I guess you can say that I am in the very distinct minority in the US when it comes to soccer. I love it, especially English football, which has a rick, deep and at times, crazy history. Teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forrest, Reading and Derby Country, just to name but a few. Even the names of the stadiums evoke the richness of that history, with monikers such as Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield and Craven’s Cottage immediately coming to mind! Better than the Wachovia Center don’t you think?

As an aside, isn’t the concept of relegation a wonderful thing? I would love to see that in the US. One would think that with this rich history there would be a great movie in there somewhere. I am pleased to report that there is and it is the subject of today’s review, The Damned United. The great thing about this film is the you don’t need to be a fan of English football or a sports fan at all to enjoy it.

Film 

Simply put, this is a great film, even if it has been somewhat overlooked by the general public, which is a shame. The Damned United has everything that you could want in a film. It is well written and directed, full of drama and incredible performances by the entire cast, which features some great English character actors such as Jim Broadbent and Timothy Spall and another memorable performance by Michael Sheen in the lead role of Brian Clough.

At this point in time, Michael Sheen has to be recognized as one of the world’s great actors. As is the case with one of my all time favorite actors, Gary Oldman, Michael Sheen has the rather unique ability to totally become the character that he is playing, to that point that you totally forget that it is an actor playing that role. This is a gift that is shared by a precious few.

The film centers on the early years in the career of Brian Clough, universally regarded as the greatest manager in the history of English Football. Brian Clough was a man before his time in terms of the way he thought the game should be played as well as his ability to use the media, especially television. He sure had the gift of gab, to the point that he even came to the attention of one of the most gifted communicative athletes of all time, Mohammed Ali.

The film jumps back and forth between time periods, mainly 1968-69 and 1974. showing him taking over the reigns of the dominant football club of the era, Division 1 champion Leeds United and back to 1968 when he along with his trusted assistant and sounding board, Peter Taylor, took a perennial small town second division club, Derby County, to the championship of the first division and the top spot in all of English football.

While Brain Clough was a very gifted man, he let his ego get the better of him, which is where his friend and advisor, Peter Taylor was his greatest asset. Brian Clough’s desire to be the best manager in England was driven not only by his ego, by his hatred of Don Rivie, the manager of Leeds United, who is played beautifully here by Colm Meaney (talk about look a likes!). After letting his ego get in the way of his management of Reading County, he and Peter Taylor were as the English say, sacked. They were then hired by a small town club, Briton. However, days later, Brian Clough was asked to assume the reigns of the hated Leeds United after Don Revie resigned to take over the management of England’s national a team.

This was a doomed marriage from the start as Peter Taylor refused to renegue on his commitment to Briton and refused to join Clough at Leeds. Clough’s management style was rejected by the Leeds players resulting in the worst start in many years, resulting in his dismissal as manager in only 44 days.

The Damned United is a compelling story of the power of the ego, for good as well as bad, and the value of true friendship. This is a great little film and one that shouldn’t be overlooked. The film should appeal to fans and non fans of football, i.e. soccer, and is very highly recommended.

Video 

The Damned United is a highly stylized looking film and looks great its its debut on Blu-ray. The film’s color palette various continuously throughout the film. At times, the film features a fairly natural looking palette. At time, the film has a washed out look and at other times, a purplish, bluish gray look. However, this is how the film is intended to look and the encode reproduces it perfectly. Blacks are deep throughout most of the film but at times, during the more washed out portions of the film are more milky than inky. However, that is just how the film is supposed to look. What is uniform throughout the entire film is a high level of detail, clarity and depth.

Background details are excellent, with each and every skin pore and blemish clearly visible as is each and every blade of grass and divot on the pitch. In addition to the color palette changing throughout the film the same can be said for the film grain, which is heavy at times and at times barely noticeable, depending on the type of film stock used. I couldn’t detect any obvious evidence of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement being applied during the encode. Visible video noise also is kept to a minimum in the darker lit scenes. In short, this is a great looking encode and is one which is totally faithful to the look of the actual film and was a thrill to experience for the first time on Blu-ray.

Audio 

In terms of overall fidelity, the audio presentation on the Blu-ray is very good, with a smooth and rich sound. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The dialogue is always intelligible which is important given that The Damned United is a dialogue driven film. Where the audio fails a bit for me is in the sound design, which is very front heavy. The surrounds are used very infrequently, and come to life mostly during the football action and crowd shots, where a bit of an immersive effect is created.

I would have preferred a more aggressive use of the surrounds in the interior scenes, especially during locker room sequences, where the reflective surfaces naturally create an active acoustic environment, but which sound rather dry here. All in all, the audio on The Damned United is fine. I just would have preferred a more immersive experience. As far as this writer is concerned, the more immersive the better.

Special Features 

If you are a fan of English football, you will no doubt appreciate the extras on this release. They include a commentary with director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and producer Andy Harries. Also included is a featurette “Cloughisms” with some memorable Clough dialogue, a making of featurette “Perfect Pitch” featuring interviews with Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and the writer of the book, upon which the film is based, David Peace.

Also included is a featurette “Creating Clough: Michael Sheen takes on ‘Old Big ‘Ead’, where Michael Sheen discusses how he went about creating his character and features archival footage of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. The real gem of the extras, at least for me, is the featurette “The Changing Game: Football in the Seventies” where actual players from Leeds United and other clubs during the time period of the film, discuss what football in the 1970′s was like and how it differs from today, as well as their recollections of Brian Clough and Don Rivie.

What I found particularly interesting about this featurette is how English football had a very violent edge to it, just like ice hockey in the US and Canada during that same time period. It is interesting to note how similar two very different sports were to each other at the same time, despite the great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean and the lack of television coverage that we have today.

I also found interesting how the old players lament how they miss the good old days, where the players would ride the same bus with the fans to the game, drink in the same pubs after the game and have a more intimate connection with the fans than exists today. The same is true today in the US, where fans mention how before so much TV money was pumped into sports in the 1980′s, how the players used to live in the same community as the team, hold off season jobs in the community and interact with the fans on a more one to one basis, something that has been lost ever since. The Damned United is also BD-Live enabled.

Final Thoughts 

The Damned United is an overlooked gem of a film that deserves a more wider audience than it has received to date. It may be hard to find but is well worth a look and is highly recommended.