Movies to knock you down a notch

First of all, this has been bugging me forever. What is the proper way to capitalize a title? Is it every word (minus the a's, the's, etc) or can you just write it out as a sentence? You might have noticed I switch back and forth between the two as I think it looks ridiculous when you capitalize everything. Mom, official ruling? On to the main blog entry

There is a simple formula to making movies that I will like. Said movies must include A. Football (American) B. Racial tension (Ideally black/white) C. Cancer (fatal). Until recently that list included one movie, Brian's Song (and I guess technically it's terrible 2001 remake). I remember the day I saw that terrible 2001 remake on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney. I thought "hey, I love sports movies, I bet I'll like this one". Cut to 2 hours later when my mom finds me sobbing in her bedroom as the credits roll. She stood stunned and finally  managed to get out the words "oh God...not Brian's Song". It was then that I learned that there was an original and it was notorious for making even the strongest man cry. You see, Brian's Song appeals to all demographics. It tells the story of two football players for the Chicago Bears. One is outgoing and white (Brian Piccolo) while the other is reserved and black (Gale Sayers). Together they fight through the racial adversity of the 1960's and become best friends. Hooray! But it's not over. Brian suddenly develops cancer, of the deadly variety (I believe lung cancer, although I can't verify that off the top of my head). Through humor and true grit Gale and Brian fight to overcome the disease together, culminating in a heart wrentching scene in which Gale accepts the George S Halas award for courage in the NFL. Gale, who had previously been too shy to give a speech until Brian gave him the courage, whips out the "I love Brian Piccolo...and I'd like all of you to love him too...and tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him" speech. Tears flow like water from a faucet. There are not enough kleenex in the world as anyone who has a soul blubbers like a baby. *spoiler alert* Gale races back to the hospital just in time to hold Brian's hand as he dies. Cue scene of Brian running through the park while the music swells and the announcer guy gives the exact details of Brian's death and Gales future. It's mindblowingly heart wrenching.

The tears that came from Brian's Song by no means made me feel good, but that type of emotional release was addictive (my mom has her hands on the phone and is calling a psychologist for me as we speak). A few months later I found the original on TV and gave it a go. Again, tears, emotion, as hard as I tried to believe it would be different, Brian died. I cried even more, I felt like I would never be happy again. The music, the song of Brian's Song, swells in the background and you can feel yourself crying in tune to the music. Here is where the new version failed. They went with the more polished movie, focusing more on dialogue rather than on the wailing melody of the song that at times overtakes the movie. Proving once again that while of a lesser quality, the 1970's knew how to get it done.

Side note, I think the last few entries have shown that I have a particular love for the 1970's. OMP has noticed and has called me out on it at various times. He thinks it's odd. I blame the four years of Quaker school. 

Back to the movie. Earlier this year I got fantastic news, Disney was making a new sports movie called "The Express". Every few years they come out with a sports movie that is just spectacular, such as Remember the Titans (which fulfilled 2.5 of my requirements) or Miracle (which fulfilled no requirements, but I still saw it 5 times in the theaters). The fact that I really don't follow any sports other than the Red Sox, Patriots and Princeton Basketball allows me to enjoy these movies as I don't care if they're accurate or not, I just want everything to end perfectly and it always does. I saw that it was a football movie (check) about the first black player to ever win the Heisman Trophy (check). Two out of three isn't bad, it's enough to get me to see the movie. I Googled the guy it was about and found to my surprise that he died of cancer very soon after winning the award (check). I was stunned, did I actually find another movie that fits my "perfect movie" formula? 

The movie came out in October yet none of my friends would see it with me. After I broke into a fit of tears simply describing the plot of Brian's Song to them one night they outright refused to see any sports or animal movies with me. Apparently when I cry it's awkward. Sorry for caring. Long story short, I didn't get to see it in theaters

I realized a few weeks ago that Netflix isn't just for renting John Cusack movies and obscure documentaries, you can actually get some newly released DVDs from it as well. I put The Express at the top of my queue and eagerly popped it in right after it came. 

I was skeptical that it would go the route of Brian's Song (2001) with focus on the actors and their dialogue rather than on the general feel of the movie. I was right, to a point. The bottom line is the dialogue was pretty bad, the music was a non issue and at no point did I cry. While I was a bit disappointed at first, I did have to sit back at one point and say "you know what, this isn't that bad." I wouldn't let myself look up the plotline of the movie, so every game that was played was like watching it live. The people on my hall must think I'm crazy because during the big game versus Texas I kept shouting "RUN RUN" and checking my watch and muttering "there's still too much time left on the clock, we gotta run it down". Ultimately it ended on an anti-climactic note (a black screen then the simple words "Ernie died on such and such date"), the cowards way out of a movie really.

In comparing the two, The Express was probably the "better" movie in film sense. Polished, more developed, had Dennis Quaid, etc. It focused a lot more on the sports aspect, showing whole games. Also focused more on the racism aspect. Brian's Song tricks you into thinking it's going to be about racism, then it pulls a Remember the Titans and solves that issue fairly quickly. By that point you're sucked in and they go in for the kill. The Express just never sucked you in. I could turn off the movie at any time and not feel like I had to go back and see if maybe this time the guy lived. Everytime I watch Brian's Song I can't help but think 'maybe he'll pull through this time'. I spent the whole time watching The Express thinking "don't get too attached, he's going to die". 

Ultimately The Express failed to have that rousing speech. There were PLENTY of opportunities for it, either between player and coach or when accepting the Heisman Trophy, but the screenwriters just didn't bite. Had I been writing The Express, Ernie would have delivered an impassioned speech about overcoming racism right before he scored a winning touchdown in his final game. That also bothered me, the movie focused on his sophomore season then was like "oh yea, he had a great junior and senior season too". It also elluded to him having cancer as a sophomore, which is just ridiculous to think that he went 3.5 years with the symptoms of Leukemia and was still able to be the greatest player at the college level. You can't pull that one by me. 

The Express is no Brian's Song, but it did support my theory that football-racism-cancer is a guaranteed heart-warming/wrenching movie. If anyone else has some football-racism-cancer movies, please, let me know about them. I like to space my f-r-c movies out with at least a few months in between them to recover, so give me their names around June.

And please, tonight, when you hit your knees....well...you know the rest.