Classic Movie Review: 'The Damned United' Starring Michael Sheen

The Damned United (2009)

Directed by Tom Hooper

Written by Peter Morgan

Starring Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Jim Broadbent

Release Date March 27th, 2009

Published March 11th, 2024.

Michael Sheen has a knack for playing modern historic Englishmen. He rose to stardom playing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair three times. He gained massive acclaim playing flashy TV presenter David Frost in the Oscar nominee Frost/Nixon. For his latest English icon Sheen tackles an English football legend.

Brian Clough's career as the manager of a soccer club almost went down in infamy. He was the manager of England's number 1 soccer club, Leeds United, for only 44 days. The story of how he got there and what he did to blow the gig is one of the most bizarre and humiliating stories in the history of soccer.

In 1968 Brian Clough was the manager of a small, 3rd Division soccer club in Derby. His team has just gotten a huge break, they will host a game against the number one club in all of England, Leeds United and Brian plans to host their legendary manager Don Revie (Colm Meaney). Things do not go as planned. Leeds humiliates Derby, with a little cheating and a lot of talent, and Don Revie blows off Clough completely.

Taking the snub and the loss personally, Brian Clough turns all of his energies toward beating Don Revie. His obsession, as noted repeatedly by his assistant manager, Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) , is a driving force behind his success but also a force for his potential destruction.

Indeed, it is because of Revie and Leeds that Clough blows up and blows the Derby job and with it Taylor's job as well. On the verge of being sent back to the bottom of the soccer world, Clough is surprised by fate in 1974 when Don Revie leaves Leeds to become the English National team manager. The owners of Leeds United want Brian as their new manager and he is ready; not just to take over but to remake the team in his image.

Directed by Tom Hooper from a script by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) The Damned United bounces back and forth through time to deliver the dueling stories of Brian Clough's rise and fall. Clough was an ego monster who may have never achieved his success or his greatest failure if not for one blow to his ego by Don Revie.

This one moment was both his ugly inspiration and his ultimate downfall. Michael Sheen makes this both poignant and maddening in a performance that evokes a wild eyed car salesman crossed with Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire. To put Brian Clough in an American sports context he is comparable to say Billy Martin or maybe Mike Ditka only more self destructive and egotistical than both.

It's a remarkable performance and one that should have earned Sheen an Oscar nomination that also eluded him in both The Queen and Frost/Nixon. The Damned United is funny and fascinating, aggressive and agitating. Directed with smarts and savvy by future , the film flies on the performance of Michael Sheen who is electric in the role. A live wire with a gleam of madness and menace behind his eyes, the performance will be familiar to anyone who ever knew someone seemingly incapable of getting out of their own way.

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