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1 article from 2008

9 October 2008 1:03 PM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

Based on the life of Ernie Davis, the Syracuse running back who became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, The Express raises the following rhetorical question: Was Davis' life really that by-the-numbers bland or have the filmmakers airbrushed out all the prickly, complicated details? The answer doesn't matter, of course, since the film is dull and generic any way you slice the pie, but it's hard to believe that the struggles of a black running back prior to the Civil Rights movement could rendered as such a PG-rated gloss, like the pages of a children's storybook. But then, that's become the formula of other sports movies on overcoming segregation, such as Remember The Titans or Glory Road: Long on inspiration, short on specifics. Then again, it's possible that Davis was in fact the straight-shooting hero and graceful martyr as played here by Finding Forrester's Rob Brown

Scott Tobias

1 article from 2008