In fact, I'm not a football fan, nor even a sports fan at that---this extraordinary movie would have slipped by me except for several reasons: One of them, my friend of some 30 years or so, Coralee Burch wrote a manuscript on the life of the protagonist in this story, real life college football great Ernie Davis. The years that she struggled unsuccessfully to pitch her script are still quite vivid in my recollection because for her it was a heartfelt labor of love. Ernie Davis, the first dark skinned winner of the coveted Heisman Trophy was to her a real life hero and she related to me more than once how he was not just a great athlete but beloved by everyone that ever met him, such was the greatness of his spirit
all of that despite the crushing bigotry that Davis faced coming of age in the mid-20th Century America and the brutal treatment and abuse heaped upon him from childhood.
The second reason is the actor chosen to play Ernie Davis, Rob Brown. I first discovered Brown in his first film Finding Forrester (2000). He was selected to play the lead opposite Sean Connery in this small, beautiful gem of a film at age 16 and without any training as an actor yet held his own superbly against Connery. The minute that I saw the trailer for The Express and recognized Rob Brown I decided I would see the film, even before I realized it was the story about Ernie Davis.
A curious coincidence as well, Ernie's greatest hero was Jim Brown, who played at Syracuse before Ernie and who went on to the Cleveland Browns once again followed by Ernie. Some of you will know the name Jim Brown because he has been an actor in Hollywood for decades. When I was in High School in Hicksville in the track team I recall quite vividly one day watching Jim Brown run a long distance race on the track leaving everyone behind as if they were jogging at a track meet with his High School, Manhasset.
Although Jim was instrumental in inspiring Ernie, as it turned out Ernie had an even better football record than Jim in college and might have also matched or bettered Jim in the NFL where Jim is today considered a legendary player. It was not meant to be, however, Ernie Davis died at age 23 of Leukemia just after being drafted by the Cleveland Browns.
To this writing I've read more than two dozen criticals on this film and although most critics liked the film not one grasped the meaning of the story. It was not a film about sports or football but about the triumph of the human spirit.
