Best film about Footie ever?

[bill hicks]

I was most excited to see that a workprint of 'The Football Factory' appeared on suprnova last night. Just finished the download and from the first five minutes it looks a very good adaptation....it can be found through a search there.

If you don't know this is the long, long gestated film version of probably the best book about Footie ever, dealing with Chelsea hooligans from the viewpoint of the sociopolitical pressures of post-Thatcherism on the working class, and specifically south London.

The book also has the best opening lines ever (sadly not in the film as far as I can see):

"Coventry are fuck all. They've got a shit team and shit support. Hitler had the right idea when he flattened the place."


Those not keen on usage of the word cunt are advised not to watch.

[Peking O]

What about 'Escape To Victory'? Now that was class.

[hymen spaz]

'Bend it like Beckham'

This was a seminal moment in......... in .... well not much really.

but it did have the line "who wants to cook aloo gobi when you can bend it like Beckham"

must be in the top 5 quotes of all time.

[mook]

There was one I saw years back, about two young girls in a boarding school or an orphanage or something getting into all sorts of scrapes trying to meet Danny Blancheflower. Can't even remember if it was any good or not let alone what it was called.

Edit to add... a bit of googling reveals it was this 'un.

Isn't there an unwritten law that all footie films are shite though, come to think of it all sports films are shite aren't they? Except The Bad News Bears,  fucking class that was.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

"The World Cup of 1966".*

I got that on DVD. The acting's amazing. Good commentary too.

*Yes, I do deserve to be shot in the head.

[daveytaylor]

The best football film was within another film.

It was the football bit in Kes with Brian Glover. Class mini film, class comedy... just class.

I always wanted to make a film about Sunday side football which is tragic and hilarious in equal measures (Sunday side football that is... not the film)

[bill hicks]

Just finished watching it and even though it's just an early edit it looks pretty good.

Some pretty rank amateur acting it though...someone needs to tell british filmmakers that just because you shoot on DV doesn't mean you can't employ actual actors in the minor roles. Your mates are not fucking De Niro.

However it pisses on ID and lives up to the book...just about.

Not enough made of the hooligans outside London though. In the book some of the pivotal scenes in the build up to the Millwall match are outside the capital, but in this you just get Tottenham and a brief bit of Liverpool before it.

Nice use of Oasis too, and I despise them.

[king mob]

What about 'Escape To Victory'? Now that was class.

Who cant love a film that features Sly Stallone, Mike Caine, John Wark, Bobby Moore & Pele?

WHO?

[Peking O]

Shaolin Soccer is pretty amazing as well.  

http://miramax.com/shaolin_soccer/index.html

[r smelly]

graham taylor's - england manager, hardest job in the world


can we not knock it?

[bill hicks]

I missed most of that and I've never seen a repeat of it. Does anyone know if there's a DVD of it?

[king mob]

I missed most of that and I've never seen a repeat of it. Does anyone know if there's a DVD of it?

Theres an R1 version, as yet there seems to be no plan of a U.K release.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Is "Mike Bassett - England Manager" any good?

[Pythov]

Mike Basset..., was perdy poor i thought.

Although not a film, I loved jossys giants when i was younger.  Likewise, on tv, was An evening with gary lineker, I enjoyed that (clunes was in it).

Fever Pitch and when saturday comes were all right, and Mean Machine (uk, not the one it was based on) had some very amusing on field and in nick moments.

Obviously Escape to victory is a cheesy classic and I will watch it whenever it gets put on during a bank holiday.

I cant remember the name of a film (british) from a few years ago with a kids footie team where the main kid had a special boot/foot.  It was manchester based and I fell asleep through it, although thats not to say it was boring, what I saw I enjoyed.

I haven't seen bend it like bekham yet so I can't comment.

I'm sure theres others I have seen, and others I have never heard of.  Will be interesting to see what films get mentioned.

[bill hicks]

I missed most of that and I've never seen a repeat of it. Does anyone know if there's a DVD of it?

Theres an R1 version, as yet there seems to be no plan of a U.K release.

An R1 version!!!

That's taking the fucking piss.

[king mob]

No mention of Sean Bean in When Saturday Comes?

[Concerned But Powerless]

No mention of Sean Bean in When Saturday Comes?

To correct the balance, brace yourself, for Bean-fest:



He's dead grim I think.

[king mob]

Thats too much Bean for this time of day.

I cant remember too much about the film apart from it being grim & northern & Bean plays a blinder of a game.

[elderford]

I don't really understand the fascination with football, and my entire cultural reference to it comes from a school showing of Escape to Victory.

However, the best soccer film is of course Shaolin Soccer, kung fu football, well worth a look in if any of the whores ever get a chance to see it,

here's the trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/shaolin_soccer-tlr2.html

[king mob]

They dont make posters like that anymore:)

[Lord Spong]

I'm sure I've read this book.  It's a good read, despite being pages and pages of "...United had a good crew, and then Bazza got stabbed, so I chinned the cunt, and the rozzers chased us to the train station...".  Had no idea they were doing a film version though.

Anyway, surely this is the best soccer film ever



Also, I can't let this go by, despite it being true.

