Morgan	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Andy Harries	Producer
Christine Langan	Executive Producer
Hugo Heppell	Executive Producer
Dan Hubbard	Casting
Paul Kelly	Special Effects
Jachym Topol	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

A film about Carlton Fisk's game-winning home run in the 1975 World Series or Joe Namath's heroics in the 1969 Super Bowl likely would play to empty theaters in Great Britain. Likewise, many Americans may roll their eyes at the thought of seeing a film about the 1974 Leeds United soccer team, but The Damned United is thoroughly entertaining and, for those of us without extensive knowledge of English pro "football," a captivating bit of sports history. To say that former British soccer coach Brian Clough (rhymes with "rough") was outspoken is like saying that European soccer fans are a bit spirited. Clough, who between 1967 and 1972 took Derby County from the bottom of the Second Division to the League Championship, was downright arrogant and audacious. He openly insulted anyone whom he felt threatened the sanctity of English football, but he saved the worst of his ire and bile for his rival coach Don Revie, and his team, Leeds United. Clough lambasted the popular Leeds team and their legendary coach, calling them bastards, thugs, and cheats, so when Clough was hired to replace Revie with Leeds United in 1974, most of England thought it was a recipe for disaster -- and they were right. Director Tom Hooper and screenwriter Peter Morgan split the film between Clough's doomed 44-day stint with Leeds and flashbacks of his years moving up the ladder in Derby County, which allows them to alternate scenes of Clough's ego swelling, via his success at Derby, and then deflating during his dismal tenure in Leeds. The key relationship is between Clough and his longtime assistant, Peter Taylor, who many felt was the key to Clough's success because of his uncanny ability for scouting talent. The film includes several set pieces featuring reenactments of prominent events, such as a volatile joint television appearance between Clough and Revie, but the scenes work well even for Americans, who likely won't be distracted by the impulse to evaluate the accuracies and discrepancies between the film and history. Michael Sheen's mesmerizing performance as the charismatic Clough and the cathartic delight in watching a brash champion fail so completely are more than enough to carry the film. To paraphrase a Brian Clough quote (about his own coaching ability), The Damned United may not be the best soccer film of all time, but it is in the top one.