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24 out of 30 people found the following review useful: Inspiring Sports Movie, 12 October 2008 Author: LDQ409 from Farmingdale, NY
The Express was one of the best sports movies I have seen. It tells the story of Ernie Davis, who was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy and his relationship with his coach, Ben Schwarzwalder.It is set in the late 50's where there was still a great deal of prejudice against African Americans, even in the northern states where segregation was not overt. Ernie's optimism and willingness to be the best football player he can be, not just the best African American football player was portrayed perfectly by Rob Brown. He was inspiring and you couldn't help rooting for him to succeed.Ben was a crusty, set in his ways coach, who couldn't see beyond winning the game. Ernie helped him see that a football team is made up of individuals who have to pull together to achieve their goals. Dennis Quaid is an excellent actor, who can say so much with just a smile or a raised eyebrow. He is so natural, it is as if he isn't acting at all. Dennis & Rob have a very good chemistry, and they made every scene believable.The Express was similar to the Rookie, another great film that Dennis Quaid starred in. Both films had just the right amount of drama, set off with little bits of comedy to relieve the tension.At the showing I attended, the audience was very moved by the film because when it was over, there was much applause, something you don't hear much in movies these days.You don't have to be a football fan to love this movie. I highly recommend it.
18 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Superb film that everyone should see...a great history lesson!, 27 October 2008 Author: pjmbdm from United States
My husband and I saw EXPRESS yesterday and truly enjoyed this movie. We love movies based on true stories and also enjoy sports so this was a winning combination! We found this movie to be truly captivating and beautifully told. The acting was superb.....everyone did a fantastic job of making it all very real. We didn't know anything about Ernie Davis and feel so privileged to know his story. Of course we knew Jim Brown, but Ernie never even had a chance to show his real talents to the world via the Cleveland Browns. What a gifted young man he was and all the difficulties he had to face made him even more special. As far as the people who don't appreciate WV being shown in that light, my husband was in the Army in 1960-1963, and whether it was WV, NC, SC, or any other state in that vicinity that is exactly how it was and he experienced that type of hate first hand. Thank you for bring us such a meaningful film. We hope it is a huge success.
35 out of 55 people found the following review useful: It has you cheering and clapping as you watch it, 4 October 2008 Author: robertallenandersonjr from United States
The Express was a wonderful sports movie with lots of drama. It had a ton of emotion and great feelings in it. Me watching the movie I felt like a fan. This movie will make you love sports even if you don't. It was inspirational in so many ways. The whole movie keeps you entertained and on the edge of your seat at the end. Each one of the football games were fun and exciting to watch. When their wasn't football in the movie the director found ways to keep the movie good and interesting. This movie had emotion. love, heart, tears, and inspiring moments. Their are many different scenes in this movie that are sad to watch and upsetting for the viewers. The thing that makes it so upsetting for us to watch is the thing they do to blacks in this movie. I think that everyone should see this movie just to see how life was. The life the blacks lived in this movie wasn't good. I think this movie will teach people to respect everyone no matter who it is. This movie was one of the best movies of the year. It was the best sports movie of the year and ever. It will honestly have you on your feet. It was such a great movie and was so inspiring and should be seen by everyone. It was great for kids, teens, adults, and even grandparents. It was so exciting and fun to watch all around. Their weren't any flaws pretty much. The movie has so many different messages that were great. The thing that is mostly the best part of the movie is that Ernie is the most unselfish person on and off the field in this movie. He shows everyone how to be a better person. The coach played by Dennis Quaid did a great job and was a good person and coach as well. The movie was based on a true story also. Overall this is one feel good movie. It is the must see sports movie. Go see it and have a fun time cheering and clapping.
18 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Re: Excellent Movie Of A True Legend, 12 October 2008 Author: jbuttlar from United States
This was a very well acted movie. Dennis Quaid did a great job of playing the coach and Rob Brown was the perfect choice for Ernie Davis. The ratings this movie has received so far are not in line with the quality of this film. This movie in no way presented a political point of view. The only thing political was what happened in real life. This was the recognition given to Ernie by the president of the time. (which was JFK) Other than this movie was more inspirational. It showed the character of Ernie Davis and the faith he had in his own abilities, his coach, family and his God. Ernie Davis has reshaped College sports. Due to his ability to cope with hatred and racism in a positive way. The game of college sports has vastly become more professional. The talent of teams today is far greater than the past. Ernie opened the door foe all races in sports; thus increasing the abilities of the teams. I highly recommend this film.
