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Michael Sheen, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Joseph Dempsie ...( see more  see more... ) , Stephen Graham

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

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34,437 ratings

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94% liked it

111 critics

R, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Tom Hooper

Release Date: October 9, 2009

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DVD Release Date: February 23, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (1,052)

  • mrpopcorn
    December 10, 2009
    mrpopcorn
    "They love me for what I'm not... ...they hate me for what I am."

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

    REVIEW

    "The best football coach the England team never ha...( read more)d."

    So goes the last line of the best sports film you never saw. Or maybe I can change that condition by urging you to see one of the best recent sports films, better than current favorites such as We are Marshall and Gridiron Gang. Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) rose in the late sixties and early seventies to become coach of the premiere British football (soccer) team in England. But his tenure lasted an ignominious 44 days. Director Tom Hopper skillfully navigates parallel scenes: 1974, when Clough was made coach of Leeds, back through the years from his coaching the little Darby team to Leeds. And beyond.

    What makes this film so unusual is the uncompromising portrayal of that flawed coach with his ambition, ego, inferior complex, and, of course, his genius with football. Or I should I say with choosing Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) as his assistant, a bowling pin shape of a man gifted with insight about players' strengths and a perfect complement to the abrasive Clough. However, if the film is flawed it makes apparent Taylor's humanity and never reveals, except with locker room pep talks, the humanity Clough must have had to lead so many teams to greatness. The actual playing, both original footage and reenacted version, occupies a relatively small part of the film because the emphasis is on character, primarily Clough and Taylor, who border on "bromance," but also minor characters such as Darby club president, Uncle Sam (Jim Broadbent) and rival coach, Don Revie (Colm Meany). Everyone is in character, so when the real people show up in the usual credit roll at the end, you could easily pick out the actor to match, so close even in appearance.

    Because this tale tells mainly about the Clough flaws that lead to his disgrace, The Damned United is uncompromisingly, sometimes painfully, real in the most satisfactory way. Even though Clough lost, the film wins. But wait, the suspense continues because the credit sequence will tell you the next act in Brian Clough's career. Second acts fit honest films like this.
  • her69eyes
    October 31, 2009
    her69eyes
    Screenwriter Peter Morgan, having brought Tony Blair and David Frost to the big screen in recent years, tackles a biopic subject far more obscure to an American audience in Tom Hooper's "The Damned United".

    The man is Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) - a self-destructive soccer coac...( read more)h who took over Leeds United in 1974 from their beloved mentor, Don Revie (Colm Meaney). Revie is on his way to coach England's national team, whereas Leeds United, under Clough's rule, is told that everything that they've ever done is completely wrong.

    While Morgan tells of the doomed team under Clough's command, he also introduces a parallel story regarding Clough's successful gig as manager of Derby County five years previous. With help from his right-hand man, the brilliant soccer mind Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), the two took Derby County from the bottom of the second division to the very top of the first.

    If that cast doesn't have you waiting in line already, add Jim Broadment and the great (but criminally under-utilized) Stephen Graham (from "This is England") in the mix.

    Michael Sheen has, in "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon", been wonderful support for the powerhouse performances of Helen Mirren and Frank Langella. In "The Damned United", however, he is the undebatable centerpiece. Like his previous roles, his Clough is a similar fast-thinking genius flawed by his own ambition and insecurity.

    "The Damned United" is a sort of anti-sports movie - instead of the young coach bringing his team of misfits closer together, he tears them apart. For some reason, however, Morgan and Hooper's spin on the genre is unsuccessful. Morgan's technique of parallel narratives seems to be used only to bring some life into the material - but even still, the film is penetratingly dull. Clough is an interesting character, but something was lost in translation on the way to screen.
  • AgentLexi2132
    March 27, 2009
    AgentLexi2132
    ''GOOD LAD!''

