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Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on the best-selling book of the same name, The Damned United is the story of one of Britain’s finest ever football managers, Brian Clough, and his curtailed 44-day reign at the helm of Leeds United. It turns out it’s also the tale of his formative years at Derby County, the story of his rivalry with previous Leeds United boss Don Revie, and ultimately, the exploration of his relationship with his assistant, Peter Taylor.
The film explores the story by moving backwards and forwards in time, but always at the heart of The Damned United is its trump card. Michael Sheen has already richly deserved an abundance of plaudits in his acting career, not least for his superb portrayal of David Frost in Frost/Nixon, and he carves out another terrific performance here. Taking on the challenge of playing the larger than life Clough, his work here is tremendous, and the highlight of an already-strong cast that also features Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney.
On the screen, the story of The Damned United is actually distilled into quite a straightforward tale, albeit one considerably enhanced by its aforementioned cast. It wisely keeps its running time trimmed, and while you can’t help but suspect that there’s much to the story that’s not explored here, it’s a good, solid telling of a quite extraordinary tale. Sheen won’t, of course, attract Oscar-attention for such a resoundingly British role, but surely his time, on this latest piece of evidence, will come. --Jon Foster
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Don Revie and Brian Clough were great footballers and great managers, both from Middlesbrough (about 10 miles north of where I grew up) but the film sets them up as tragic enemies in a reputational boxing match in which stinging blow after blow is landed by each to the benefit of neither. David Pearce's novel has Clough as the admirer of Revie who turns against his hero. They battle it out at key points of Clough's early career at Derby County, and at his short career at Leeds itself, and finish it off on TV. Revie leaves for disappointment at England, Clough to be reborn at Nottingham Forest, neither are ever the same again.
Michael Sheen is scary as Clough, Colm Meaney brilliant as Revie, both sound like their counterparts and even begin to look like the originals. The Leeds squad is recognisable even to me at this remove; and so is the pre-Thatcher world of self-made men running British sport with all the witless charm that they ran their businesses. The attitudes, the accents, the fashions and the locations are spot on; yet this is not a sports film, you see very little soccer, it's an old fashioned tragedy about rivalry and hubris, about genius and the deadening effect of the mediocre types who seem to run sport (as they run life). The cast are brilliant and the result a great tale.
Michael Sheen is scary as Clough, Colm Meaney brilliant as Revie, both sound like their counterparts and even begin to look like the originals. The Leeds squad is recognisable even to me at this remove; and so is the pre-Thatcher world of self-made men running British sport with all the witless charm that they ran their businesses. The attitudes, the accents, the fashions and the locations are spot on; yet this is not a sports film, you see very little soccer, it's an old fashioned tragedy about rivalry and hubris, about genius and the deadening effect of the mediocre types who seem to run sport (as they run life). The cast are brilliant and the result a great tale.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
I bought this as a blind buy on the reccomendation of a friend and i am glad i did. i do enjoy football and this film highlighted the politics involved in football at the time. i found this a very entertaining film with some superb acting throughout, definalty worth a watch if you are a fan of the sport.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I saw this, originally, at the cinema and I was a little sceptical. I assumed it was ALL about football, but I wanted to see it as I knew it had a great cast (Michael Sheen - genius!, Tim Spall - multi-talented). I would recommend this to anyone. Guys will love the football and girls will love the story. The film is not really about football, it's about the relationship between Sheen and Spall's characters. I confess, I haven't read the book - but I really did enjoy the film.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
He wasn't saying he was the best manager in the business. But he was...
The damned United is a fictionalised/dramatised representation of the 44 day period spent by Brian Clough in charge of Leeds United. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Andrew Driscoll
Dammed good
The cast alone should make you look twice: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent and Colm Meaney; all of whom are very good. Read more
Published 2 months ago by S J Buck
Drama truelly at its best
Ill be honest with you, football is not my thing, but this dvd features a story so real that I just got hooked. I orignally watched it when it was first aired and loved it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by J Bate
That Damned United!
A really entertaining film The Damned United is based on the novel of the same name by author David Peace. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Andrew Whitby
Captivating but is it fact?. 3.5 stars
Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney & Jim Broadbent are all spot on here. The fashions and the era are hugely entertaining and fairly accurate. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Tommo 18/7 ©
Sheen is Clough
This is probably the best football-related film so far. I generally don't like reality-based films about specific persons because of all the epic nonsense that I can't stand, but... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Lord Anon
Things are going to be a little different around here... without Don.
A look at Brian Clough's 44-day reign as the coach of Leeds United.
The Damned United is an adaptation from David Peace's 2006 novel of the same name, a novel that... Read more
The Damned United is an adaptation from David Peace's 2006 novel of the same name, a novel that... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Spike Owen
Fantastic
This is a great film to be short but I'll try and go into detail!
Michael Sheen plays Brian Clough who's called the greatest manager England never had. Read more
Michael Sheen plays Brian Clough who's called the greatest manager England never had. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Adam P. Johnson
Really, really boring
This is one boring film with britans greatest blair impressionist trying his hand at doing an impression of Brian Clough. The results are as poor as the film. Read more
Published 13 months ago by ekb
Great film
Great for all die hard LUFC fans, could happily watch this again and again.
The acting was superb and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The acting was superb and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Published 14 months ago by LUFC
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