McFarland, USA (2015): Champions Can Come From Anywhere

Following an incident in the locker room of a high school football game, Jim White loses yet another job, leaving his options nearly depleted. Taking a job in McFarland, he and his family quickly feel like fish out of water in a primarily Hispanic community. With a smaller home and unfamiliar surroundings, they barely pull the strength together to give their new life a shot. Jim starts his new job as the life science and gym teacher, and has to bite his tongue about being the assistant coach for football. When he immediately clashes with the head coach, he loses his connection to football but gains an opportunity to pursue something new. Noticing the talent of some of the boys, he proposes starting a cross country team and recruits seven students to compete in state competitions. With they sights on the first state championship meet, their training challenges his perceptions of the community and the students’ perceptions of their future.

Review: Disney took another shot at promoting a feel-good sports story. Considering all of the films that look at cultural differences and the coach learning as much as the kids and their families, the question remained whether this film would establish itself as something different. Niki Caro ended up choosing a sport and a population rarely promoted together. Although the overall feel was not drastically different than similar films, it contained a lot of heart, cultural discovery, and positive messages.

Kevin Costner (Jim White) seems to be the king of these types of movies. While his acting was somewhat flat and lacked emotion, the focus of the story was less about him and more about the kids. Carlos Pratt (Thomas Valles) led the runners with a dramatic story, including a difficult home life and strong inner drive to find a life more than picking. Ramiro Rodriguez (Danny Diaz) also shined as a young start showing heart through his inability to give up and take the abuse of his coach and peers. Jim White’s family, including Maria Bello (Cheryl White), Morgan Saylor (Julie White), and Elsie Fisher (Jamie White), help to round out the positive forces that change his opinion of the town of McFarland.

The running was a significant part of the film, but the community interaction was just as meaningful. This was not revolutionary, McFarland, USA was heartwarming and inspirational.

Dan’s Rating: 3.5/5

Unbroken (2014): Survival, Resilience, Redemption

As a young child, Louis Zamperini found a way to regularly get into trouble, but he also became aware of his opportunity as an athlete. He shifted his focus to running, finding incredible success and attention. Entering in to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he found himself in last place, but a burst of speed near the end allowed him to still break an American record. Jumping ahead to World War II, Louis is now enlisted in the military and stationed in Hawaii awaiting reassignment. On his next mission, his plane is shot down, leaving him and two other survivors stuck in the open waters of the Pacific. While they are found by a passing ship, they are taken prisoner and await their fate at the hands of an evil Japanese officer nicknamed The Bird.

Review: Although not Angelina Jolie’s first film, there seems to still be a lot of work left to do to establish herself as one the directing stars in Hollywood. She appears to have an interest in telling war stories and tales of strife, but her pacing and imagery still has not met the scale of her storytelling. While the time on the open water and in the POW camps was long, the film seemed to drag out certain experiences while allowing others to be glazed over a bit unexpectedly. In contrast, the cinematography is stunning. Lost on the open seas, the scenes are bold with a vast, unforgiving environment. Once captured, the conditions of the POW camps are bleak and devastating. There was a real sense of horror and hopelessness that was projected throughout the film, following the initial track and military scenes.

The film was headlined by two very strong acting performances. Jack O’Connell (Louis Zamperini) went through quite the transformation as his character developed into a survivor on the open seas and in the POW camps. While his character’s will was being tested, he was able to project a clear sense of hope and belief that he could survive. More impressive was the performance by Takamasa Ishihara (Watanabe/The Bird). Takamasa brought fear into every scene. It was not because of his size or physical appearance, but rather the way he carried himself with confidence and control.

It was interesting to see this film and expect much more out of the intensity of the torture and harshness of Louis’s trials. There were a number of strong moments and individual performances, but the overall film fell just a bit short of expectations.

