The top four names in the cast are all well-known; looking over the list, I had quick reactions to each that turned out to be very much at odds with what the characters they’re playing in this film. That makes it all the more interesting.
For starters, there’s Michael Sheen. Hmmm … Tony Blair in The Queen, David Frost in Frost/Nixon. Great in those, likable guy who brings a human touch. Here, he’s Brian Clough, and he makes someone who clearly believes his own press, much of which he’s actively generating, understandable and even admirable in some ways.
Playing Clough’s assistant, Peter Taylor, is played by Timothy Spall. Ooh, definitely an image there, and a scary one at that. Wormtail/Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter movies, the Beadle in Sweeney Todd. Creepy. But Peter Taylor is in many ways the conscience of this film, and certainly the would-be conscience of Brian Clough.
The team chairman who Clough butts heads with is played by the always terrific Jim Broadbent, almost unrecognizable at times here, especially when his character is in a rage. It’s a small part, but a critical one, and Broadbent eats it up.
Rounding out the group is Colm Meaney as Clough’s nemesis, Leeds United manager Don Revie. Star Trek’s Chief O’Brien playing a mean, cheating (if you believe Clough), cold-hearted guy? Oh, yeah.
The Damned United is based on a book by David Peace, and in adapting the book, screenwriter Peter Morgan kept a feature that’s a bit confusing at first but ultimately works well, moving back and forth between 1974, when Clough spent his 44 days as manager, and the mid 1960s forward. Doing so lets us see Clough’s progression to the point where he could even be considered for the job running the top team in the country.
Leeds was at the top of division one for quite a run going into the early 1970s, with Revie at the helm of a team he’d worked with since many of them were teenagers. As used to be the case with American football, in those days, players often spent their entire career with just one team, and Revie spoke of the family that was Leeds. Along the way, he made some enemies, especially Clough, who always felt Revie disrespected him and his team, Derby County. Revie stepped down from managing Leeds in 1974 to become the coach for the English national team.
In the flashbacks, we watch Clough (with Taylor by his side) take Derby County from the bottom of division three to the top of division one in just a few years. But Clough increasingly butted heads with the team chairman during that time, and shortly after winning the championship, submitted his and Taylor’s resignations as a bluff. Unfortunately for both of them, that bluff got called. In the film, it’s all Clough’s doing because Taylor is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack at the time.
Clough and Taylor are at loose ends (there’s a swell from the fans and players to bring them back, but that’s clearly not going to happen) when the Brighton team comes calling. While Clough’s not thrilled with the location, they make the trip and agree to join that team, but negotiate a vacation for them and their families in Mallorca first. It’s while they’re there that Revie’s resignation is announced, and Leeds’ management comes calling to see if Clough will take the job.
One of the most intense scenes in the film is between Clough and Taylor discussing the Leeds job. Taylor can’t believe Clough’s even considering it – they have always, always hated Leeds (hence the film’s title), and they have an agreement with Brighton. Taylor tells Clough that he won’t go to Leeds, and they exchange some very angry, cruel words, especially from Clough’s end. So, the two part company, Taylor to stay with Brighton, Clough to go to Leeds.
Clough’s past history with Leeds isn’t good, and he makes things worse in a television interview where he basically says the whole team was full of cheaters with Revie the chief among them. It’s clear from his first moments with the Leeds team that they want nothing to do with him, and that sets in motion 44 days of hell during which Leeds can’t win and Clough’s career is dying before his eyes.
Since this is historical, what happened is known: Clough was fired after 44 days, and the film ends with him going to Brighton to beg (literally) Taylor to work with him again, the other major dramatic scene in the film. Sheen and Spall are both outstanding and play off each other very well. Titles at the end tell the rest of the story; the reunited friends take another team (Nottingham Forest, not Brighton) from the depths to the top of the league, and win back-to-back European championships (something Revie never did). And, we’re told Revie was a failure as the England coach, promoted outside his comfort zone.
Sheen’s Clough is arrogant but endearing; he often brings his two young sons with him and there are some nice scenes with them. He’s full of himself, but we’re also shown that he has some reason to be. He’s a more charming character than Revie, certainly.
Interestingly, the deleted scenes that are among a solid set of special features tell a somewhat different story. Much of what was cut are scenes from Clough’s time with Leeds, and he comes across much less sympathetically in most of those. (As when, for example, he summarily fires Revie’s secretary who’s been with the club for 13 years.) The one exception is a scene where the embattled Clough drives back to Leeds to spend a night with his wife and kids, just to be somewhere where everyone doesn’t hate him.
Other special features are a collection of “Cloughisms,” a making of featurette (especially interesting to see/hear how they recreated the playing pitches for Derby and Leeds), “Remembering Brian” with friends and former players reminiscing about the real Clough, who died in 2004 and a featurette on Sheen’s take on Clough. My favorite was a piece on what football was like in the 1970s, including interviews with former players and a football historian. Very interesting, especially for a U.S. “real” football fan to learn about the parallels between what’s happened with soccer and with our game. There’s also a commentary track with the director, Tom Hooper, producer Andy Harries, and Sheen. The disc also has numerous trailers for other Sony Pictures Classics releases.
Language options are English and French, both 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitle options are English, English SDH and French.