The opening credits of this movie feature some of the most evocative scenes of what is was like to be part of grass roots football in the 1970's. Grimy rooftops give way to a chugging freight train whose journey passes by a football ground where a game is taking place in an absolute quagmire. The ball should be white but is plastered in mud as are all the players. This is the way it used to be. Those from the locality will recognise the ground of Maidenhead United. Unfortunately that is the high point of the movie as thereafter it becomes a cheesy & predictable story of of a drunken ex-pro footballer who gets the opportunity to make good one last time. Actually, Ian McShane is very good in the role although his gait in the football action sequences is not that of a gifted footballer. Sam Kydd plays his father. Were there any British movies of that era Sam Kydd wasn't in?
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Reggie_Tappolski27 July 2017
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gavcrimson23 September 2020A prime piece of late 1970s' fluff starring Ian McShane as a (sort of) George Best character and Paul Nicholas as a wealthy pop star who has bought into a football club (I'm guessing this part of the film was inspired by Elton John's involvement with Watford FC). Written by renown football expert Jackie Collins, and also starring Suzanne Somers as Cloudy, the type of female character name you could only get in a film written by Jackie Collins ...with Alan Lake in all his medallion man glory, who appears to have done more lines offscreen than he gets onscreen.
Whereas most movies with Jackie Collins' name attached to them were ubiquitous during the VHS era (especially 'The Stud' and 'The Bi*ch') this one mysteriously never made it to video in the UK, but has been dusted off a few times recently by Talking Pictures TV. -
Prismark1011 January 2021Yesterday's Hero is Rocky meet George Best via Elton John and Saturday Night Fever. It certainly was an oddball film which explained why the British movie industry was dying by the end of the 1970s.
Rod Turner (Ian McShane) is the over the hill womanising football player who is fond of the booze. He gets a chance to play with a lower league side owned by a pop star Clint Simon. The team is having a great run in the FA Cup and Turner has the experience if not quiet the legs anymore.
Only the manager Jake (Adam Faith) hates Turner and the feeling is mutual.
The movie is basically will the team reach the FA cup final. Can Turner keep off the booze and the self destructive lifestyle. Will the songs get better.
The movie is filled with disco themed songs sung by Paul Nicholas who plays Clint and the token American Suzanne Somers who is the perky Cloudy.
While the team are doing well, Clint is on an around the world tour. You know this as Clint goes 'Hello Amsterdam' or 'Hello Stockholm' but the stage looks the same wherever they go.
As for Adam Faith. He is the most unconvincing football manager I have seen.
The script by Jackie Collins was merely functional and she toned down the sauciness. Director Neil Leifer was too inexperienced. You can tell from the training footage sequences. It is no Rocky.
At least McShane gave a committed performance and it would had worked better if the script was good and the songs were excised from it. -
moonspinner557 February 2015British-Australian co-production has former football (soccer) star Ian McShane, grizzled, out-of-shape and boozing, offered a comeback opportunity; he gets support from football club chairman Paul Nicholas and his girlfriend, pop singer Suzanne Somers, who once had a fling with McShane during his glory years. Would-be feel-good drama (written by Jackie Collins, of all people!) with schizophrenic ingredients, such as the overlong disco numbers which come butting into the narrative like television commercials. A decent actor, McShane gives the picture whatever interest it has; there is no energy, and the plot comes to a foregone conclusion. Somers, wearing clothes "from her closet", seems to have been beamed in from an entirely different program (as if two TV stations got jammed together). A dogged underachiever, one that went unreleased in the States despite Suzanne's popularity at the time from "Three's Company". *1/2 from ****
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YESTERDAY'S HERO is an odd little film about a washed-up drunken footballer trying to get his life back on track. I watched it for two reasons: one is that I've been getting into these 'kitchen sink' type dramas recently and I was expecting more of the same, and two, I'm a massive fan of Ian McShane and I was looking forward to seeing him in a different role from the usual gangster tough guys and the like. I think it's fair to comment that McShane makes this movie. He completely convinces as the former star and gets the viewer on side despite not playing an entirely sympathetic hero. He's thoroughly believable and the consummate professional as always. Sadly, the rest of the film can't match his talent. The film was written by Jackie Collins and has a high level of cheese and schmaltz in it that I wasn't expecting.