Dan’s Rating: 3.0/5

Foxcatcher (2014): Ambition, Power, Control

Always in the shadow of his older brother, Dave Schultz, Mark Schultz grows restless and frustrated. When he is approached by the wealthy John du Pont about starting a team and moving out to his estate, Mark seizes the opportunity. Seemingly with more respect and support than he feels he has ever received, Mark starts to build his confidence with his training for the next world games. Unfortunately for du Pont, Mark’s newly-developed friendships with the team and interactions with du Pont have also caused him to lose focus. Du Pont admits that he would prefer Mark to convince Dave to join the team, but Mark only makes one attempt before feigning effort toward getting his brother to join. As challenges develop at the preliminaries for the Olympics, Dave gets involved and is lured to continue working with Team Foxcatcher.

Review: This was a film of excellent acting and a surprisingly eerie storyline, but above all were the performances by Steve Carell (John du Pont) and Mark Ruffalo (Dave Schultz). Playing the tempered but obsessed du Pont, Carell truly transformed his career with this role. The soft-spoken nature that he brings to the screen initially hides the deep-seeded insanity that reveals itself as the plot develops. Du Pont’s supportive obsession caused him to ignore the affect he had on others, particularly the corrupting affect he had on Mark. This was Carell’s best role of his career, at least when it comes to movies.

While Mark’s attempt at significance and glory was certainly central to the story, the more interesting conflict was the brotherly feud over their definitions of work and success. While Channing Tatum (Mark Schultz) presented the more naive and impressionable younger brother, Mark Ruffalo’s (Dave Schultz) appeared to be the more measured and emotional performance. Possibly due to his story arc or his position opposite Carell, Ruffalo just appeared to be the most intriguing of the two Schultz brothers. While out for the same goal, Dave had found a way to be a success in the sport and in life, while Mark always felt less than his accomplishments.

The dark tone of the film truly helped to accentuate the individual performances. As du Pont continued to fall deeper into madness, he dragged Mark down with him. When it all got to be too much for Mark, he found a way to quit, but it did not stop du Pont’s obsession with winning or exerting his will. Though slow-moving at times, the cast were able to make the most of the experience.

Dan’s Rating: 4.0/5

When the Game Stands Tall (2014): It’s How You Get Back Up

Sitting on a win streak virtually unmatched by any other team across any sport, De La Salle High School in California also possessed 12 championships during their record-breaking period. At the end of another winning season, the team took its leave and the drama finally caught up to them. A combination of health issues, attitude, and the loss of a member of their sports family all led to a surprisingly rough start to their next season. Lacking their honored coach and seemingly missing their trademark focus on teamwork, De La Salle dropped their first two games to opponents on the road. Feeling defeated and torn, they faced the toughest opponent in their recent history, Long Beach Polytechnic. Feeling undersized and outmatched, Coach Ladouceur and his team had to find a way to save their season. Regardless of the outcome of the game, they still faced a number of challenges that needed to be faced before they could truly feel like champions.

Starring: Jim Caviezel (Bob Ladouceur), Alexander Ludwig (Chris Ryan), Michael Chiklis (Terry Eidson), Laura Dern (Bev Ladouceur), Clancy Brown (Mickey Ryan), Ser’Darius Blain (Cam Colvin), Stephen James (TK Kelly), Matthew Daddario (Danny Ladouceur), Joe Massingill (Beaser), Jessie Usher (Tayshon Lanear), Matthew Frias (Arturo), LaJessie Smith (Jamal), Richard Kohnke (Rick Salinas)

Director Thomas Carter’s sports drama retold the story of how the De La Salle Spartans amassed such an impressive winning streak, lost their way, and found their honor and pride again. While the film had many of the elements one would expect in an engaging sports story, the acting and attempts at telling the dramatic elements fell a little shorter than anticipated. The obsession with the streak was clear in many of the scenes, but the impressiveness of the achievement was very unevenly represented between the overly pensive coach and the combination of his players and fans. There were several smaller stories that had significant potential, but each of them seemed to lack the appropriate development or missed an opportunity to be more prevalently features.

Of the different elements of the story, the coach’s challenges were the most clearly highlighted. Starting with his hesitation about the upcoming year and his inner conflict about how he performed as an effective coach, teacher, and father, his smoking and the stress finally got to him. Taking the spring and summer away from coaching, his son distanced himself while looking for his father to be more of a coach and the team seemed to lose its way. The losses certainly got his attention, but he was more concerned with their shifting focus of his players toward obsession with the streak and not on each other. Nearly leaving it all for a chance at a college position, he stuck it out through the remainder of the season and remains at De La Salle ever since.

