Tommy's Honour

With sixty million golfers on the planet, you would expect a movie about the early history of golf to delight audiences all over the world. The game is rich in tradition and a spectacle for big-money professional sport. The historical drama Tommy's Honour (2016) has much to offer for die-hard lovers of the sport, but most other audiences may find it rather dull.

The twin narrative inter-weaves the story of golf with the legend of the 'Two Tommies', the father and son team credited with launching the modern version of the sport. Set in 1860s Scotland, gruff Old Tom Morris (Peter Mullan) is groundsman for the famous St. Andrews Golf Club and he pioneered the early rules of the game including the 18-hole course standard. His 15-year old son Young Tommy (Jack Lowden) has grown up with game and becomes a better golfer than his record-holding father. When he beats his father's record, tensions boil over and Tommy wants to go his own way while Tom clings to past ways. The young champion tours the country winning match after match, and collecting more prizemoney and social respectability than his father ever dreamed of. When Tommy falls for Meg (Ophelia Lovibond), an 'older woman with a past', the family is torn apart.

The story reveals several fascinating things about golf, including how the once-exclusive Gentleman's Club sport became opened to universal participation and how big-money gambling was integral to the game. The primitive early equipment, the feather-stuffed hand-stitched leather balls, and the cow-paddock roughness of the course are interesting insights into the origins of modern golf. While the period sets, costumes and historical depictions have high production value, the characterisations and melodramatic performances leave the story muddled, tedious and repetitious. Old Tom is portrayed as a cantankerous domineering father who is difficult to like, especially for his regular rants against Tommy's behaviour. His Scottish accent is so strong that many people will miss much of what he says. Young Tommy is the likable one, although his attitudes to parental and aristocratic authority are far too modern for a working-class boy of 19th century Scotland. The dynamic between them is unremarkable and predictable, and the romance is subdued and uninspiring even though Meg provides the film's aesthetic high point. The backbone of the story comprises the various games that Tommy inevitably wins, the monotony of which can quickly wilt the patience of both golfers and non-golfer audiences.

The decision to spend so much of the film watching the primitive golf games of yesteryear has robbed the story of any narrative tension. As an historical drama, it shows how sport has potential to break down class barriers although today's private clubs would not agree. Anyone who loves and plays the game will wince at the sight of the early conditions under which it was played, but viewers unconnected with golf may struggle to stay awake with this one.

"Tommy's Honour" (2016 release from Scotland; 115 min.) brings the story of father and son Tommy and Tommy Jr. Morris. As the movie opens, a reporter from the Times of London wants to interview Tommy, by now an old man. But Tommy informs the reporter that the only story he is willing to give him, is about a young man. We then go back in time to the 1860s, and we learn that the young man referred to is Tommy Jr., an up-and-coming lad who loves the game of golf. His dad is a the groundskeeper of the local golf club and started the Open Championship. Along the way, we get to know other characters, including an aristocrat for whom the Morris lads play organized golf, and a young waitress who catches Tommy Jr.'s eye. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the big screen adaptation of the book of the same name by Kevin Cook(who co-wrote the movie's script). The director is Jason Connery (yes, son of Scottish icon Sean Connery, and best known for his acting work in UK TV and movies). The movie is a mix of sports movie, family drama, romance, and war of the classes. The tensions between father and son are the most obvious, with the older Morris sticking to the 'agreed' behavior between working class and aristocrats, while young Tommy is eager to break the rules. When he pushes for a better financial arrangement, the Captain of the golf club sneers "Your station in life was set well before you were born", and later on (when Tommy wins yet another major golf event) "You're a hero to this town, but a gentleman you will never be", ouch! I found the movie a bit lightweight, to be honest, as those tensions never really feel real. It isn't until much later in the movie (when Tommy Jr.'s love life becomes the focus) that we feel emotionally involved. Along the way, the gorgeous photography (entirely filmed on location of course) makes this movie feel like one long advert for the beauty that is Scotland. The acting performances are fine: Peter Mullan as Old Tom Morris, Jack Lowden as Tommy Morris, and none other than Sam Neil as the Captain/villain aristocrat.

"Tommy's Honour" opened in US theaters this weekend. I imagine it's not a coincidence that this is the very weekend after the Masters, the Super Bowl of golf when interest in the game is at its peak in the US. This is an okay movie, in particular if you has a special interest in golf. I found it to be pleasant, nothing more, nothing else.

Had never heard of Morris Senior nor Junior prior to stumbling across this film. Also do not know much about the game of golf. Neither of these facts prevented me from being fully absorbed into the story. Actors did a fine job of depicting the characters, all of whom were credible. The ways and costumes of the era, believable. There was naught in the film that jarred me out of full absorption. Inspired and visually delicious, this is one that could be viewed over and over, still to find something new to love about it.

I enjoyed this lovely heartfelt biopic, history, drama, and romance. You don't need to know anything about golf, or even like it, to enjoy it. The lead actors, Jack Lowden, Peter Mullan, Ophelia Lovibond, and Sam Neill, are great. While the very first section of the movie is a little thin and TV-movie-ish, with predictable family scenes and sappy music, it recovers itself and becomes quite interesting once the major threads of the drama get underway, so stick with it and your attention will be rewarded. I'm happy to be aware now of this little-known chapter of fascinating history.

With scant knowledge of or interest in golf and no notion at all of the Morris father and son partnership, this film was not an obvious viewing choice. However, Mullan and Neill were a draw-card enough and so I found myself whisked up to the wilds and links of Scotland. Beautiful scenery, a social interest story of class, and a creeping disapproval of the unkindness of some religious attitudes drew me in. The central performances of Lowden and Lovibond illuminate the piece, and create the emotional heft. Even with no engagement with golf, it's impossible not to care about the fortunes of this young couple. Watch it with an Open mind and heart.