Worst of all are the random disco dancing sequences which are shoe-horned into the plot at random intervals and which seem to go on and on endlessly. These feature American starlet Suzanne Somers and Adam Faith teaming up to perform a number of cheesy duets with some of the annoyingly catchy tunes playing repeatedly throughout. Now, I'm a fan of '70s music so I liked the tunes here, but they're completely out of place compared to the rest of the film which goes for a gritty atmosphere and they slow things down considerably. It's almost as if they were added in as an afterthought following the success of Saturday NIGHT FEVER and they do a disservice to McShane's central plot line. -
wilvram31 December 2020One of those films so utterly banal and predictable as to be almost enjoyable on that account alone, the soccer world of Yesterday's Hero seems now nearly as distant as that of the superior Arsenal Stadium Mystery of forty years earlier. A time when virtually all weekend games kicked off at 15.00 on a Saturday, muddy pitches on some grounds from early winter on, teams rather than 'squads' and when you could pronounce all the players' names. A wealthy owner signing a player over the head of the manager would also look absurd back then, but now seems commonplace, so in that regard the film is prescient.
Not a big fan of Ian McShane but he's excellent here, giving the only really convincing performance and blends in well with the footage from the Forest/Southampton League cup final. (To me he has a passing resemblance to the superb England goalkeeper of the era, Peter Shilton.) Neither Adam Faith nor Paul Nicholas were great actors to say the least, the latter also turning up in another Jackie Collins' epic The World Is Full Of Married Men, released shortly prior to this. So for fans of Ms Collins and Mr Nicholas, 1979 was their year. -
MrsAlSwearengen5 September 2005YESTERDAY'S HERO is a slightly schizophrenic film; there is the engaging plot concerning the washed-up, boozy ex-professional footballer played by Ian McShane, and the "pop stars" plot concerning Adam Faith and THREE'S COMPANY's Suzanne Somers.
Both Faith and Somers are adequate actors, but their awful pop music performances are laughable and interminable. Somers must have had some influence in the production, as no sane filmmaker would have featured her endless, insipid stage performances which fill so much screen time. Somers prances and twists around embarrassingly while singing stupid songs, and Faith does his usual ho-hum pretty boy stuff. Fast-forward through their songs unless you are die-hard fans, and you will actually have a nice little character study which is fit for more than one viewing.
McShane portrays the soccer player character with his usual capable aplomb, giving the character a dark pathos and haggard appeal. A film made today, especially in the US, would have cast someone fit and beautiful in the role. It is satisfying to see McShane's scrawny build and tired, convincingly hung-over face in the role, as he truly seems to inhabit the character in the film.
Trivia for McShane fans: Ian McShane's father, Harry, played for Manchester United and other professional teams during the 1950's and 60's. Ian flirted with becoming a soccer player as a youngster but today his fans are happy he wasn't good enough to make the grade. -
This is supposed to be a film about a washed up soccer player getting one more chance to play in the big leagues(the Yesterday's Hero of the title) but that is only part of the story. Instead, we have this weird pseudo-love angle between the soccer player (Ian McShane) and a pretty American singer (Suzanne Sommers). What makes this so unwatchable are the dreadful disco songs that Sommers sings. Not only are they bad, but the songs are sung in their entirety. Yup, 4 minutes of screen time at a time of Sommers and Paul Nichols singing their turgid disco love songs. Nichols plays the record executive who owns the team. You see, when he was growing up, the Ian McShane character was his idol, so now he wants to give him a chance to be today's hero (do you see what I did there?). The soccer sequences are good and McShane puts in a believable performance but the unbearable disco song sequences kill the mood. Soccer fans, you should only watch this if you have exhausted all other possibilities including watching seven-year-olds playing at your local park. I give it 4 soccer balls out of 10 only because of the soccer sequences shot in old English stadiums. You have been warned.
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uds312 December 2003One of the last films I ever reviewed for the Sydney Sun many years ago. Just on a quarter of a century since, the fondness hasn't grown I have to say!
McShane is passably good as the ex soccer star with a heavy dependence on the frosty brew and who dreams of the big comeback! Nope, this wasn't a biopic of Georgie Best. An adaptation of a Jackie Collins story no less - which should give you some idea of its classical pedigree.
Dear old Adam Faith (pop icon of the early 60's - WHAT DO YOU WANT, POOR ME and for a fortnight, Sunday Mornings' most requested song on the Jean Metcalfe hour.....SOMEONE ELSE'S BAYBEE!) plays Jake Marsh trying to help McShane in his quest. Kind of a BUDGIE role for him!..know wot I mean?