As for the players and other coaches, much of the story followed the death of TK Kelly, Chris Ryan’s pursuit of a state record, Danny’s issues with his father, and Tayshon’s me-first attitude. Each of these stories were highlighted through the coach’s involvement at varying degrees, but there always felt to be a lack of energy in the telling of the drama. Some of the more powerful moments involved the strained relationship between Chris Ryan and his father, but the storyline seemed to be missing a sense of resolution (even in the final game of the film). Danny’s issues seemed to be more that of an entitled teenager who expected a lot of his father. Tayshon’s selfishness had forced moments where he became more team-oriented and then lost his way again. TK Kelly and Cam’s relationship seemed to have the most opportunity and elicited the greatest emotion but also seemed out of place when the focus went back to the current team rather than the former teammates.

The messages are positive and the intent was clear, but the overall presentation left a lot to be desired.

Dan’s Rating: 2.5/5

Draft Day (2014): The Greatest Victories Don’t Always Happen on the Field

Sun Tzu once said that “every battle is won before it is ever fought.” This quote is proudly displayed on the wall in Sonny Weaver’s office with the Cleveland Browns. With the NFL Draft having finally arrived, months of speculation have turned into hours of intense speculation of what teams are going to selected specific players to be their franchise and their future. Sonny is caught in the precarious position of receiving threats from his owner to make a splash, pressure from the fans to make something of the team, guilt from some prospects that want to make it in Cleveland, and disorder between his selection team and his head coach. Meanwhile, life does not stop because of his need to focus on the draft. With the seventh pick, he could take the expected move of selecting RB Ray Jennings, take a calculated risk on LB Vontae Mack, or try to do something more spectacular than anyone was ready to expect.

Starring: Kevin Costner (Sonny Weaver Jr), Jennifer Garner (Ali), Patrick St. Esprit (Tom Michaels), Chi McBride (Walt Gordon), Denis Leary (Coach Penn), Chadwick Boseman (Vontae Mack), Terry Crews (Earl Jennings), Arian Foster (Ray Jennings), Frank Langelia (Anthony Molina), Timothy Simons (Marx), David Ramsey (Thompson), Wade Williams (O’Reilly), Sean Combs (Chris Crawford), Josh Pence (Bo Callahan), Ellen Burstyn (Barb Weaver), Tom Welling (Brian Drew)

Costner clearly had a lot on his mind while playing this character. While there was so much that he seemed to endure during one of the most stressful days of his character’s life, he seemed to be able to promote a tempered panic in a man getting attacked from all angles. While Costner’s level-headedness was more intriguing based on his pressures, Garner’s caused her character’s level of being memorable diminish significantly. Her story lacked the energy one would expect from her. Langelia and Leary were much the opposite. Both the owner and the coach promoted their level of intensity from start to finish.

Most sports films focus on the experience of the game. When the story tracks the process leading up to the play on the field, there is still a lot of action with game elements like scouting and preseason games. Ivan Reitman flipped the script and focused purely on the experience of the draft itself. From the “war room” to the communication with potential players, Sonny was inundated with the pressure of protecting his job and doing what was best for the team. He truly started the day with a splash by trading up for the #1 pick but forfeiting their next three drafts of their #1 picks. With the presumed top pick in the bag, he immediately realized that there was something wrong about their situation. He was doubting himself and knew that his owner’s excitement was not truly justified. Using the rest of the day and the beginning of the draft to sort out the mess, he was able to do something that truly surprised the football world.

While the main storyline is gripping, there are two challenges with the film. The first was the lack of surprise in the end result. While the path to get there was not truly clear, the fates of Brian Drew, Bo Callahan, Ray Jennings, and Vontae Mack were not a surprise. This challenge was not a major one since the story was truly compelling. The problem with the film seemed to be with the other side stories and personal challenges with Sonny. Ali’s pregnancy and relationship drama did not feel like drama at all. The emotionless storytelling seemed to just serve as filler. It felt like there was an opportunity to present the female experience in a male-dominated industry that fell short. Similarly, Barb’s intrusion on Sonny’s important day felt like an annoyance, where Sonny’s reaction felt totally justified. Stories need to be multidimensional and complex, but there may have been a better way to include those elements.