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

    Michael Sheen: Brian Clough

    The film effort The Damned United is a delightful inside glimpse at a period in time, focusing on a certain manager, a manager called

    ...( read more)Brian Clough. Director Tom Hooper incorporates live footage from televised news reels of the time with real time actors and happenings on set. The Damned United is going back to the day, living yesterday and being in awe of the good old days, the days when drinking and smoking before a football match were excepted, the dirty tactics of Leeds United and their brawling babaric methods with opponents, can be over-looked. This is a day when drinking tea on your lap was the norm, and football just wasn't simply about money, it was about pride and real competition.
    Peter Morgan the talented Writer of The Queen and Frost/Nixon reunites for a hat trick with chameleonic Michael Sheen. Michael Sheen can tick off another box on his list, of his mimicking magic of iconic Englishmen as his witty performance is a key reason for what makes The Damned United a pleasure to behold. The performances stand out with many well done performances by the leading cast, in particular Sheen and Spall who show a very impressive on-screen bond, as Clough and Taylor.

    Michael Sheen's Brian Clough is an entertaining, arrogant but likable character with self-destructive flaws. Obviously he has the best lines (unfortunately many of which feature in the trailer) and some of his best scenes are with Timothy Spall's Peter Taylor, whom finds their friendship severely damaged at various points as the events transpire. Clough's vulnerability and insecurities are explored in his relationship with Taylor and the audience learn that only as a team do they conquer English football. Clough's apparent hatred for Revie stems from being snubbed by the latter at an early Cup match. This experience drives Clough's ambition to not only succeed, but to attempt to eclipse the architect of Leeds United's Golden Age. Along the way we learn about the now familiar friction between the Manager and the Chairman, the task of signing players and the universal theme of pride coming before a fall.
    Set in the late sixties/early seventies and seamlessly interspersing the action with real footage and interviews as aforementioned, this film enables the audience to embrace the spirit of the times.

    Peter Taylor: Are you going to stop it?
    Brian Clough: No, I'm going to fight him.

    As with legendary picture Frost/Nixon the story caters for people with very minimalistic knowledge of the subject matter and as such, it can be enjoyed by football fans, history fans and film fans alike. Plus there isn't a huge amount of actual ball kicking by the cast, so people won't switch off. There is an obligatory montage, but it's nicely done and over quickly.
    The only downside to this film is that it's a little bit short if anything, but it leaves you wanting more which can only be a good thing. There's a mild bit of comical swearing throughout, which is justified given the situations the lead characters face.

    Overall, The Damned United provides historical entertainment, laughs galore and fun beyond most fantasy and blockbuster films dream of achieving. This is one of those Michael Sheen triumphs you want to be there for, especially at the end when we even see the end results for the characters in the aftermath of Clough's 44 day management of Leeds. This for me was a wonderful climax, a beautiful conclusion and an absolute pleasure to experience. Plus the fact I say again, that my friend whom is a football/film fan, plus me whom loves history and film, plus acting and brilliantly portrayed characters, this is a golden movie to watch and for a universal audience. The Damned United is a perfect adaptation and tribute to a man who wasn't afraid of burning ambition, perhaps showing off a tad too much but in doing so he did some amazing things. His friendship with Peter Taylor is beautifully captured here, Spall and Sheen shine, Damned United shines.

    ''If you want to be loved, you're going to have to change.''
  • shutterbug99
    November 15, 2009
    shutterbug99
    A look at Brian Clough's 44-day reign as the coach of Leeds United.

    I really enjoyed this. Of course, it helps if you have an interest in football, and know the background story, but even if you don't, the movie is as much about friendship as it is about the beautiful game.
    ...( read more)
    Amazing performance from Michael Sheen as Brian Clough. He has impressed me in every movie I've seen him in. Props also to Colm Meany who I thought was great as Don Revie. Well worth a watch!
  • DrLappos
    September 10, 2009
    DrLappos
    The man was always a great manager and a great tv personality but this film goes a long way to show the real man behind the persona. It isnt as much about football as some would think but more about the way he dealt with people and this was particularly well done by Sheen.
  • lesleyanorton
    February 2, 2010
    lesleyanorton
    My dad took me to see Brighton in the Brian Clough days so I was always going to like this film, as would anyone who remembered the unique blend of gobbiness and vulnerability of Cloughy in his football manager days. Even if he doesn't much look much like him except round the ea...( read more)rs, Michael Sheen completes his e trilogy after David Frost - Tony Blair trilogy by bringing back to life a man who infuriated and entertained in 100% equal measures. And hooray for that.
  • roblangham
    January 28, 2010
    roblangham
    David Peace?s work has been a modern day staple of visual adaptations for the past year or so and the author is one of those writers whose books can often be found on the shelves of those who, as The Daily Telegraph might term it, ?don?t read books?, an explorer of yoof issues to...( read more) cast alongside Irvine Welsh, Howard Marks and Nicholas Blincoe. In truth, and without wishing to denigrate those authors, Peace?s ambition extends beyond this. His GB84 in particular is an exercise in wilful complexity, and the earlier Red Riding Quartet constitutes a dark journey into the underbelly of 1970s Yorkshire; its Life on Mars style beiges and browns obscured by gore and low cloud.

