Best
UK/Ireland 1999
Reviewed by Paul Elliott
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Belfast, March 1994. Now in his 50s, George Best, the celebrated former Manchester United footballer, is appearing on the after-dinner circuit with fellow ex-pro Rodney Marsh. Best requires a large brandy before he takes to the stage. The following morning, a hungover Best is shattered to discover Sir Matt Busby, the ex-manager of Manchester United and mentor to Best, is dead.
Northern Ireland, the early 50s. George Best is spotted by scout Bob Bishop. Best signs for Manchester United and embarks on a brilliant career which includes winning the European Cup in 1968 ten years after an air crash in Munich decimated United's then team. Best's pop-star looks earn him the title of 'The Fifth Beatle'. His performances on the football field suffer as his taste for alcohol grows. Sacked by United in the 70s, Best finishes his playing career in the US. During a television interview in the wake of Busby's death, Best expresses a wish to be remembered simply as a good footballer.
Review
In choosing a subject as universally known as George Best, John Lynch, who plays Best's title character, and co-writer and director Mary McGuckian face a huge challenge. Best's life and the history of Manchester United are so well-documented in the UK and Ireland, where this film is certain to find its biggest audience, that the dramatisation of events can often appear stagy, however thoroughly the story is researched. Lynch and McGuckian spent five years preparing the script for Best and wisely used archive footage of the footballer's greatest performances rather than attempt any kind of re-enactment. The trouble with Best, however, is that it is far less convincing once it leaves the pitch and - in a biopic as in a sports movie - credibility is vital.
The casting does not always help. Roger Daltrey still carries too much baggage from his time in The Who to pass for television football pundit Rodney Marsh. Jerome Flynn is similarly unbelievable as England's leading football ambassador Bobby Charlton, despite a creditable and rather comical recreation of the balding Charlton's famous combed-over hairstyle. The most inspired casting sees Linus Roache as Best's striking partner Denis Law. Roache's mimicry of Law is near-perfect, from the 70s hairstyle to his dry Scots banter. But as Best John Lynch has the toughest role.
To a boy growing up in Northern Ireland as Lynch did, George Best must have seemed an icon on a par with Muhammad Ali. Best himself has voiced his satisfaction with this film, but although Lynch is adept at imitating Best's mannerisms, his portrayal of this legendary figure offers no real insight into why Best lost his brilliant career to alcoholism, or whether he now views his life with regret. Perhaps Best does not know himself.
Like the equally disappointing Fever Pitch, Best is a football-related film that's about much more than just football. Lynch likens the life story of George Best to those of Marilyn Monroe and Diana Spencer, but apart from a scene where a handful of schoolgirls mob him, scant evidence is presented of the pressures of public life that drove him to drink. And if Best ever really cared about the one girlfriend focused on here, Anna, Lynch does not convey it.
Lynch and McGuckian have worked diligently to get the surface details right in their record of George Best's amazing life. They even enlisted former Manchester United star Ray Wilkins to act as "football choreographer" in an attempt to ensure those on-pitch scenes which aren't archival footage are as realistic as possible. (Wilkins also makes a cameo appearance as a swarthy European referee.) The result is a largely anecdotal movie which does little to explain the myth of the best loved British sportsman of the past 30 years.
Credits
- Director
- Mary McGuckian
- Producers
- Mary McGuckian
- Chris Roff
- Elvira Bolz
- Screenplay
- John Lynch
- Mary McGuckian
- Director of Photography
- Witold Stok
- Editor
- Kant Pan
- Production Designer
- Max Gottlieb
- Music/Music Arranger/Music Producer
- Mark Stevens
- ©Best Films Ltd
- Production Companies
- IAC Film/Sky Pictures/The Isle of Man Film Commission in association with Smoke & Mirrors Film Productions and Pembridge Pictures present a film by Mary McGuckian
- Development funds: Bord Scannán Na hÉireann
- Executive Producers
- Steve Christian
- Guy Collins
- Michael Ryan
- John Lynch
- Line Producer
- North West:
- Carol Rodger
- Production Supervisor
- North West:
- Liam Foster
- Production Co-ordinators
- Clare Spencer
- North West:
- Dawn Mortimer
- Production Manager
- Adam Bohling
- Unit Manager
- Kevin Chapman
- Location Managers
- John Tuite
- North West:
- Stephen Cheers