Draft Day is a great presentation of the drama associated with arguably the most important event in the season of the NFL. With actors and real NFL affiliates combined to tell the story, it is definitely a fun and exciting new angle to respect the industry.

Dan’s Rating: 3.5/5

Playing for Keeps: What Do You Really Want? (2012)

After his remarkable international career was cut short due to injury, George decides to move to Virginia to be closer to his son, Lewis. Without a job and without many options, he is just scraping by until a public display of skill at his son’s soccer practice causes the parents to ask him to take over as the coach. Though he begrudgingly agrees, he quickly starts to reestablish a relationship with his son while catching the attention of a number of the mothers of the other players and one really high-energy dad. As the friendships begin to evolve into interesting experiences, he realizes that his relationship with Lewis will continue to be underdeveloped unless he can make some serious changes in his life. The more he spends time with his son, the harder it is to resist his feelings for his ex-wife and reconcile the possibility of moving to Connecticut to take a job with ESPN.

Starring: Gerard Butler (George), Jessica Biel (Stacey), Noah Lomax (Lewis), Dennis Quaid (Carl), Uma Thurman (Patti), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Denise), James Tupper (Matt), Judy Greer (Barb), Abella Wyss (Ally), Iqbal Theba (Param), Sean O’Bryan (Assistant Coach Jacob)

Though the film had elements of a higher energy sports film, the cast kept the actual energy fairly low-key. Butler attempted to take a more dramatic approach but lacked a bit of the allure of a man struggling to find his way. Biel seemed a bit too passive during the film, but that may have also been how she appeared in contrast to the wilder, imbalanced performances of Quaid, Thurman, Zeta-Jones and Greer.

Gabriele Muccino’s film is one that focused on the choices that people make for the sake of their families. When George’s career was taking off, he abandoned his wife and son to pursue international success. When all of that went away, he was left to pick up the pieces and ended up in shambles. He had all the recognition but none of the earnings. The chance to coach his son’s team was a double-edged sword. He was confronted by desperate parents wanting to get a chance to get to know the handsome bachelor more but the extra exposure to his ex-wife caused him to long to return to their once happy relationship. Lewis also started to get confused by the presence but continued feelings of disappointment from his father. While the ESPN deal and the women throwing themselves at him was attractive, he realized that he was looking for something else.

While this film has moments of heart and an occasional laugh, it really struggles from a lack of chemistry and lackluster overall performances. Some of the characters, particularly Dennis Quaid’s, is just a bit too eccentric and only added to the story with his last scene. Theba only added a few moments of awkwardness. The story seemed to not know if it wanted to focus on the family relationship of George, Stacey and Lewis or just on George’s struggles with his conscience.

This is an easily forgettable film, but was not without its couple moments of entertainment.

Dan’s Rating: 2.0/5

42: The True Story of an American Legend (2013)

Major League Baseball was a white man’s game until 1947, after World War II and the return of the greats of the game. At the time, the only way that black men could play the sport was in the Negro League. Among those hidden gems was Jackie Robinson. Believing that there was a chance to change the game and take the Brooklyn Dodgers to another level of competition, Branch Rickey decided it was time to invite a black man to the Major League. There was still a question of who that trailblazer would be. When Branch decided to select Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs, he was aware of Jackie’s temper but intrigued by his talent and competitiveness. The first test before getting to play in the big leagues was to make it with the Montreal Minor League team. Impressing people left and right, Jackie was an all-star in his first season playing with white men. There was hope, fear and curiosity with how his presence in the Major League would affect the history of the game.

