''Yesterday's Hero'' is a 1979 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Neil Leifer Neil Leifer (born December 28, 1942) is an American sports photographer and filmmaker known mainly for his work with ''Sports Illustrated'' and ''Time (magazine), Time''. His photograph of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston, taken on May 25, ...

and starring

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

Suzanne Somers Suzanne Marie Somers (; October 16, 1946 – October 15, 2023) was an American actress, author, and businesswoman. She played the television roles of Chrissy Snow on ''Three's Company'' (1977–1981) and Carol Foster Lambert on '' Step by Step' ...

Adam Faith Terence Nelhams Wright (23 June 1940 – 8 March 2003), known as Adam Faith, was an English singer, actor, and financial journalist. As a British rock and roll teen idol, he scored consecutive No. 1 hits on the UK singles chart with " What ...

Paul Nicholas Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck; 3 December 1944) is an English actor and singer best known for starring as Vince Pinner in the BBC television sitcom '' Just Good Friends'' (1983—86). The show won a BAFTA and Nicholas was nominated ...

and

Cary Elwes Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (; born 26 October 1962) is an English actor. He starred as Westley in ''The Princess Bride (film), The Princess Bride'' (1987), and also had lead roles in films such as ''Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' (1993) and the Saw (fr ...

(in his film debut). It also features

Glynis Barber Glynis Barber (born Glynis van der Riet; 25 October 1955) is a South African born British actress. She is known for her portrayals of Sgt. Harriet Makepeace in the British police drama ''Dempsey and Makepeace'', Glenda Mitchell in ''EastEnders ...

and Emma Samms in their early performances. The screenplay was written by novelist

Jackie Collins Jacqueline Jill Collins (4 October 1937 – 19 September 2015) was an English romance novelist and actress. She moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and spent most of her career there. She wrote 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times B ...

, but was an original work and not based on one of her books. Although it has echoes of the life of the former player

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

, the film is not biographical.

Plot

In England in the 1970s, former star football player Rod Turner is now an alcoholic and playing in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

club "The Saints", owned by pop star Clint Simon, are having a successful run in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and win their quarter-finals match. However, their star striker is injured, and, unable to find a suitable replacement player from another club, Simon has the idea of hiring Turner, his childhood idol, over the protests of team manager Jake Marsh. Simon approaches Turner and takes him on a trip to Paris, where Turner meets his old flame Cloudy, a singer who is making a record with Simon. Turner accepts the offer to play for his team and, after training with them, plays in the semi-final match, but at half-time he is caught drinking in the dressing room by Marsh and is banned from playing in the final. Turner becomes torn between his current girlfriend Susan and Cloudy, after Cloudy takes him in after another drinking episode. Turner is on the bench in the final, but is brought on as a substitute and scores the winning goal.

Cast

as Rod Turner *

as Cloudy Martin *

as Jake Marsh *

as Clint Simon *

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British actor. Most of his film roles were very small but he appeared in more than 290 films, more than any other British actor, including 119 between 1946 and 1952. His best-known ro ...

as Sam Turner *

as Susan * Trevor Thomas as Speed * Sandy Ratcliff as Rita * Alan Lake as Georgie Moore * Matthew Long as Mack Gill * Paul J. Medford as Marek * Paul Desbois as Butch * Eric Deacon as Chris *

George Moon George Moon (19 March 1909 – 17 December 1981) was an English stage, film and television actor. During the late 1950s he appeared as Ginger Smart in the television series '' Shadow Squad'' and its sequel ''Skyport''. Moon's largest tele ...

as Changing Room Attendant * Jack Haig as Sam's Crony * Damian Elwes as Disco Dancer *

as Disco Dancer *

John Motson John Walker Motson (10 July 1945 – 23 February 2023) was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Mo ...

as himself: TV Interviewer / Commentator

References

External links

* * 1979 films British association football films Films scored by Stanley Myers 1970s English-language films 1970s British films {{1970s-UK-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links