14 out of 17 people found the following review useful: This ain't Brian's Song but ..., 27 September 2008 Author: Darth-Furious from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Based on the non-fiction book Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express, by Robert C. Gallagher, The Express: The Ernie Davis story seems to lose itself in it's own title. The name change signifies a young culture and generation completely unaware of the legend of Ernie Davis. Wait a second... there's a good title.Off the bat, I have to credit Rob Brown. At 16 years old this kid was squaring off impressive verbiage with Sean Connery and held his own. Now, his confidence shines even more. As Davis, Brown emotes without saying a word and strides through a script that tries but sheds little light into Davis's mind.Coach - er, Dennis Quaid disappears into the father role, replacing Davis's grandfather Pops (Charles Dutton) and polarizing every scene.God, I wish they had more for Clancy Brown to do. I mean, come on - it's Clancy Freakin Brown.So anyway, with most sports films, we get the basic hero plot wrapped around big game action scenes and the occasional fistfight. By the third act, the protagonists/ pioneers have broken through barriers, stumbled through plot twists and plot holes like a paint by numbers series and after winning the big game, celebrate - with hands high, flashing Colgate smiles and cheer into the epilogue.The Express follows the same formula until one remembers the nose bleeds. Wait a sec, it happens more than once? Yeah. That a loose plot? Not really. That was the relationship between Davis and Jim Brown or Davis and his girlfriend. What's her name? Sarah. There's just not enough depth invested into these relationships. So anyway, the nose bleeds are symptoms of acute monocytic leukemia. The hints are there like after-school special bookends and we, like Davis, have no clue what's happening. We want to dismiss it and move on - just like he does. That's the inspiration in this film. And it feels good.Overall, this is a film for the masses. It's strength is the push of a young man who was unaware of his own limitations in any event. Be it secure confidence or misguided pride, without that awareness - Davis could proceed and achieve to no end. The filmmakers stretch what they have to cover what they don't. All the facts are here. The history is too. But I wanted more. I wanted to see his struggle with the Big L - the unseen antagonist we waited for. Arrogant teammates, West Virginia racists, or even the slew of em in Texas (before the seemingly rushed ending) are nothing comparable. We move past it, onto the big night in Cleveland. But, that might be the writer's intention.I didn't have any sense about this film other than football. I had heard of Ernie Davis however I couldn't recall any significant details of his life to save my own. The details of Jim Brown and the Heisman Trophy are lost on non football fans. Even the fact that Davis led Syracuse to it's first national championship becomes a mute point. This film is about a man... not a football star.Brown and Quaid shoulder this film. The performances are so strong and touching... how Davis infects his weary eyed coach with his wisdom is a joy. The whole student teaching the master cliché is good. Oh yeah, there was this whole white/ black racial politic thing and everything (and anything) racist hits the front burners. Still, the meat of what drove Davis is key here. What caused this man to tick? What kept him focused and determined? When did he forget he was black? I have to big up Mark Isham's tender, yet powerful score. There were cues in this film that bring tears to one's eyes. Other good notes are any scenes with the wonderful, fresh faced Nicole Behaire as Davis's wife Sarah and Darrin Henson as a firm, but less formidable looking Jim Brown and again... Clancy Brown.Ernie Davis's story is remarkable to discover. The Express does it's best to give us the stuff of this young man's legend. Even through the gloss and shine of Hollywood's spin... it just feels good.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: The Ernie Davis Story, 19 November 2008 Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
Ernie Davis whom I remember as a kid as the most promising college football player of his time made quite the impact on the world of sports back in the day. But is impact during the Civil Rights era in which he played is equally compelling a story. Both are united here in a wonderful sports film, The Express with young Rob Brown playing Ernie Davis. Brown plays Davis well as the idealistic young kid who takes as his ideal Jackie Robinson and the significance he had breaking the color line in professional baseball. Black people were already playing professional football at this time also, but the sport was not what it is today or in fact would shortly become starting in the middle Fifties when Davis was in college ball at the University of Syracuse.A guy who had a lot to do with that was Ernie Davis's predecessor at the University of Syracuse Jim Brown as played by Darrin DeWitt Henson. Brown's place among professional football immortals is quite assured and he came to the Cleveland Browns with the reputation from college