Starring: Chadwick Boseman (Jackie Robinson), Harrison Ford (Branch Rickey), Nicole Beharie (Rachel Robinson), Christopher Meloni (Leo Durocher), Ryan Merriman (Dixie Walker), Lucas Black (Pee Wee Reese), Andre Holland (Wendell Smith), Alan Tudyk (Ben Chapman), Hamish Linklater (Ralph Branca), TR Knight (Harold Parrott), John C. McGinley (Red Barber), Toby Huss (Clyde Sukeforth), Max Gail (Burt Shotton), Brad Beyer (Kirby Higbe), James Pickens Jr. (Mr. Brock), Jesse Luken (Eddie Stanky), Jamey Holliday (Pete Reiser)

Playing the historic legend with grit and emotion was Boseman. Taking an onslaught of abuse from all angles, Boseman was able to show the levity, caution and emotional release of a man trying to survive a game-changing decision. Ford was absolutely fantastic with his controversial yet kind-hearted hero. In some ways more impressive than the two main characters, Tudyk had to take the challenging role of the disgusting Phillies manager who spends about 10 minutes of the film yelling racist and derogatory comments at Boseman. The rest of the cast playing Boseman’s team are a balanced group of hateful and supportive men struggling with their new teammate and the chaos that followed him.

Putting together the screenplay and directing the film, Brian Helgeland aimed to bring the challenges and successes of the Jackie Robinson story to light. Jackie was a rather cocky player in the Negro League and had no problem voicing his opinion. When he got called up, Branch was sure to instill in Jackie the sense to control his anger to rise above the negativity that was coming his way by blasting through an exclusionary tradition. He was immediately shunned by many of his teammates and his opponents, but his play on the field challenged the criticism he received. Once he finally elevated to the professional game with the Dodgers, he saw both a rise in his opposing talent and the amount of hatred received by people from all angles. Though Rachel provided much support through the pain, his relationship with Branch, Ben and Pee Wee served to truly support his transition into hero status.

A movie of this kind is certainly a combination of the retelling the significance of historic events while also educating the current generation about the fight against racism. Throughout the film, Helgeland revisited moments in Jackie’s story that paved the way for integration, many of which were powerful and well acted. When Jackie first left on the train and tossed the ball to the little boy, it was only later revealed that the boy grew up to follow in Jackie’s footsteps and was a member of the Miracle Mets World Series Champions. Walking along the sidewalk in Florida, Jackie and Rachel are approached by a repairman and think they are about to be yelled at or attacked. Instead, the man kindly acknowledges his support for Jackie’s success. The most intense, frustrating and significant moment was later in the movie with the little white boy who follows in his father’s footsteps by joining in the racist yelling at Jackie, only to then see Pee Wee’s support for his black teammate. The young boy acting in this scene was actually quite impressive with the range of emotions and inner conflict her was able to portray on-screen.

42 has the possibility of becoming a classic baseball film, headlined with an intriguing story and fine acting by an impressive cast. There is a reliance on reminding the viewer the positive relationship experienced between Jackie and Branch and the improvements that followed this controversial decision, but it does not distract from the story or take away from the drama or brief humorous moments.

Dan’s Rating: 4.0/5

Coach Carter: It Begins on the Street. It Ends Here. (2005)

Facing a troubling time for the high school’s basketball program, former high school star Ken Carter agrees to take on the coaching responsibilities. Initially met with a lot of attitude, his strict rules and unusual tactics help him begin to weed out the undedicated players and turn his attention to the remaining students, including his son who transferred to play under the coaching of his father. Having come off of a losing season, Carter starts the team from the basics and reconditions the young men to believe in playing as a team. As the wins start to pile up, the energy of the school rises alongside them. It is as the team and the students are on the rise that Coach Carter realizes that his students are mostly failing classes and breaking his player contracts. Locking out the gym and forfeiting a set of games gets the community’s attention and bring to light the question of the culture around sports and academics.

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson (Coach Ken Carter), Rob Brown (Kenyon Stone), Robert Ri’chard (Damien Carter), Rick Gonzalez (Timo Cruz), Nana Gbewonyo (Junior Battle), Antwon Tanner (Worm), Channing Tatum (Jason Lyle), Ashanti (Kyra), Texas Battle (Maddux), Denise Dowse (Principal Garrison), Debbi Morgan (Tonya), Octavia Spencer (Mrs. Battle)

Playing the controversial coach was the talented Samuel L. Jackson. Bringing his loud yet effective personality to the role, he was able to bring both an entertainment factor and an intensity to the role to make this particular film stand out. As the main focus of the students, Rob Brown displays a quiet struggle in his multiple relationships with the coach, his girlfriend and his mother, as he navigates a possible future he did not know he had. Antwon Tanner presented an equally engaging story as he tried to exhibit the difficulty in getting pulled into a dangerous world.

