Yesterday's Hero

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.

YESTERDAY'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.

One 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!

A famous singer (Suzanne Somers), and an aging pro soccer player (Ian McShane), who hooked-up years before, find themselves crossing paths again, in England, in this drama, that has a hard time getting started, but ends up being good enough, for an "E For Effort". Somers gets top billing in Yesterday's Hero (1979). Somers' Cloudy Martin, is one-half of a pop-music duo, known as Martin and Simon (Paul Nicholas). In the real world, I guess, they are like the Captain and Tennille, type-of, late-1970s pop music. The soundtrack is very disco driven. The way their performances are presented in the film, look very much like performances from television hits like, the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-1974) and Donny and Marie (1976-1979). The music in Yesterday's Hero (1979), is pretty bad. Suzanne isn't a convincing singer, however it definitely sounds like her. It's not dubbed.

Yesterday's Hero (1979), is a British production, that was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The low budget used for the film, which is obviously visible in this production, unintentionally, but positively, gives the film some realism and a grittiness, that produces a fairly cool, 1970s-style to it. Unfortunately, I could only find a VHS, 4:3 version of the film, which also looked squeezed. I am hoping, the day I stumble across Yesterday's Hero (1979) again, next time, hopefully, I can watch a new HD version of it. It may improve the grade, that I gave the film. The muddy VHS quality was a rough watch. This film feels like a hallmark, lifetime type of movie, but it was released before cable networks were a thing. Even though it has a PG rating, there is an evident TV-movie effect going on. The film was directed by Neil Leifer.

Yesterday's Hero (1979), is a mix of staged singing sequences, interwoven between a soccer practice or game. Ian McShane plays Rod Turner, who among, the other things I mentioned, is also a drunk. It's good that he runs into Cloudy and Simon, because they decide to help Rod, make a comeback in pro soccer. The TV-movie aura felt in the film, is reenforced by acting lines, that felt like they were written for TV and not written, for a theatrical film. This was an era when they still said, "let's make love", on television, instead of "let's have sex". Yesterday's Hero (1979), is kind of lame, but it still deserves an E for Effort. The plot begins to feel like, its coming out of control and it has an abrupt ending. I'm talking quick. There are some funny moments, like seeing Ian McShane load 15 kids into a 1970s, European station wagon, which looks like a tank, because he teaches soccer to kids, but transportation was somewhat cheap. In the final credits it says, Suzanne Somers' wardrobe - from her closet.

PMTM Grade: E+ (5.2) = 5 IMDB.

This 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!