Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-08-31
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

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

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

Synopsis
Michael Sheen (THE QUEEN, FROST/NIXON), in another of his seamless performances, plays legendary football manager Brian Clough during his disastrous and brief tenure as manager of Leeds UTD in the 1970s. Talented but abrasive, Clough alienates some of those around him, including his rival, Don Revie, his predecessor on Leeds UTD’s bench. When Clough has the chance to coach Leeds, he takes on the difficult role of the manager of the country’s best soccer team. But outspoken Clough strongly disagrees with the aggressive soccer style the team has become famous for, while he has to struggle, quite unsuccessfully, to gain the trust and cooperation of his players. Also starring Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, and Colm Meaney, the film is based on the critically acclaimed book by David Peace and adapted for the screen by Peter Morgan (THE QUEEN, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND).

• Commentary with Director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and Producer Andy Harries
• 'Perfect Pitch: The Making Of The Damned United' Featurette
• 'Creating Clough': Michael Sheen Takes on 'Old Big Head' Featurette
• 'The Changing Game: Football In The Seventies' Featurette
• 'Remembering Brian' Featurette
• Cloughisms
• Deleted Scenes

Customer Reviews

Golden Era well evoked
"The Damned United" is a thoroughly entertaining movie about the early career of the legendary British football manager Brian Clough.It focuses mainly on his brief time as manager of Leeds United in 1974 following a successful few seasons as manager of unfashionable Derby County during which he won the League Championship for them.Clough never liked Leeds' style of football nor their manager Don Revie and publicly slated them in the media , making his decision to become their new boss following Revie's resignation a puzzling one. Clough's abrasive and disrespectful approach to the Leeds players alienated him from them even further and when results went against him early on in the 1974-1975 season, the writing was on the wall for Clough and he was duly sacked."The Damned United" chronicles this whole period.The remarkable Michael Sheen acts Brian Clough superbly in this film and he is ably supported by Timothy Spall who plays his sidekick Peter Taylor and Colm Meaney as his nemesis Don Revie. The acting is excellent throughout and the whole period is portrayed convincingly well."The Damned United" is one of the best films about football that I have seen.

Throw your fish'n'chips in the bin! We're having bhuna!
The Damned United is a well above average British film, and highly enjoyable. It tells the story of Brian Clough's short reign as Leeds manager, and with good use of flashback shows the main reasons why his tenure was only a month and a half long.

Although The Damned United's a sports film to an extent, you won't need to be heavily into the history of Leeds Utd to get a lot from this film. United is no more about sports than Cool Runnings, Slap Shot, or Any Given Sunday - like these, what it's really about is the journey taken by the characters. (Like in Cool Runnings, the characters are going to be in for a bumpy ride, especially Clough.)

Visuals - 10/10 this assuredly isn't an all flares and Texan bars representation of the 1974. Clever use of the film medium, and seamless editing with genuine 70s footage makes this a treat to watch. The visual direction is uniformly excellent, recreating rather than nostalgising the era in question).

Script - 9/10 almost perfect - doesn't go all out for funny lines, yet there's humour all over the place among the serious stuff and the right balance is acheived. The pace of the script is excellent too - not a dull minute over the entire hour and thirty seven minutes.

Acting 10/10 (Colm Meaney in a particular as Don Revie, even if his true accent does manifest occasionally. Jim Broadbent as Derby's elderly chairman is played with subtle pathos - excellent).

Not much more to say really - except to anyone thinking about making a British film set in the 1970s: watch and learn, kids. Watch and learn.

The life of Brian
This film directed by Tom Hooper, is a thoroughly entertaining movie. You do not have to like football to enjoy it, but my guess is that the audience will be mainly people who enjoy football wholeheartelly. It has been suggested that this is the best film yet about football.

There are at least three fine performances form the main actors .Sheen does pretty well in his latest attempt to capture the mannerisms and visual tics of Clough and he also nailed the swagger and the arrogance however he misses the crucial intimations of humility and vulnerability that Clough occasionaly had.

This movie does credit to a coach who remains in the annals of English football, he remains one of the most charismatic, bullish and successful figures in the history of the game and is still the only domestic manager to win back-to-back European cups.

The movie offers a snapshot of another era that serves as a prologue to the Clough story.

The Extras include; Commentary with Director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and Producer Andy Harries 'Perfect Pitch: The Making Of The Damned United' Featurette
'Creating Clough''The Changing Game: Football In The Seventies' Featurette 'Remembering Brian' Featurette Cloughisms ( very funny ) and deleted Scenes.