Sports movies, especially ones wrapped up in historical movements, can’t help but wallow in cliches.
What, is the hero not gonna score the winning touchdown, swat the game-tying homer or smite the bully?
It’s all in how you arrange the cliches. Having engaging actors in key parts can’t hurt.
So goes “The Express,” the true story behind Ernie Davis, the first black Heisman Trophy winner. Davis’s life may have been short, but it packed enough drama to sustain this heart tugger.
Rob Brown, the “Finding Forrester” star who’s been MIA of late, plays the talented running back. He gets accepted to Syracuse University where he’ll replace the already legendary Jim Brown (Darrin Dewitt Henson).
Ernie isn’t worried about the X’s and O’s on the chalkboard of coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid, perfectly cast). It’s the late 1950s, and racism makes the simple act of running up and down a football field a near federal offense.
How Ernie evaded tacklers - and the era’s most vocal racists - makes for an aborbing tale that doesn’t wallow in the anger from that era.
Brown’s character is the obvious hero, but it’s Quaid’s stubborn coach who seizes our attention. He just wants to win, so any distraction gets sent to the bench, even if it means slighting his star player.
Quaid details the complexity behind the coach’s moves, while the fluid football sequences bridge the gaps between the ocassionally mawkish plot twists.
“The Express” tries to squeeze in a love story, but it’s done with so little enthusiasm it needn’t have bothered. The true affection blooms between player and coach, and that’s all a story like this needs.
“The Express” serves up just what you expect from a sports drama, but that won’t dislodge the lump in your throat all the same.
(Photo: Dennis Quaid plays Coach Ben Schwartzwalder in “The Express,” based on the life of Ernie Davis.)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
opus 10.11.08 at 12:36 am
I tired of most of these films long ago and this film appears to be a collage of a lot of differnt things about films that bug me.
At the top of the list, if they’re going to make a movie where the main character is black or the story is about the black experience, civil rights, racism etc..etc…..then don’t throw in a white character/s, and tell the story through their eyes. If they want to make a movie about Ernie Davis make it about Ernie Davis, not the Coach and Ernie Davis.
While I understand this is a true story, the movie sounds like one of the five plot lines that are used for every film where the main character is black, or a woman, or a black woman.
“Main character has to overcome the racism/sexism or both from the evil white men.”
Wan’t it just last year where we had a film about a debate team from a black university fighting racism and competing against a white university. Yet another about a black basketball team fighting racism to play. Both true stories but aren’t there any other stories to tell where the main characters are black or are we doomed to see an endless stream of movies about the first black dentist, chiropractor or furniture salemen?
How about an original story.
cftoto 10.11.08 at 1:54 am
Plenty of truth in your post, Opus. It’s hard not to follow the basic plot points of a true story, though. It definitely works against this film that “Glory Road” and “The Great Debaters” predated it.
For me, “The Express” had enough heart, and a few solid performances, to make me mostly forget those complaints.
whiskey 10.13.08 at 3:04 am
The Reason the Express did not work, for most audiences, is that it speaks to a world so alien and ancient it does not exist even in memory.
Nearly all positions in most major College programs and the NFL are considered “Black” and off-limits to Whites. The only exceptions are QB, TE, O Linemen. That’s it. You have at most 3-5 White players on a 53 man roster.
Wow, a Black player battling against White racism does not do well box office wise, when most Whites are restricted to three positions on the field. Hall of Famer Chris Collinsworth, if he were starting out today, could never play because of his skin color.
Given the dominance of Blacks on most professional sports, to the point where it’s rare to see White players (Blacks are 12% of the population), no one really cares about these “racism” movies anymore.
cftoto 10.13.08 at 3:18 am
Whiskey, I haven’t seen any evidence that talented white players are being denied certain roles on pro team based on their color.
Today’s audiences may not be able to relate to late-1950s America where racism was so ugly and in-your-face. But I’d bet movie goers, especially those under 30, would be horrified to learn what went on a mere 45-50 years ago.