he more than lived up to. In fact it's Brown that Coach Ben Schwartzwalder uses to recruit Davis to the Orangemen of Syracuse. Dennis Quaid plays the coach and he gives one of his best performances in his career. In fact it's right in line with another football film Any Given Sunday where he plays an aging quarterback with heart and guts, but losing a step or two in the field. The film is about Quaid almost as much as about Rob Brown. The coach learns that he's living in extraordinary times for America, most extraordinary for black America. His players are not separate and apart from the social changes going on, they and the game cannot be kept in a vacuum. Proof of that comes when the Orangemen of Syracuse go south to play West Virginia and later the University of Texas in the Cotton Bowl which was more of a war than an athletic contest.Ernie Davis beat out Jim Brown in two special categories. He was the first black man to win the Heisman Trophy for Best College Football player and probably earned it by dint of the fact that he unlike Brown led Syracuse to a national championship. It was a fact the Heisman Committee could not ignore.The football sequences as in Any Given Sunday are done incredibly well, choreographed would not be a bad word to describe them. Davis did in fact say he would let his field exploits do his talking and they spoke loud and clear.I hope some Oscar nominations are in the future for both Quaid and Brown. The Express will go down in history as one of the best sports films ever done and it goes along way towards keeping the story of Ernie Davis alive for generations to come.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Ernie Davis's Story, 2 June 2009 Author: Senyales from Fraggle Rock
'The Express', though based on Ernie Davis's life, is given a very Hollywood treatment. The story is uplifting and even inspiring to some, especially how Davis chooses to fight racism, not with violence, but with American football. Yet, the film itself is sugarcoated and has the deja-vu feel. For example, it is easy to predict which team will win (as is the case with most sports film). However, the last 20 minutes were handled well. Those scenes could have easily been melodramatic but the director chooses to play it down here. The background score is very intrusive at times. I thought the issue of racism was well tackled. This isn't 'just another movie about racism' because the conflicts are well depicted and dealt with (like one would think it would be in the 50s). Dennis Quaid definitely moves a step forward from his usual average acting. It's impressive to see him get under the skin of the character rather than play the usual formula. Rob Brown does a fine job and holds his own. Overall, 'The Express' tells an important story about a man who made a difference in American history even though his name is not known to everyone.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Zerocuse, 16 October 2008 Author: acs_joel from san diego, CA
I grew up following Syracuse sports. I remember Ben Schwartzwalder being interviewed on Sunday mornings on channel 3 in Syracuse.The film was a disappointment for me.Have the director or cinematographer actually ever played football? The football scenes were very contrived and not realistic. As football movies go, The Express looks like girls' field hockey.The writing was corny. This story needed more of an edge, dealing with racial tensions and sports glory. It comes off as a made-for-TV movie of the week.Dennis Quaid, although one of my favorite actors, is miscast. Ben was a hard-nosed guy, Dennis is just can't pull off the scowl.As much as I thought I would like this film, that's how much I dislike it. By the way, how did the film end? I left early.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: An uplifting and inspiring tale., 9 December 2008 Author: Jamie Ward from United Kingdom
Sending off the film in a monologue which encapsulates his entire story, lead character Ernie Davis (Rob Brown) concedes to the fact that he doesn't quite know how to end his story; it's a desirable lack of focus for a man who doesn't necessarily want to tell a structurally sound story, but a powerful and important message about his struggle instead. Yet this sometimes off balanced narrative unwittingly carries through onto this, the big screen adaptation of young Ernie Davis' story, and the movie as a result is worse off, no matter how faithful it may adhere to the source material which borrows largely from the main character's real life biography. The Express for all intents and purposes retains the important elements of Davis' short but inspiring tale, backing up the movie's hard hitting themes with solid heart, soul and passion; yet lumbered with a force-fed implementation that sacrifices the stories emotional integrity for mawkish melodrama, the feature too often looses its footing when it really counts. Nevertheless, with some fitting performances, stark photography and an endlessly inspiring story of unity, social injustice and change, The Express still manages to overcome its weaker moments to make a greater whole.Told through the eyes of up and coming black American football sensation Ernie Davis, The Express delivers a two punch game that fights on two fields