Brian's Song
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Movie Reviews of Brian's Song
Movie Review: Brian's Song
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very good story it will bring tears to your eyes, or should I say make you cry.Movie Review: Brian's Song
Summary: 5 Stars
IT was shipped very fast and it was new and still in the original wrapping. Thank youMovie Review: A Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
A true classic and tear jerker. It includes one of the best title songs of all time.Movie Review: Thank You For Being A Friend
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently screened the original BRIAN'S SONG for a film series on "Friendship In Film." It's not easy to find American films that explore that theme on a deeper level than the typical buddy-buddy flick. There are any number of films out there about deep and lasting friendships between women, but male friendship has been significantly less attention paid to it--understandable given the still strong cultural taboos against men expressing emotions and the implicit fear that too strong an emotional bond between men might imply at least latent homosexuality.
This 1971 made-for-TV movie can be seen as something of a cultural watershed, in a way. I actually missed the original broadcast back in the day (I was away at college and had other concerns), but I do recall that it was something of a media event. And understandably so. When the cinematic Gale Sayers, receiving an award for "Most Courageous Athlete," announces that his gallant teammate and friend, the mortally ill Brian Piccolo is infinitely more deserving of that award and that he (Sayers) will present it to him personally the next day, well, there's not a dry eye in the auditorium--or, for that matter, in any of the millions of living rooms where the film is being viewed. And when he expresses his love for his dying friend, well, no one's going to misinterpret that statement.
Is it easier to express such sentiments about someone who's dead or dying? Probably. BRIAN'S SONG actually is kind of predictably buddy-buddy for the first hour or so. Like many male friends, these guys express their affection for each other by bantering back and forth and playing silly practical jokes. Viewers understand from the get go, of course, that a deeper bond is being forged, one that transcends race, or the fact of their sports rivalry, or of their decidedly different personalities.
But it does take personal tragedy for that affection to be articulated. Some might find that something of a shame. Others will just say that's just the way things are (or WERE back in those storied days of those yore). BRIAN'S SONG, like most bio-flicks--and ESPECIALLY like most bioflicks on TV--is often frustratingly sketchy. But it does make plain an implicit truth found in many close friendships between men. The bonds are not just superficial--even when the banter mainly is.
I recently did a solo performance of the old Louis Armstrong song "Wonderful World" in my church, and was struck anew by the lyrics, "I see friends shaking hands, saying, 'How do you do?'/They're really saying, 'I love you.'" In the case of Brian Piccolo, when he learns that his good friend has donated a pint of blood to him, what comes out of his mouth is, "Well, no wonder I woke up with a craving for chitlins." But we know he's really sayin' "I love you."
And "THANK YOU!"
Movie Review: Exaggerated but true
Summary: 4 Stars
Billy Dee Williams looked more like Sayers than James Caan probably did Piccolo, considering Piccolo was a dark-haired Italian man and Caan had curly, light hair. Nonetheless, they portrayed Sayers' and Piccolo's personalities very well.
I have "A Short Season" by Jeannie Morris, "I Am Third," by Gale Sayers, and both versions of "Brian's Song." It's interesting how Sayers and Piccolo were considered 'close friends' in the movie when Joy Piccolo confirmed that Ralph Kurek, another Bears' player, was Brian's best friend. As her quote went, "Brian meant more than Gale than Gale meant to Brian."
Another interesting fact is "Brian's Song" had Linda and Gale as a married couple, but only a short time later in 1974, Gale remarried and has been with the same woman for more than 30 years. He retired in 1971 or 1972, just after Brian passed away. So did Ralph Kurek. Joy Piccolo married again in 1974 too.
Brian passed away at the young age of 26. Gale and Joy know the acutal, first-hand accounts of Brian and Gale's relationship and how deep it went. Gale added only one chapter to his book "I Am Third" about his friendship with Brian after Brian passed away, and he published it. Ironically, that chapter became the focus of the movie only six months later and became a national success.
As Gale said, and I agree, it reminds me of the book "Eric" and the movie that was adapted from the book, which starred John Savage and Mark Hammill.
"Brian's Song," although true of Brian's harmless racist sarcasms and dear personality and Gale's shyness and fame, skims too close to exaggeration about their friendship but stands as a wonderful, inspiring movie.