“The Express” an interesting sports film without mass appeal

Football season is now in full swing as major league baseball has wrapped up and pro basketball is just getting off the blocks. Fall also means football movies at the multiplexes. Some of the best sports films are about the personal drama and team building that comes from sparring over the gridiron. “The Express” is a football drama about the true life-story of running back Ernie Davis. The story focuses on Davis as an African-American back when racism was a major deterrent from having a collegiate and professional career as a player. While occasionally emotionally compelling - especially near the end of Davis’s career - the audience may have trouble connecting to this dignified character, since he wears his emotions on the inside.

The movie starts with Davis as a boy in the 1950s and continues to follow him into his college years. He is recruited by Syracuse University head coach Ben Schwartzalder (Dennis Quaid; “The Rookie”) with the help of his former star athlete Jim Brown. Schwartzalder is color blind on the football field but has his own subtle problems with race in his personal life. Brown gives Davis the advice that it may be difficult under Coach Schwartzalder’s leadership but he will make Davis a better player. Davis excels at Syracuse, winning the respect of his teammates and the town as he exceeds all expectations. Near the end of his college career, he is being considered by several professional football teams and is in the running for the most prestigious college football award - the Heisman trophy. However, there is something that may keep him from living out his dreams of playing professional ball.

Davis is performed as an adult by Rob Brown, who was introduced into films eight years ago in “Finding Forrester. Brown is stoic as the internally-driven Davis, rarely getting emotional over what happens in his personal or football life. This made it difficult to connect with Davis. Brown’s limited emotional depth keeps the audience at arm’s length from its star. Davis’s young life with his grandparents creates more resonance than his activities off the field, later in life. The scenes on the football field give the film its excitement. Davis carries his team to success with his unstoppable running attack. The games in unfriendly stadiums are especially charged and breathtaking to watch. Sadly, the adrenaline dies off once the games are over.

The importance of the relationship between Davis and Schwartzalder is gradually built on throughout the film. Davis manages to push Schwartzalder to understand his own less obvious form of prejudice. The coach stands by Davis when he needs the support, both truly creating a bond. Their scenes are the most complex and touching in the film. The movie stretches on artificially long as the second stage of Davis’s sports life begins. The story is hijacked by sentimentality as Davis comes to a hurdle he can not overcome. While “The Express” is an interesting film about a lesser known football star, it does not have the broad appeal the best of the genre provides.

Rated PG for thematic content, violence and language involving racism, and for brief sensuality.