which turn out to be one in the same. Ostensibly the feature is about Ernie's battle to the top of the game back in its earliest days when to be black was looked upon as something of a weakness or automatic disqualification from being taken seriously. On this purely face value level, the movie does well; it has the building structure and bubbling tension needed to create the necessary highs and lows of a typical, engrossing sports movie. Watching Ernie is like watching a legend, and that's exactly what it should be like. Sure enough the man is more or less untouchable in the movie's first two thirds, but showing his weaknesses on field would be superfluous at best. Instead the script leaves much of Davis' conflict and hardship to be faced off the pitch, even when he's playing on it. At its heart, The Express is a moral tale of people coming together and letting parts of themselves go that maybe they hadn't thought through quite thoroughly enough; at its core, The Express is about racial discrimination. Counterbalancing the much more visceral aspects of the feature with this emotive, heart felt drama; the movie achieves both a sense of wonder and relevancy that still rings true to this day.Despite the script's well intentioned spirit however, all does not go well when it is finally given transition to the big screen. Director Gary Fleder and composer Mark Isham too often inject the feature with an overbearing, sometimes sickening level of sugar coated melodrama. From the sweeping strings of Isham's sentimentally ridden compositions to Fleder's insistence on emphasising start contrasts between the stories dark and light moments, The Express sometimes boils down to mere caricature that belittles the ideas that the script is trying to get across. Thankfully though, all is not lost in either of their abilities; Isham does far better when scoring for the movie's faster moving segments and Fleder gets some hard hitting and poignant performances out of his main cast. The movie's central performances from Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid are nothing of any remarkable significance, but they serve their purposes well and do justice to the characters that they are playing; sure enough Quaid can be his withdrawn, wooden self from time to time, but his presence is a fine mixture of warm and cold, enough to make the relationship between the two main characters compelling to watch develop.As engrossing as this can all be though, it's oft hard to swallow some of what the movie tries so hard to press upon you; it's a film that tries to raise questions whilst simultaneously answering without being too cynical, and for the most part, does that well enough, even if it is all a little too dependant on sucrose for its own good. So while watching The Express can feel a little like getting force-fed an over-sized, over-iced and over-baked cake to chow down on for two hours, the end result is at least in itself, satisfying. Telling a story of perseverance against the most uncomfortable of challenges whilst at the same time incorporating themes of friendship, family and even a little football into the mix, The Express is a movie that is more about the substance beneath rather than the sometimes troublesome crust that encompasses. It takes a long time to get there, and arguably ends far too late, but for anyone looking for an uplifting and inspiring tale of one man changing the course of history forever, then The Express should do well enough.- A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful: The Express, despite some exaggerations, was a mostly inspiring bio-film of Ernie Davis, 23 October 2008 Author: tavm from Baton Rouge, La.
Before I write the review proper of The Express, I have something to nitpick: I know when films are made "based on a true story" some events are going to be exaggerated. Nonetheless, I expect most of what happens in those movies to reflect a certain truth and be as accurate as possible. So when I read here on IMDb that the taunts of the Syracuse vs. West Virginia game from WV stadium members NEVER HAPPENED and that the coach that Dennis Quaid played had actually worked near the surrounding areas, that marred some of the enjoyment I got out of this movie based on Ernie Davis, whom I actually read about in elementary school in a literature textbook during the '70s. I wasn't bothered by some other inaccuracies I read about, however, since many of them were more minor and therefore, doesn't ruin the picture for me. The performances of Rob Brown as Davis and Quaid as head coach Ben Schwartzwalder had me riveted for most of the movie and I also enjoyed Charles Dutton as Davis' grandfather and Nicole Beharie as Davis' girlfriend, Sarah Ward. The tragic fate of Davis in the last 15 minutes also was handled tastefully and reading about President Kennedy's eulogy before the end credits was especially inspiring. So despite my misgivings about the whole West Virginia scene, I'm recommending The Express for anyone curious about this nearly forgotten time in college football history. P.S. I was pleasantly surprised to read in the end credits that part of this movie was shot in my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.
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