- Post-production
- Supervisor:
- Chris Nixon
- Co-ordinator:
- Liz Pearson
- Consultation:
- Steve Harrow
- Assistant Directors
- David Reid
- Dan Toland
- Mick Ward
- Script Supervisors
- Pat Rambaut
- Caroline Sax
- Casting
- Directors:
- John Hubbard
- Ros Hubbard
- Supervisor:
- Dan Toland
- Camera Operators
- Trevor Coop
- Alan Stewart
- Gordon Hayman
- 2nd Unit:
- Jamie Harcourt
- Video Cameraman
- David Niblock
- Digital Effects Artist
- Tom Sparks
- Digital Effects Producer
- Emma Ibbetson
- Spirit Telecine
- VTR
- Scanning/Recording Bureau
- Cinesite London
- Visual Effects
- Smoke & Mirrors
- Special Effects Editor
- Jack Whittaker
- Visual Effects Editor
- Jim Howe
- Art Directors
- Sara Jane Cornish
- Standby:
- Grant Armstrong
- Costume Designer
- Anushia Nieradzik
- Wardrobe Supervisors
- Theresa Hughes
- Peter Halston
- Make-up/Hair
- Designer:
- Dorka Nieradzik
- Artist:
- Linda Catlin
- Title Design
- Janice Mordue
- Opticals/Titles
- General Screen Enterprises
- Optical Printer
- Andy Wilkins
- Optical Co-ordinator
- Mike Bond
- Rostrum Camera
- Darren De'Ath
- Orchestra
- The Irish Film Orchestra & Choir
- Conducted by
- Mark Armstrong
- Vocal Soloists
- Orla Breslin
- Mary E. O'Sullivan
- Sinéad Pratshke
- Solo Violin
- Alan Smale
- Guitar Solos
- Mark Johns
- Also featuring tracks performed by
- Blues & Grooves
- Keyboard:
- Mark Stevens
- Guitar:
- Mark Johns
- Bass Guitar:
- Geraint Roberts
- Drums:
- Guy Rickerby
- Orchestrators
- Terry Davies
- John Meginson
- Music Supervisor
- Don Gallacher
- Mixer
- Richard Lewzey
- Soundtrack
- "Long Black Limousine", "Strikeout", "Green Onions" by Blues & Grooves; with The 'Power Play' Horns; "Absolute Repute" by Blues & Grooves, 'Power Play' Horns; "Solitude", "Grisette" by The Geraint Roberts Band; "Boy Genius" by Sugarfree; "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys; "Sneaky Pete" by P.T. & The House Band; "I'm Just a Baby" by Louise Cordet; "House of the Rising Sun" by Roger Daltrey; "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass; "I Say a Little Prayer" by Margot Daly; "Don't Bring Me Down" by The Prettythings; "Buzz the Jerk" by The Prettythings; "In a Broken Dream" by Python Lee Jackson featuring Rod Stewart; "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" by Steve Harley
- Football Choreography
- Ray Wilkins
- Sound Recordists
- Jim Greenhorn
- Simon Clark
- Re-recording Mixer
- Adrian Rhodes
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Tim Lewiston
- Dialogue Editor
- Elaine 'Chucks' Thomas
- Re Voice Artist
- Marcella Riordan
- ADR
- Recordist:
- Toby Harris
- Foley
- Artists:
- Andrea King
- Paula Boram
- Editor:
- Vicky Brazier
- Cast
- John Lynch
- George Best
- Ian Bannen
- Matt Busby
- Jerome Flynn
- Bobby Charlton
- Ian Hart
- Nobby Stiles
- Patsy Kensit
- Anna
- Cal MacAninch
- Paddy Crerand
- Linus Roache
- Denis Law
- Adrian Lester
- Rocky
- David Hayman
- Tommy Docherty/the barman
- James Ellis
- Dickie Best
- Roger Daltrey
- Rodney Marsh
- Clive Anderson
- interviewer
- Sophie Dahl
- Eva Haraldsted
- Stephen Fry
- Frazer Crane
- Dave Duffy
- limousine driver
- Lalor Roddy
- petrol station attendant
- Pauline Lynch
- Jacqueline Lynch
- receptionists
- Ian Fitzgibbon
- Tom
- Owen O'Neill
- comedian
- Sean Kearns
- David McCracken
- Gertrude Montgomery
- bingo girl
- Alan McClenaghan
- man with tattoos
- Nora Connolly
- man with tattoos' wife
- Richard Orr
- Sammy
- Tom Collins
- concerned man
- Terence Corrigan
- young George Best
- Jim Sheridan
- Bob Bishop
- Philip Madoc
- Jimmy Murphy
- Robert Campion
- Eric McMordie
- Mark Byrne
- Harry Gregg
- Marie Jones
- Anne Best
- Micha Bergese
- Portuguese bartender
- Nick Wall
- photographer
- John McCarthy
- hairdresser
- Louis Hammond
- Ken Stanley
- Steve Ryan
- Dunne
- Ray Wilkins
- referee
- P.J. Davidson
- Louis Edwards
- Amanda Ryan
- Mrs Crerand
- Mary McGuckian
- Norma Charlton
- Gregory Battle
- the furrier
- Sean Blowers
- the bookie
- Neil Caple
- the barber
- Ed Maddrell
- tabloid hack
- Ronnie Fox
- cronie in the bar
- Dave Nicholls
- Baz
- David Corden
- customer in blinkers
- Stan Pinton
- Andre
- Andy Quine
- Simon
- Sara Stockbridge
- night huntress
- Jamie Gambell
- London cop
- Rick Leaf
- Constable Davies
- Sean Wightman
- Chelsea cop
- David Artus
- Sargent Williams
- Kim Fenton
- Gerald Soames
- Jason Gilroy
- cameraman
- Ron Webster
- Brian Regan
- reporters at Chelsea siege
- Derek Newton
- David Reid
- Old Trafford stewards
- Alex Best
- George Best
- themselves
- Ken Wolstenholme
- Sean Barrett
- João Ferreira
- football commentators
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- Optimum Releasing
- 9,577 feet
- 106 minutes 25 seconds
- Dolby
- Black and White by
- Metrocolor
- Colour by
- Technicolor