Though not related to the man represented by this film, Thomas Carter wanted to direct this story of recovery and triumph. Coach Carter did not know that he was going to take over the team but he seemed to be quite prepared to take on the challenge. Developing a set of contracts, Carter wanted to prove how highly he valued the academic experience with the athletic competition. As he deconstructed the team and worked from the basics, he was able to get the players to take a hard look at their decisions and start to play more as a team. The bumps along the road mostly came from their lack of attention to their status as students and getting too confident in their gameplay, but Carter locking out the gym took a strong toll on the community and helped snap the players back into shape academically. While the team may not have accomplished everything they hoped to, the efforts put forth that year rippled out to opportunities beyond their time playing the game in high school.

The one most intriguing element of this story was the debate of the value of athletics versus academics. The reality in high school is that athletics are generally not a profitable endeavor for the academic program, yet they are important from the community perspective and can be a gateway for some kids to continue their education. The film provided a glimpse of this conversation. Carter addressed the media by talking about his value for education and the need for the players to meet certain standards. Many would argue that athletics and academics need to be two separate conversations, as commonly gets highlighted at the collegiate level. The reality is that they are irrevocably joined and there are more opportunities available for students who use sports to explore further academic pursuits than there are professional careers for athletes.

The film has a great main storyline while trying to give more backstory into a few of the characters, between dealing with high school pregnancy, gang violence and abandonment. While some of these elements are managed fairly well, there are too many smaller story lines to be able to give each their due attention. There are also some of the stereotypical urban high school movie elements that feel a little less natural in their presentation.

Dan’s Rating: 3.0/5

Seven Days in Utopia: Life is Never the Same Once You’ve Been to Utopia (2011)

Though he is an aspiring golfer, Luke Chisholm’s world gets rocked when he experiences trouble at the end of one of his tournaments, leading him to a complete meltdown. Taking some time to get away, he heads towards a town called Utopia but gets into an accident while trying to avoid hitting a steer. Taken in by one of the locals, Luke gets to know Johnny Crawford, who offers to help him with his game. Luke is surprised by his knowledge and gives him a chance. Though his methods are untraditional, Johnny takes Luke through a series of challenges that test his abilities and cause him to think differently about what is important in life. While working on his game, he starts to develop a relationship with local Sarah, as long as he can get past the other local boys who are overly protective of her.

Starring: Lucas Black (Luke Chisholm), Robert Duvall (Johnny Crawford), Melissa Leo (Lily), Sarah Jayne Jensen (Maggie Swanson), Joseph Lyle Taylor (Martin Chisholm), KJ Choi (T.K. Oh), Deborah Ann Woll (Sarah), Sally Vahle (Mary Chisholm), Jerry Ferrara (Joe Buckner), Josh Painting (Duane)

With the greatest focus of the film being focused on Lucas Black and Robert Duvall, there is little room for some of the other stars to truly make a mark. Even Academy Award winner Melissa Leo fades into the background with limited screen time and and role that does not provide enough of a platform for her to project. Still, Duvall pulls together one of his classic calm-minded, inspirational performances as his character strives to guide the misdirected youthful talent. Lucas Black exhibits the meltdown at the start of the movie and has a moment or two of weakness of character throughout the story, but Black is able to keep his character’s persona fairly level in order to allow for the moral and Christian overtones to shine through.

  

Matt Russell’s film is one that explores the recovery of a young golfer in a struggle with his love of the game. Though the game had been driven into him by his father, Luke felt he had jumped to the pro circuit too soon. His meltdown was proof of his frustration with his father’s strong influence and him finally trying to make his own decisions. This anger led him to driving off and getting stranded in the small town of Utopia, where he catches the attention of a new father figure who wants to re-inspire his love for golf but in the context of something greater. Through a number of unconventional means (fly fishing for control, washer tossing for putting and flying an airplane for handling the unexpected), Luke is able to pull himself back together. But it is actually the combination of Johnny’s attention and Sarah’s warmth that helps him realize there is more to life than playing golf, and realizing that can help him put things in perspective when out on the course.