    That foursome of novellas was filmed to blistering effect in 2009, and Independent Television hadn?t shown anything as disturbing for years, unless you count Gazza and Gary Neville on the sofa during the 2002 World Cup. So, the celluloid release of his most accessible novel, The Damned United, roughly contemporaneous to the third channel?s offering last year, was eagerly anticipated. Add in the presence of the often flawless Michael Sheen and the combination would be a winning one for sure?

    I finally caught up with the movie on DVD this week, and there?s a lot to enjoy. Readers of this website will revel in reflecting on the rise of Derby County from relegation threatened second flighters to English Champions in those few short years of flower power and stacked heels, the old stadia interiors with their grubbiness and flaky plastering are heart warming, those colour shades are still there, and the splicing of classic Match of the Day footage with close ups of on-pitch lookalikes is carried off with comparative aplomb.

    Sheen is almost uncanny as Brian Clough himself. Due credit is given to the sidekick?s sidekick, Peter Taylor, the building of a team around Dave Mackay and a host of other unheralded but hungry and talented players is marvellously narrated, and the explosive 44 days at Leeds are entertainingly depicted. For a football fan, it?s an effortlessly quick hour and a half as the memories and memories of childhood reading of Shoot! annuals come teeming back. Love him or hate him, Clough was an unparalleled legend and his achievements are also without equal: the book doesn?t even mention his glory years at Forest and the film affords them but a footnote.

    But compared to the groundbreaking, daring drama of the Quartet, it?s all knockabout stuff, not quite Doctor in the House, but profoundly lacking in gravitas all the same. The book may be Peace-lite, but it?s still a warped story indeed, with all the action taking place in Clough?s brain. In contrast, Sheen?s Clough is a little too bright eyed and bushy tailed, and accurate as the famous nasal whine initially appears to be, it?s exposed as too parodic when Ol' Big ?Ead appears on screen immediately before the closing credits. It?s said that the offence taken by the Clough family by the book led to a toning down of the film?s ambition, but this compromise leads to a fudge of a film where the swearing seems tacked on and the 1970s are played for laughs. The Leeds of that era was bandit country indeed, but one never senses the danger of that rough, tough city. So, it's a three star effort and a story lovingly recreated, but more punch would have been welcome.
  • jsbond008
    January 22, 2010
    jsbond008
    the best bromance of all time?
  • arajin1
    January 10, 2010
    arajin1
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  • babubhaut
    December 31, 2009
    babubhaut
    click for review

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2009
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

While there's plenty of action, much of it satisfyingly wet and muddy, the reason to watch this film is its splendid cast. full review

October 15, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The enigma of Brian Clough has long fascinated British fans. The Dammed United offers no easy explanation, but plunges into the mysteries of the personality. full review

October 9, 2009
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The rare sports movie that deals with humiliation and disappointment. full review

October 9, 2009
Kyle Smith, New York Post

As the two coaches head for a faceoff in a climactic live TV interview, writer Morgan starts to seem like a rip-off -- of himself. full review

October 9, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

What vaults the film above the standard sports movie is the stellar performance by Michael Sheen. full review

October 5, 2009
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

The parallel-tracks structure smoothly reveals cause-effect relationships even as it sometimes feels designed to gussy up the narrative's straightforward rise-and-fall arc. full review

October 5, 2009
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Quite enjoyable, even for those of us who don't follow British "football." full review

March 27, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

Morgan, scanning the book and deciding (perhaps shrewdly) to lighten it up, has fashioned for Michael Sheen, the actor formerly known as Tony Blair and David Frost, his best comic role yet. full review

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