One Night in Turin

The rollercoaster of English football, backed by a brilliant soundtrack charts the ridiculousness of England's sports press and the redemption of the brilliant Sir Bobby Robson from a joke at Euro 88 to hero's after Italia 90 and the reinstating of England back into European football. If you lived the time it brings it all back and is brilliantly told.

James Erskine brings it all back, the hooliganism, the state of English football and that fateful night in Turin. This documentary is a mixed bag of generally well written narrative spoken by Gary Oldman, real footage of games, unseen footage and English footballs bad name. This all works really well apart from the cut scenes of close up ball control and recreated gang scenes which are obviously and badly re-done somewhere in the arse end of Gateshead. It's a shame because it starts to annoy an detracts from the original footage which is more than enough to keep the viewer entertained. That aside it was a mostly enjoyable 98 minutes and the final game against West Germany was played out excellently. Nice little touches are added like subtitles showing what Bobby Robson said to Gazza to console him after the second yellow card, and there is loads of hotel behind the England camp scenes which make for interesting viewing. I was also quite surprised how gracious Lothar Matthäus was to Chris Waddle after that fateful miss which ultimately ended our world cup dream. A recommended watch for any England fan.

It's something you can stick on for a little nostalgia but it's not as good as it could have been. Found myself fast forwarding bits that were quite dull.

Also confused why they kept using the British flag when talking about the English football team or English football. To me this shows a lack of understanding and that this was just put out to capitalise on feel good factor of English football today.

A workmanlike recounting of England's greatest World Cup performance since winning it in '66 focuses on the hounding of manager Bobby Robson by the British tabloid press, and on football wonderkid Paul Gascoigne. The film's habit of cutting away early when goals are being scored is irritating beyond belief.