The Damned United from the perspective of someone who hates sport
This blog post is about the film The Damned United. It is not a comparison with the book and it certainly won't explore the accuracy of the film's depiction of Brian Clough's life and career. I am afraid that before people started talking about the film I had never heard of Brian Clough, having avoided even David Peace's book because I knew it was about football. Plus, I was two years old in 1974, and it wasn't as if I remember the events from the first time around.
Michael Sheen as Brian Clough. Photograph by Laurie Sparham
So it was with some trepidation that I went to see a biopic of a football manager, half expecting to be bored or baffled - instead I was thoroughly entertained. Most of the sports films I've seen follow the arc of a pair of star-crossed lovers, beginning in adversity but ending up happily ever after. The Damned United instead jumps back and forth between Brian Clough's remarkable success at Derby County and his difficult tenure at Leeds United. Clough's rise unfolds in parallel with his fall, both caused (it is suggested in the film), by the extent of his ambition. The calendar flips back and forth in a device that could have been irritating or confusing but fortunately works well.
With little actual football shown on screen, the story becomes about Brian Clough's rivalry with Don Revie, and his relationship with right-hand-man Peter Taylor. The performances are all excellent and the film is moving in its portrayal of these mens' preoccupation and dependency on each other. How pleasing to see a film set in the 1970s that doesn't wallow in period detail or musical nostalgia. It also doesn't matter whether or not you are familiar with the characters involved, the film assumes no prior knowledge and if it was full of in-jokes my enjoyment wasn't at all damaged by not getting them. You can watch an interview with Tom Hooper - the young British director of The Damned United, Longford and John Adams - which we uploaded on the website last month to accompany our item on HBO. With a production of Steinbeck's East of Eden going into production this year, we are likely to hear more about Tom Hooper very soon.
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Comments
I enjoyed it mostly for the opposite reasons expressed in the blog. I am just old enough to remember Don Revie and the players depicted in the film. I have a deep personal association with the city of Leeds and Leeds United football club. I was interested to see how they managed to film outside Elland Road stadium without revealing any of the developments done since the 1970s (and also interested to note how the tremendous amount of construction in those decades has left that corner of South Leeds hardly altered).
I saw an article recently by a "neutral" football writer (it happened to be Patrick Barclay) who did not like either the book or the film of "The Damned United". To me that is futher indication that (so-called) neutral football writers go through life always missing the point. The thing about football is that it is always partisan. The main thing I got from the film was the chance to re-live the achievements of Leeds United from the early 70s. We were (and are, and always shall be) widely despised, but nobody can deny that we were a major club in those days.
I don't really care whether the depiction of Brian Clough and his relationship with Peter Taylor is accurate or not - it made a good, very well-acted story.
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You had never heard of Brian Clough? What planet were you living on? I was born in 1972 and he was a household name for the first 20 years of our lives. As the film/book refers to his early years, are you also not aware of the incredible success he managed to achieve?
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I'd honestly never heard of him! It has to be said that:
1. I lived in a household where sport wasn't watched or discussed
2. I went to a girls school where none of my friends watched any sport
3. Growing up in Belfast in the 1970s and 80s led me to suspect that sport was just another excuse to take sides and fight with a group of people you didn't know. I now recognise this view is extreme ;-)
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