What DOES tag this as a memorable production. Can you believe a seventeen year old Cary Elwes no less as a disco dancer? It was his first screen appearance. Long long way from the London of the 70's to LIAR LIAR and TWISTER!
No great shakes of an Aussie/UK co-production. Think you could be hangin' out for a while waiting for the dvd! -
fostrhod28 December 2020Yesterday's Hero starring Ian McShane as Rod Turner ageing alcoholic footballer, whose signed by the Saints to help them on their cup run. The Saints owned by Clint Simons ( Paul Nicholas) Simons is the rockstar owner of the club , who just happens to going out with pop singer Cloudy , who just happens to be the ex girlfriend of Rod. Throw in lots of clips of Turner training ala Rocky, and a local children's home in which Turner sponsors and trains ( you see he isn't all bad) and how about a bitter ex team mate of Turners ( an excellent Adam Faith) who is jealous of the career that Turner drank away.
It's a great film, enjoyable with all the obvious cliches you will expect. Down side are the musical clips, which are there to sell the supporting compilation album, this must have been one of the first movie/album tie ins.
The music is embarrassing Symons and Cloudy sound and act like a poor and Dollar before Trevor Horn got hold of them .
That said the football scenes are quite good, using footage of Notts Forest v Southampton 1979 league cup final cut with close up shots of Turner evading tackles etc.
If you want realism in your football films I'd settle for the Damned United, if that film was the old first division, Yesterday's Hero is the 3rd Division in the promotion places. -
torrascotia14 September 2021This is one of those upbeat 70s movies about an alcoholic football player who's career is on the skids, but for some unfathomable reason he is given a second bite of the cherry.
This has to be one of the least known UK football movies and based on my viewing it's easy to see why. Simply put there is more disco than football. And I mean there's a lot of it. And it's not even good disco, it's very bad disco. It's the worst kind of disco imaginable. The reason there is so much bad music is that the owner of the team just happens to be a singer. So we have to endure disco when he sings.....but also during any of the football scenes. So it's a double disco endurance test.
The cast are basically a who's who of every bad male 1970s UK TV actor around. They look so out of place in a movie. Even McShane seems disinterested.
Fans of football movies look away, it may serve as a snapshot of the worst UK fashion and music scenes of the 70s, but that's basically it.
Maybe because it was written by a famous female author much of the so called action is centred around the protagonists love life, but even that aspect is pretty flat.
Maybe watch it to say you have seen it but you have been warned, it's a bit like being stuck at a wedding dance and the DJ only has obscure disco tracks he enjoys but nobody else does, and every now and then you have to listen to an old drunk tell you about how they could have been a great footballer. Head for the exit! -
pottsymaskell24 December 2016The film does not try to be anything it isn't. you can identify with the characters - and it is a snap shot in time when football was in reach and the players were real and not overpaid primadonnas !! McShane is amazing as the alcoholic has been Rod Turner. He shows his acting talent in a range of emotions from his relationship with Alcohol, His co-stars, his on screen father and manager and touchingly with the kids from the convent school. The soundtrack is pure Disco Cheese. The pitches were Mudbaths and the players then all bathed together !! I absolutely loved it - modern of its time - but now a nostalgic time capsule
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dickyadams18 September 2021A middling film and quite entertaining. Great cast, typical Jackie Collins plot, McShaneq as usual is always watchable.
It's amazing how grim the 70s were. -
PlasticActor15 September 2021Than S. S. hair DYE. Thats the British way. Don't let those Yanks get a leg over - - Ian should have gotten top billing and I would give this a two (2) rating cause he is does his best, and in real life is the kind of bloke you would find riding the bus down Piccadilly even if he's on TV.
It sounds like Suzanne singing but who knows, music is just NO.
Sorry, not a 3s Co. Fan either. Old Wembley stadium rocked, even better as a giant parking lot. Why can't they stop tearing London down? Ask Bozo and his greed machine. -
malcolmgsw16 December 2015This laughable film seems to base it's main character on George Best.This means that no cliché is left unused.Machine is a few years too old to play the lead character.At the beginning he seems to be scanning around in defence but at the climax he is this great goalscorer.He is as bad as acting a footballer as Adam Faith is bad at acting.The story seems to be an excuse for a pop promo.Incidentally the game at Wembley was the 1979 League Cup Final between Nottingham Forest,in red,and Southampton in yellow.The score was 3-2 to Forest,the reverse of that shown in the film courtesy of some truly awful mismatched inserts.I would say that this film truly deserves a red card.