"Coventry are fuck all. They've got a shit team and shit support. Hitler had the right idea when he flattened the place."

Oh yeah, come on then ya fuckers, we'll take you all on, and yer mates, Sky Blue Army etc etc....

[swinny]

A Shot at Glory

...stumbled upon this one evening flicking through Sky Movies and somehow ended up watching it all. Memorable if only for the fact Robert Duvall sports the WORST Scottish accent EVER and you get to see Ally McCoist swear alot (we'll ignore his love scene bit though, cos thats just too scary for words!)

Perhaps notable for the fact they don't actually win the cup at the end, despite being the plucky underdogs (with McCoist as the fallen-striker having one last stab at glory)...set in Scotland also and plays alot on the Catholic/Protestant divides between Glasgow and Rangers...which is kinda brave (if rather badly done).

Not very good, but a little different from the norm.

[hencole]

Georgie Girl is the best football film, but only because it passed as a lesson once in school.

[colonel k]

Georgie Girl is the best football film, but only because it passed as a lesson once in school.

Don't you mean Gregory's Girl?!? Watched it also in a school lesson, only because I'd seen it before and encouraged the teacher to let us watch it cos' its great!
Must be the best film about footy ever, the best film about school & school romance for that matter! Blimey, best film ever full stop! Gordon Sinclair never better, and a lovely footballing girlie - what more could you ask for?!!

Pity about the sequel though....

[bill hicks]

Also, I can't let this go by, despite it being true.

"Coventry are fuck all. They've got a shit team and shit support. Hitler had the right idea when he flattened the place."

Oh yeah, come on then ya fuckers, we'll take you all on, and yer mates, Sky Blue Army etc etc....

As a lifelong Spurs supporter I am obliged to call you a jammy cunt about now.

Jammy cunt.

Although can I also remind you.....:

Sutton's day of fame
By James Wright. Wednesday, 31 December 2003.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahead of this weekend's FA Cup Third Round, TheFA.com looks back at a classic match from the Cup's history - the remarkable defeat of Coventry City by non-League outfit Sutton United.
In the mid to late 1980s Coventry City, under the management of George Curtis and then John Sillett, were one of English football's top sides. The Sky Blues' greatest moment came in the 1987 FA Cup when Keith Houchen's diving header beat Tottenham and landed Coventry their first, and to date only, major trophy.

When two seasons later they were drawn away to Sutton United of the Conference, few expected the First Division side to have any trouble in reaching the next stage of the competition.

However, the season before Sutton had taken Middlesbrough to a replay, so Coventry were all too aware that the little Surrey side could be a potential banana skin.

With 8,000 spectators packed in their compact Gander Green Lane ground, Sutton set about the game in a thoughtful manner, not trying to impose themselves in a physical manner on their illustrious visitors but rather try to play some contructive football.

Such was Sutton's ability that the game quickly became a really well balanced encounter and the home side took the lead when Tony Rains scored from Micky Stephens' corner just before half-time.

In the second half David Phillips scored for Coventry and at that stage it looked as though Sillett's side would come through to win. That they didn't was due to some courageous defending and goalkeeping, a little slice of luck and Matt Hanlan's well taken winner.

Goalscorer Rains remembers the game well: "Within 30 seconds of the final whistle the entire pitch was covered with supporters," he recalls.

"We didn't want to leave the scene and go back to our changing room. After a while we even went up into the stands to watch the celebrations and soak it all in.

"We all knew we would never have this experience again and we got beaten 8-0 by Norwich in the next round. That result against Coventry was the highlight of my career by a very long way.

"Everybody still wants to talk to me about it, especially at this time of year, and then all those great feelings come flooding back."

Sutton fucking United! Hahaha.

[Nearly Annually]

I don't really understand the fascination with football

Aw, it hurt getting picked last all the time didn't it?


Poof.

[mook]

Shouldn't that be.

Aw, it hurt getting picked last all the time didn't it?



Goalie.

[bill hicks]

I was once put in goal during games.I told them repeatedly I'm a shit goalie but did they listen?

Once it got to 7-4 against us they FINALLY realised that someone a foot taller than everyone else and captain of the house Rugby team should be in central defence and moved me.

End result....10-9 to us. I cleared one off the line and their strikers never got another header in the game.

There's a lesson there I think.

(But I still got picked last all the time)

[Lord Spong]

Sutton fucking United! Hahaha.

Oh.  That defeat against Sutton United happened on my birthday.  The worse thing was the dread expectancy of returning to school on the Monday, where I knew all the scouse/manc fans would take the piss mercilessly, and they did.

The year after the Sutton defeat  we were knocked out of the FA Cup by Northampton Town.   This year we were knocked out by Colchester United.  You get used to it eventually.

Heh heh, Spurs fan.  Did you know there was a Coventry City fanzine called Gary Mabbutt's Knee?

[elderford]

Aw, it hurt getting picked last all the time didn't it?

Yeh, but I was sensitive and good at drawing so leave me alone.

Mook how did you know I was always the Goalie?

That said I schooled in Wales, so we usually played rugby and I was denied the option of being in goal.