THE FIRST 90 MINUTES – ‘ …are the most important’
In 2002 he was knighted Sir Bobby Robson
For those of you who have been reading my posts about the two Olympic Games films Mike and I (Pelicula Films) made, The Long Sprint (1976 Montreal, with David Jenkins and David Hemery) and ‘No Easy Way’ (1980 Moscow, with Allan and Margo Wells) you could be forgiven for thinking our only interest was athletics.
But the 1981/82 football season offered us a wonderful opportunity to make another in-depth sports film. This timewould be different though. ‘The First 90 minutes’ would not be about the success of an individual, but about the success of a team created and motivated by an individual.
Another high-risk venture!! When Mike and I started to invest in our own films the outcome was totally unpredictable. As independent film makers this was a leap in the dark, failure wasn’t an option, but you dared to dream.
As the 2024/25 football season gets underway, I’d like to tell you about ‘The First 90 Minutes’, the film we made about Bobby Robson during his last year as manager of Ipswich Town Football club.
After several weeks of my persuasive effort, Robson invited us to go and see him at Ipswich to discuss our proposal. We showed him our two previous sports films, emphasizing the in-depth nature of their content and that we would need access to all areas, including the dressing room for his half-time team talk, when Ipswich were losing.
Robson liked this approach but warned that ten of his teamwere international players, all with top agents, who would charge a fortune for their clients to appear in our film.
The room fell silent. Mike and I were devastated as we saw all our hopes come to an end. Our self-funded idea was destinedfor the dustbin.
Robson’s face suddenly brightened, “If you’re willing to travel all the way down from Glasgow to Ipswich throughout the football season, then I’ll make the film a club project, then all the players will have to take part’ and so began, ‘The First 90 minutes. From the depth of depression to the tears of elation, but they remained in my eyes.
Once again, the official broadcasters refused to support us, but Channell Four was about to begin!!
Mike and I had risked everything, but this time we had also encouraged others to work for nothing. We are indebted to Ian Madden, Norrie Halley, Louis Kramer and Colin Nicolsonwho invested themselves in this Pelicula idea and remainedunpaid till the film was sold.
Then came some good fortune. During that season Robson was asked to become the England manager. Naturally, we hoped his promotion from club to international status would increase the attraction of our film.
Working so closely with Robson made all things in the football world seem possible. We were underneath WembleyStadium, amongst the assembled press/broadcasters waiting for Robson to appear after an England game. Because we weren’t part of the official press corps, we’d been shoved to the back of the scrum. Robson noticed this and much to our delight beckoned us forward.
As we thought, Robson’s elevation to international manager was a great help, ‘The First 90 Minutes’ became one of the first films bought by Jeremy Isaacs the Chief Executive of the fledgling Channell Four and so began the rise of British Independent Film making. Read about the above stories and many more in my autobiography, ‘Shaping the Shadows: A Picture Maker’s Story’
marklittlewood.org.uk https://shop.nls.uk/shaping-the-shadows-2798-p.asp
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