Had a night away from the laptop yesterday, and took Mrs Builder to the cinema in Burton to see 'The Damned United'.I clearly remember Brian Clough's short spell at Leeds United, being an 8 year old soccer-mad kid and Leeds fan living in the city. I also remember the hostility awarded to Clough by the people of the city, fans or otherwise.
The film sensibly avoids being a film about football. It concentrates on the relationships between Clough and three others - his friend and number two Peter Taylor, his rival Don Revie, and his Derby Chairman Sam Longson. Whilst the film's biggest weakness is the shallowness of the secondary characters - Johnny Giles is played by an actor who thinks he's playing Vinny Jones - it has two main strengths. Firstly, Taylor, Revie and Longson ( Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney and Jim Broadbent ) are excellent in their roles.
And secondly ( and the reason you should see this movie ), Michael Sheen as Brian Clough makes the film. Forget about the football, Sheen plays Clough superbly. I believe the book from which the film is adapted is a bit of a hatchet job, but Sheen makes him a likeable if complicated man, and you come away from the film with admiration for Clough and similar admiration for Sheen.
And watching in a Burton cinema, you also get a sharp intake of breath when, during an argument with Taylor, Clough barks 'without me, you'd still be at Burton Albion'!
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