Brian's Song

Welcome everyone to this year’s “Black History Movie Month,” where I will start it off with a movie that I saw maybe half of in eighth grade but ended up watching entirely a little while ago, “Brian’s Song,” released in 1971.

Brett Willis started his review by saying, “Having been born in Green Bay, I’m not partial to stories about the Chicago Bears.” As you could predict, “Brian’s Song” is more than a football movie. The movie is about the friendship made between two polar opposite men and the way they support each other in difficulty. Some critics say that this is one of the best TV movies ever made.

Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) and Brian Piccolo (James Caan) are first seen as Bears rookies. Sayers (who still has the NFL record of six touchdowns in one game) definitely will make the team. Piccolo has to work extra hard just to be second best. We see the two chosen to “break the NFL ice” as interracial roommates. Brian helps Gale recover a knee injury and Gale supports Brian with a life-crisis ailment. The performances are very good, and real on-field NFL archive footage is combined with sideline reenactments to give the film an extra feeling of realism.

Profanity is reduced to a few “D” and “H” words. The other likely offensive part is racial language. Willis admitted, “In today’s politically correct environment, it may seem strange for Brian to jokingly use racial epithets and stereotypes on Gale. But in the ’60s my black friends and I could call each other any name we wanted, and we all understood that it wasn’t the same as when spoken by an outsider. I’m not arguing that racial slurs are good—I gave them up around the time I became a Christian. I’m just saying that a modern viewer of this film should not be distracted from its central message by taking offense where none is intended.” The main message is symbolized in Gale’s (real-life) acceptance speech for a “courageousness” award, where he not only says that Brian should get the award, but also that he “loves” Brian. At the time of that speech, people looked at one man saying he loved another (sincerely) as incorrect. However, looking at it from a religious view, it has always been correct.

If you haven’t seen this movie, go out and watch it. This is the one movie that people say that men can cry while watching it, but I didn’t. Not to say that I didn’t feel the sadness from this movie, I did, but I don’t cry while watching movies. I know that’s not the first time I said that, but it’s true. However, this is one that you have to see, especially if you like sports movies.

Look out next week for the next installment in “Black History Movie Month.”