Let’s face it, we may never see an original sports movie ever again. Every last one has already been made. The last truly original sports movie (and one of the best) was Rudy, because it was never a story about winning — it was a story about heart. The Express shares a lot of Rudy’s DNA. While there is plenty of blood, sweat and tears poured into hard-fought victories, the heart comes away the winner.

Based on an amazing true story, The Express follows the inspirational life of college football player Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy and in doing so, change the face of professional sports forever.

Davis has an otherworldly talent, but nothing could prepare him for the culture shock of leaving the wrong side of the tracks to play for Syracuse University where he’s caught between not making waves and the inevitability of pushing boundaries. Ultimately, society forces his hand, and Davis smashes as many barriers as he does records.

He is the perfect storm of talent running headlong into history. Some of his fellow black classmates are militant, certainly not without reason or justification. But like his childhood idol, Jackie Robinson, Davis prefers to speak with muscle and sinew. “I do my talking on the field,” he tells another player. The boy who just wanted to play college ball became, instead, a civil rights icon.

The express works on a macro level as well, particularly Davis’ relationship with his uncompromising coach and surrogate father Ben Schwartzwalder. Schwartzwalder is timid and unsure of himself off the field, but an indomitable cyclone on it. Though a racist by today’s standards, Schwartzwalder was merely a man of is time. Thanks to his relationship with his star player, Schwartzwalder grows into a better man even as he takes Davis’ raw talent and molds him into a something truly extraordinary.

Based on the cacophony of crowd noise at the screening I attended, it sounded as if I was inside a sports bar or better yet, attending a live game. There’s a lot of football in The Express, and it’s presented confidently and rousingly.

The Express contains some nice supporting turns including Charles S. Dutton, who, as always, seems to personify Shakespeare’s line, “to thine own self be true,” and the absent of late Clancy Brown, even if he is wasted as an assistant coach. If there is a weak actor among the bunch, it is surprisingly the lead, Brown, a young man with a face that glows with sincerity but not a deep reservoir of emotions from which to draw. It’s not that his performance is remotely bad, it simply lacks the nuance that the role repeatedly calls for.

Although The Express concludes with some nice symmetry, it doesn’t end how you hope it will. Many will be reminded of the moving Brian’s Song. That’s the problem with true stories. They don’t always have Hollywood endings.

The events in The Express took place just 50 years ago. And in four short weeks, this country may have its first African American president. Whatever you think of the man’s politics, the fact that Barack Obama is a hairsbreadth away from the Oval Office is nothing short of astonishing. In his small way, Ernie Davis helped open that door.

© Copyright 2008 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.