When Saturday Comes (1996)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Maria Giese

Writers:

James Daly (writer)
Maria Giese (writer)

Release Date:

1 March 1996 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Plot:

Jimmy Muir is a hard-drinking brewery worker in the city of Sheffield, with an arrogant lack of respect for authority...

Plot Keywords:

Brewery | Brotherly Love | Beer | Male Nudity | Soccer Football

Cast

Sean Bean	...	Jimmy Muir
Emily Lloyd	...	Annie Doherty
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Ken Jackson
Craig Kelly	...	Russell Muir
John McEnery	...	Joe Muir
Ann Bell	...	Sarah Muir
Melanie Hill	...	Mary Muir
Chris Walker	...	Mac
John Higgins	...	Rob
Tim Gallagher	...	Steve
Peter Gunn	...	Tommy
Nick Waring	...	Gary
James McKenna	...	George McCabe
Tony Currie	...	Tony Currie
Mel Sterland	...	Captain

Also Known As:

Pint of Bitter (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:12 | Spain:13 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Balti King Indian Restaurant, Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Guild

Trivia:

Mel Sterland, who in this film plays the captain of Sheffield United Football Club, was formerly a professional football player with their local rivals, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the football season in question, 1995/1996, Sheffield United were in the first division. This is confirmed by a scene in the betting shop where Sheffield United appears on a betting board for Division 1 sides. However, regularly during the film, Sheffield United play Premiership teams Arsenal and Leeds United in December. This is impossible, given Sheffield United's division. The FA Cup semi-final, played at Bramall Lane in the film, would not be held there. All FA-Cup semi-finals are played at a neutral ground.

Soundtrack:

Eyes of Blue

Watchable, but not memorable

Despite myself being an avid fan of the predominant obsession held by Sean Bean in the film which should've given me leverage to compliment this film, I can't say it encapsulated my attention and imagination to the levels of quality that I've come to expect from a film through years of maturity and film studying.

From the outset, you could tell the dialogue was poor (despite myself speaking in the same accents) and not even the great Pete Postlethwaite could salvage this film from it's inevitable trip to the "could've been" and perhaps "should've been" pile. This is sad because the age-old story line of "young, poor bloke with a dream hits it big and becomes a star" has often produced such outstanding films, one British film following this genre when recalled to memory is "The Full Monty" which managed to achieve this better than When Saturday Comes though only with limited international success. However, this film is not all bad, there are some (rarely) memorable scenes and Bean himself puts in a sure-footed and confident performance which would later win him parts in Goldeneye and more prominently, Lord of The Rings.

Although it pains me to say it, this film is hardly a classic, but more of a film which had the makings of a good movie which were sadly missed through poor directing and poor dialogue although the acting (from most) was stout and confident.