Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan), a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams), who helps him through the difficult struggle. The production was such a success on ABC that it was later shown in theaters by Columbia Pictures with a major premiere in Chicago; however, it was soon withdrawn due to a lack of business. Critics have called the movie one of the finest telefilms ever made. A 2005 readers poll taken by Entertainment Weekly ranked 'Brian's Song' seventh in its list of the top "guy-cry" films ever made.
The movie is based on Sayers' account of his friendship with Piccolo and coping with Piccolo's illness in Sayers' autobiography, I Am Third. The film was written by veteran screenwriter William Blinn, whose script, one Dallas television critic called, "highly restrained, steering clear of any overt sentimentality [yet conveying] the genuine affection the two men felt so deeply for each other."
Brian's Song is the 2001 remake of the 1971 television film Brian's Song, which re-tells the story of Brian Piccolo (Sean Maher), a white running back who meets, clashes with and befriends Chicago Bears and fellow running back Gale Sayers (Mekhi Phifer), an eventual Hall of Fame African American football player on the same team. The movie was adapted from Sayers own words in his autobiography, I am Third. The television movie, produced by Columbia TriStar Television, was first broadcast in the US on ABC's "Tuesday Movie of the Week" on ABC.
In the movie, Piccolo is a slightly arrogant, narcissistic Bears player. Thinking Sayers is the arrogant one, when he is only quiet and a slight bit anti-social, they rub each other the wrong way from the moment they meet. The movie, taking place in the time of the Civil Rights Movement, places great emphasis on integration, bringing up the conflict of when Brian and Gale room together for their first football season.
Brian and Gale aren't friends in the beginning, in fact they are rivals. Brian, during their season together, was always one-upped by Gale, never being in the spotlight. After their first season, Brian pledges to beat Gale and take his position on the team.
If the hands of time
Were hands that I could hold
I'd keep them warm and in my hands
They'd not turn cold
Hand in hand we choose
The moment that should last
The lovely moment
That should have no future and no past
The summer from the top of the swing
The comfort in the sound of a lullabye
The innocence of leaves in the spring
But most of all the moment when love first touch me
All the happy days
Would never learn to fly
Until the hands of time would choose to wave goodbye
The summer from the top of the swing
The comfort in the sound of a lullabye
The innocence of leaves in the spring
But most of all the moment when love first touch me
All the happy days
Would never learn to fly
Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan), a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams), who helps him through the difficult struggle. The production was such a success on ABC that it was later shown in theaters by Columbia Pictures with a major premiere in Chicago; however, it was soon withdrawn due to a lack of business. Critics have called the movie one of the finest telefilms ever made. A 2005 readers poll taken by Entertainment Weekly ranked 'Brian's Song' seventh in its list of the top "guy-cry" films ever made.
The movie is based on Sayers' account of his friendship with Piccolo and coping with Piccolo's illness in Sayers' autobiography, I Am Third. The film was written by veteran screenwriter William Blinn, whose script, one Dallas television critic called, "highly restrained, steering clear of any overt sentimentality [yet conveying] the genuine affection the two men felt so deeply for each other."
WorldNews.com | 26 Jul 2018