This film is currently unavailable
Achilles' Heel
Alan Clarke’s film of a day in the life of a professional footballer as he deals with the newfound pressures of money, glamour and celebrity in the 1970s game.
Director: Alan Clarke
Overview
Alan Clarke’s film of a day in the life of a professional footballer makes for fascinating viewing today. Knowing Clarke’s passion for Everton FC, producer Lambert attached him to Brian Clark’s 1973 script, which captures the moment where money, glamour and celebrity begin to enter the world of football.
Dave Irwin is the star forward of an unnamed team, a genuine talent with international appearances under his belt. Far from appreciating his good fortune he struggles under the weight of pressures and commitments, from the bleatings of his concerned manager and wife to the clamour of a star-struck public and the newfound schemes of his shady business manager, who’s trying to convince him to diversify into underwear modelling. All the while Irwin struggles to conceal a troubling heel injury that not only threatens his place in the team, but has the potential to bring the whole edifice down. With its focus on the newly monied football class and the resulting pressures of wealth and responsibility, Achilles Heel makes for fascinating viewing today, as it records the start of the process leading to today’s multi-millionaire soccer stars. Martin Shaw is excellent as Irwin, managing to retain our sympathy even while being thoroughly dislikeable. While Brian Clark’s excellent script may be the star, Alan Clarke’s inspired direction elevates the material further. The play’s protracted opening scene, in which Irwin and his wife slowly begin their day in real-time, is a masterclass in televisual patience and precision. Clarke would of course return to the subject of football for his BBC play, The Firm, which similarly focuses on issues around the game rather than the sport itself.
Related
Girls Will Be Girls Girls Will Be Girls
Drama 2024 119 mins Director: Shuchi Talati
Teenage romance simmers in a strict Himalayan boarding school in this sublime coming-of-age tale. Winner of a 2024 Sundance audience award
The Goldman Case The Goldman Case
Drama 2023 116 mins Director: Cédric Kahn
Gripping courtroom drama based on the explosive 1976 murder trial of French political activist, Pierre Goldman.
In Camera In Camera
Drama 2024 95 mins Director: Naqqash Khalid
A struggling actor faces relentless knockbacks in Naqqash Khalid’s sharp-witted comment on race and identity in the film industry.
Kneecap Kneecap
Drama 2024 105 mins Director: Rich Peppiatt
Fantastically outlandish biopic about the anarchic Belfast rap trio and their fight to save the Irish language.
Tracks Tracks
Biopic 2014 113 mins Director: John Curran
Mia Wasikowska stars in this inspirational true story about one woman’s extraordinary odyssey through the Australian Outback.
Dark Waters Dark Waters
Biopic 2019 126 mins Director: Todd Haynes
Mark Ruffalo plays an attorney trying to uncover the corporate scandal of a chemical company poisoning a local community, in this searching ecological drama from Todd Haynes (Safe, Carol).
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
Musical 1985 90 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke’s once derided feature is surely the only vampire snooker musical in cinema history and a genuine cult artefact ripe for rediscovery.
The Gold Robbers: The Arrangement The Gold Robbers: The Arrangement
Crime 1969 53 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke directs this episode of a 13-part serial inspired by The Great Train Robbery of 1963, starring Peter Vaughan as the dogged detective on the case.
Rita, Sue and Bob Too Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Drama 1987 93 mins Director: Alan Clarke
A married man seduces two teenage babysitters in Alan Clarke’s mix of bawdy comedy and social comment, based on Andrea Dunbar’s Bradford plays.
Made in Britain Made in Britain
Drama 1982 76 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Tim Roth burst onto British screens with his coruscating performance as a teenage skinhead in this TV play from Alan Clarke and David Leland.
Timestalker Timestalker
Comedy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.
Utopia Utopia
Documentary 2013 111 mins Director: John Pilger and Alan Lowery
John Pilger's portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture is also an investigation into a suppressed colonial past, and rapacious present.
The Ballymurphy Precedent The Ballymurphy Precedent
Documentary 2018 108 mins Director: Callum Macrae
John Pilger's film on the conflict in Northern Ireland is a skilful mix of investigative journalism, documentary storytelling and reflections on contemporary history.
The Coming War on China The Coming War on China
Documentary 2016 113 mins Director: John Pilger
John Pilger’s prescient 60th film for ITV is both a warning and an inspiring story of resistance.