  

This concept of perspective is the main theme of the film, particularly through many subtle and overt Christian elements. Scenes in places like the graveyard, the church and the dinner table help to create a more visual foundation for Luke’s return to calm and focus. All of the tests that Johnny puts him through have more subtle elements of perspective and are meant to eventually open up Luke’s commitment to his faith and put himself in perspective of God. Oddly enough (though not necessarily as overtly religious), similar themes can be seen in other films, such as Disney’s and Pixar’s Cars.

In total, the film is entertaining, has a good flow and likable characters, but there is nothing truly special about this story compared to similar ones. The film is also toned down significantly in the intensity of the Christian themes, which may make it more broadly accepted but less true to the original story.

Dan’s Rating: 2.5/5

Brian’s Song: An Inspiring True Story of Friendship and Courage (1971)

As a graduate of Ole Miss, runningback Gale Sayers is selected to join the Chicago Bears and enter into a backfield that includes the talented but aging Brian Piccolo. While their first interaction was an awkward one and their relationship rocky through a series of practical jokes, an evening encounter allows the pair to get a more authentic understanding of the other’s passion for the sport, guiding them to become friends. With their relationship catching the attention of the coaching staff, Gale gets warned about their decision to have the two men room together, which would be the first time that a white and black player would share their lodging. While the team experiences some success to start the session, medical issues with both men threaten the team’s success and their desires to get back on the field. As both strive for their individual recoveries, they inspire each other to succeed.

Starring: James Caan (Brian Piccolo), Billy Dee Williams (Gale Sayers), Jack Warden (Coach George Halas), Bernie Casey (JC Caroline), Shelley Fabares (Joy Piccolo), Judy Pace (Linda Sayers), David Huddleston (Ed McCaskey)

The acting in this film was interesting in its combination of feeling a little unrefined but lighthearted at the same time. James Caan’s representation of Brian Piccolo is that of a bit of a jokester. While there are a few moments of frustration in his worries about his ability to continue playing the game, he is a fast-talking, hard-working man who strives to serve as inspiration to a fellow footballer. Billy Dee Williams plays the role with a sense of quiet calm, except for the occasional outburst. In the end, the two actors play their characters as both complementary and opposite in order to push the larger theme of difference. Jack Warden is a little more of the loud-mouth coach. Both Shelley Fabares and Judy Pace provide a solid supporting role in their representation of the modest partners of athletes.

  

While a second version of the film was done in the early 2000s, Buzz Kulik’s focus on the theme of difference and strength was well represented. After the two men got past their petty differences, they developed a rather strong friendship. There were no real struggles that were presented from their teammates or even outside forces, though the film clearly wanted to highlight the importance of their placement together coming from two difference racial backgrounds. Instead, the focus turned to the friendship and how it helped to sustain them during their difficult periods. Gale’s injury came with an extended recovery period and a seemingly debilitating mental struggle. Brian pushed him to reconsider his stubbornness and supported his recovery back onto the field, highlighting that his recovery would help him return to the field and provide the necessary competition to challenge him to the fullest. When Brian became the one with the medical challenges, their relationship transformed to be more about emotionally supporting each other in a career-ending situation.

  

Brian’s Song was in reference to his alma mater, Wake Forest, and their fight song. When he sings this in the cafeteria at the beginning of the film, it is masked by practical joke that Gale is playing out to get revenge against Brian’s initial hazing. This actually serves to be more symbolic and an element that Gale remembers throughout their relationship. When Brian falls ill and Gale visits him in the hospital, the same song returns to be used as that symbolic element of the spirit Brian represented.

This film tries to balance the light-hearted humor with the heavy-hearted drama and does a fairly decent job in its presentation. This is a classic sports drama that only has a few significant gaps in its presentation that keep it from reaching an excellent level.

Dan’s Rating: 3.0/5