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It is a performances centric movie

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

"The Express" is the Ernie Davis story, a fine young man who also happened to be the first black college football player to win the Heisman Trophy signifying the best college player for that year. In many ways Davis's story parallels that of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player, represented in 2013's movie "42".The movie is very good, and a fair depiction of difficulties that racial tensions in the 1950s and 1960s created. But even though the movie is based primarily on real people and real events, it also contains many fictional elements. For example, the Syracuse football player who we see in some race-baiting scenes never existed, as recalled by Syracuse players of that time. In fact many of them were upset at what they see as very inaccurate depictions of their team and their coach.Another example was the racially-charged game at West Virginia, that never happened and in fact the game that year was played at Syracuse. And the 1960 Cotton Bowl victory by #1 Syracuse (10-0) over #4 Texas (9- 1) was depicted a bit differently than how it played out. So the script writer created a number of fictional events or details to create additional dramatic tension.I searched out this movie because I wanted to see Rob Brown in this movie, after enjoying him so much in "Finding Forrester." Even though he is built quite differently from Ernie Davis, he does a worthy portrayal of the talented young man who also was simply a great athlete and a nice human being.I enjoyed Dennis Quaid as the coach, Ben Schwartzwalder, although according to his former players was not a very accurate depiction. Darrin Dewitt Henson is good as Jim Brown, former Syracuse star and then hall of fame running back for the Cleveland Browns, who was instrumental in getting Ernie Davis to Syracuse instead of his initial leaning, Notre Dame.Ernie Davis was drafted by the Browns, and signed to a $15,000 bonus, but he never played a down, suffering from leukemia. He was introduced, in uniform with number 45, at the first game of the season, and his number was retired. He lived only to 23.

I saw this movie for the first time in the theaters with some football teammates and our coach. He took the seniors to see a film of determination and inner strength of the great collegiate running back for Syracuse running back Ernie Davis. However there was much more to this film than just Ernie running all over other teams. This movie gives you an in depth look at how African American players had more than just the struggles of every day practice to deal with. They faced many obstacles. What is remarkable about Ernie is his poise. He rarely looses his head on the field and makes the most of his opportunityThe narration of this movie was great starting off with Ernie as a small child and showing the racial struggles at that age. Then progressing through is high school years until he began his time as Syracuse. That is where most of the movie takes place. We meet his good friend JB and his coach Ben Schwartszwalder (Dennis Quaid). I love the way this movie was set up and told. The cinematography was really good also. The shots during some the National Championship game are really good along with the shots in the locker room at half time.This is an all around great movie and you will come out of there with more than just motivation. it is a very good information movie if you do not know about Ernie Davis. I strongly recommend this movie. Its a shame Ernie died. Although he made a great impact on game of college football. We will never know what we missed out on if he had played in the NFL.

The movie is great because the true story is so great; I read the orange book, "The Elmira Express." It succeeds in showing the relationships between Ernie, his family, his coach, best friend, and girlfriend but it fails to portray a dynamic Ernie and "rest of the team" relationship. These guys won a National Championship back in 1959 and there was no team chemistry, the football didn't mean as much because you did not know the team when you were watching them. Ernie's personal drama was done great but we miss the team achievement of the Championship. Its a great drama but not a great football movie.Bob Cullen's name is Robert CullenT on IMDb.com. Look at the credits, Bob Cullen, Petey #69. He had both big hits in the west virginia game for crying out loud! The first on the kickoff return and the other, the last big block on the play Ernie reverses field. Bob nailed the "tackle over," scene too. You gotta get his name right, IMDb!

...lines that aren't part of any game." These are the opening lines of the film. It's speaking of the lines of segregation that were so prominent when football great, Ernie Davis, was growing up and what he had to deal with during his short, but memorable, football career.This is an inspiring story about a young black boy with great athletic ability that overcame many obstacles to rise to fame as the first black Heisman Trophy winner.I think Rob Brown did an amazing job playing Ernie. He brings a real warmth and class to his portrayal. I also liked Omar Benson Miller as Jack Buckley ( I read he was based on a player named John Brown). Miller nails the part of affable and supportive friend with occasional comic relief. Its amazing that he is 10 years older than Rob Brown - his baby face makes him look younger than his 29 years. Dennis Quaid bears some resemblance to the coach he played - although they should have grayed his hair up some.My biggest complaint is the amount of language in this film, even though it only had a PG rating. There were a ton of GD's that weren't at all necessary to the telling of the story. Okay, some will say that is the way coaches and players talk at the college level. Fine - then if you want the realism, then at least be realistic with the rating and give it a PG-13 or R. We watched this with my 12 year old son based on the PG rating. Overall, I enjoyed the film but feel the director and writers could have done something to make it more riveting and emotional. Especially the ending with the sad fate of Davis - it just wasn't presented with much heart. It almost felt like a side note to the story. The movie, while good, doesn't rise to the level of REMEMBER THE TITANS or many other sports films with racial conflict.