The Damned United: Difference between revisions

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[[File:damnedunitedposter_1048.jpg|frame]]
 
''[[The Damned United]]'' is a book written by David Peace, later adapted into a movie by Tom Hooper and starring [[Michael Sheen]]. The main character is the famous British [[The Beautiful Game|football manager]], Brian Clough. The account is largely fictional and tells two different stories, so to speak, at the same time: Clough's tenure as manager of Leeds United, interlaced with the story of his career as a manager up to that point, mainly his time at Derby County.
 
One interesting aspect of both the book and the movie is that it's a rare sport story that subverts/averts/ignores pretty much all the traditional [[Sports Story Tropes]] we're so used to: there is no [[Big Game]] and the games don't come [[Down to the Last Play]], the [[Underdogs Never Lose|underdogs can and will lose]], and the [[Opposing Sports Team]] isn't even a villain! As [[Roger Ebert]] summarizes in his review of the movie: "''The Damned United'' avoids all sports movie cliches, even the obligatory ending where the [[Miracle Rally|team comes from behind]]. Is this the first sports movie where the [[Break the Haughty|hero comes from ahead and loses]]?"
 
{{tropelist}}
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=== Tropes Include: ===
 
* [[Adaptation Displacement]]
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The movie condenses the events of the book and focuses on the key moments, without losing its essence.
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* [[But for Me It Was Tuesday]]: In the film, Revie is honestly taken aback that Clough has been harboring such a grudge for so long, over an incident he himself didn't even ''notice''.
* [[A Father to His Men]]: Don Revie calls himself this for his Leeds players, and this is how they view him in return.
{{quote| '''Clough:''' They won't play for me, your boys. Your bastard sons.}}
* [[The Film of the Book]]: The 2009 film starring [[Michael Sheen]], Colm Meaney, and Timothy Spall.
* [[Foreshadowing]]: In the film, Taylor foreshadows real life's more [[Distant Finale]] when, at the end, he makes it up with Clough but says that he knows Clough will "fuck things up" between them again.
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* [[Happily Ever After]]: The film ends with Clough and Taylor reconciled and they go on to take Nottingham Forest to the top of the leagues, just as they did with Derby County. This is based on real events. What's elided is their final falling out and the anguish Clough felt over Taylor's early death. The film ends on a definite high note, reality not so much.
** The final title card in the film reads "Brian Clough remains the best manager [the English national team] never had." so it's kind of [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] regardless.
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Clough and Taylor
* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: Peter Taylor for Clough, specially in the movie.
** It's not that Clough isn't competent, but he wouldn't have gotten very far without Taylor's expertise. The film's ending has him realizing this.
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* [[Homoerotic Subtext]]: Clough and Taylor. The whole movie could be considered a bromance between them. They both have wives and children but they seem to spend more time hugging and kissing each other.
** Not to mention their reconciliation, which plays out like a [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Clough and Taylor
* [[Jerkass Has a Point]]: Revie's [[Reason You Suck Speech]] at the end brings about the reconciliation of Clough and Taylor.
* [[Miser Advisor]]: Sam Longson
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* [[The Rival]]: Revie to Clough. [[But for Me It Was Tuesday|Not that Revie knew]] he was actually Clough's [[Arch Enemy]].
** [[Rival Turned Evil]]: How Clough views Revie, he originally considered him a [[Worthy Opponent]] and [[Not So Different]] but after meeting (or pointedly ''not meeting'') the man, he changes his view of him.
* [[The Seventies]]
* [[Smug Snake]]: How Clough views Don Revie, and presumably what the Leeds player think of Brian Clough. Along with [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]].
* [[Took a Level Inin Jerkass]]: Clough is so consumed by his rivalry with Revie that he becomes a [[Jerkass]] towards anyone who gets in his way.
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: The book is seen through Clough's eyes, making the true nature of the characters more ambiguous than the movie.
* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]
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[[Category:Sports Stories]]
[[Category:The Damned United]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Damned United, The}}
[[Category:Film]]