Brian's Song (1971)

Very Cool!!!

So much average

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

As a big fan of TV-movies from the 70's, you'd think I'd have seen "Brian's Song" a lot sooner. I finally watched it, and wasn't disappointed.You know the story, two football players, one white, one black, become best buds and help each other out. James Caan is superb as always, and Billy Dee Williams is pretty good.At first, it seemed a major part of the plot would have involved race. When Billy Dee is told by his team that he and Caan will be the first black and white roomies, he is told to pretty much expect big trouble in every city they play in, from both blacks and whites. However, we never see any of that trouble a single time. And really, the only hint of any trouble of any kind from the roommate situation went Caan's way - he reads a racist letter that someone sent to him, upset he was rooming with a "darkie" - and joked his mother sent it. And that's all for the big, bad roommate situation.However, this being 1971, there are various funny race jokes. Caan tells Williams he's going to name his new kid "Spade"; when Caan sees Williams fumble a ball around, he says something about "you'd think the ball had a white sheet on it"; Caan relates chicken to blacks; and there's a scene where Caan jokingly calls Williams a "nigger" and everyone gets a big laugh out of it. Ah, the days when one can make jokes that aren't politically correct! The ending is sad, and done very well. The whole movie actually is pretty good, and the friendship is built up nicely, We never really know why Caan as Picolo chose Billy Dee to be friends with, but it really doesn't matter. They made a good team in this flick.

I didn't realize that this was originally a made-for-TV movie when I first saw it and I think this movie shows how far TV has come in the last 30 plus years. Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't think this is a wonderful film, but it left me somewhat unfulfilled. The movie does have some good performances by its cast especially the roles of Pic and Sayers, their wives, and the head coach. Nevertheless, the acting seems geared towards making it play strictly as a tear-jerker, not a serious drama. My biggest complaint, however, was that there was not enough development in the characters to see how and why they became good friends. When did they go from playing practical jokes on each other to becoming like brothers? And then there was Pic's very unfunny racial humor. When Sayers gave him a pint of blood, he had an urge for chitterlings. Maybe that was funny in 1971, but wasn't a professional golfer roundly criticized for a similar comment about Tiger Woods? I couldn't understand some of the football humor either and the laughs seemed contrived rather than heartfelt. I think this could have been a much better movie if it had moved slower and there had been a little more character development to understand why these two guys clicked and became such good friends and then the loss would not seem contrived but real.

of their friendship.I have the film on VHS so I don't know what the DVD extras provided. I did read Sayers book "I am Third" (referencing how he prioritizes himself) decades ago and IIRC Brian and Gale did room together. They also played the same position on the team. They also came aboard the Bears team at the same time. I imagine Gale is embarrassed by the way the Movie makes their relationship almost supernatural in it's heroic nature. In his book he devotes a chapter to Brian and makes it clear that Brian's death affected him and helped add perspective to certain things. The fact that these 2 existed together and competed against each other and found friendship during such a seminal moment in the USA's history is worthy of note.Their real life stories contain the flavor of a contemporary Greek tragedy: 2 men with gifted physical attributes. One of the men from a place where friendship among such equals is forbidden (think Ben Hur's Messala), the other man (of superior physical gifts - think Ben Hur) from a place where judgments are rendered in a more civil way. Both men full of physical courage who learn the nature and importance of philosophical courage (think Hector or Achilles). And when both men have endured much and given much to strangers and each other, when both men feel they understand how unfair and wrong the world can be, fate requires they learn the most painful of lessons: That whatever the injustice, Death (incarnate) is the most callous and unfeeling of teachers.

I remember watching this movie on TV when it first aired on ABC TV. I was about 13 years old. And I cried like a baby at the end. This was the first time I ever cried at the end of a movie. And to this day at 47, I still can't watch it without crying just a bit.You have to be dead not to be touched by this movie. James Caan portrayal of Brian Piccolo and Billy Dee Williams portrayal of Gale Sayers touched me emotionally. Jack Warden also did a fine job as George Halas.If you have never seen Brian's Song and want to see a fine movie about friendship, courage, and the human spirit.....see this one.