soccerblondie464 The Express is a true story that narrates the life of Ernie Davis, the first African American recipient of the Heisman Trophy. Starting in the 1950's we find that Ernie isn't accepted by many people because of the color of his skin, especially as a child. He is harassed and bullied by many of the other kids and never had the same opportunities as others and it wasn't until he found football that he realized that this is where he can outshine everyone. As Ernie grows up and his skills improve, he gets recruited to play for Syracuse University by their top player, Jim Brown, football legend and Ernie's icon. Ernie accepts Syracuse's offer to play for them and makes the varsity squad as a freshmen but is ineligible to play because of his class rank. As a sophomore Ernie is the standout player of the team. He leads Syracuse to be the number one team in the nation. Playing against many teams who aren't culturally diversified, Davis faces many hardships that hold him back from being able to perform to the best of his ability. When the team goes down south to play, Davis is harassed and even pulled off the field because it is dangerous for him to play because of the color of his skin. When the team makes it to the Cotton Bowl, to play their rival Texas, Davis along with two other African American teammates are forced to sleep in the basement of the hotel so they don't scare the other people who are staying there. Regardless of the difficulties that Ernie faced on the road he never let it affect his game. Davis went on to win MVP of the Cotton Bowl, after defeating Texas, clinching the number one spot in the nation. It was then that Davis was nominated for the Heisman Trophy Award, and later went on to win it. He was then recruited to play for the Cleveland Browns alongside his idol Jim Brown. Throughout college Davis suffered frequent nose bleeds and headaches but figured that he was getting sick because of football. It wasn't until he was practicing to play for the national team that he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital that he found out that he had leukemia. Davis's world had always revolved around football but now he was never allowed to play again. Suffering from this illness, Davis had to quit his lifelong dream of playing for the Browns. But in order to honor him, the Browns retired his jersey number 45 in honor of his hard work, sacrifice, and achievements. Just a year later, Ernie Davis lost his fight to Leukemia. He died with honor and glory and made history as being the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy along with various other achievements. In this inspirational movie you see that he sacrificed a lot for the love of the game and he made it into football history to be remembered by fans forever. The movie The Express did a very good job at illustrating Davis's life and glory that he achieved through football and is a movie I highly recommend.

simpson1309 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.

ctomvelu1 Loosely based on the life of the first black football player to win the Heisman Trophy, this follows a chap named Ernie Davis -- a name most viewers are unlikely to be familiar with -- throughout his school years. When he reaches Syracuse College, he finds he is one of two black players on his team. His coach is played by Dennis Quaid. The period was just far enough back in time that there were very few black football players, and in some states, blacks could not stay in the same hotels or attend social functions with whites. All of this is dealt with in a forthright manner, although some facts have been slightly altered to punch home the drama of the era. Quaid's coach is a gruff old man with a heart of gold, a role Quaid likely will be playing more and more often as he ages. You may not recognize many of the actors in this, but they are uniformly excellent. Worth a watch, even if you dislike football.

lfjeff63 Ernie Davis was the running back for the Syracuse Orangemen in the late 1950's and was the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy. Tragically, he died of leukemia in 1963.This is a good story. As far as I know, Ernie Davis was a class act, a man of good character. The acting in this film is fine. But...First, the editing. During the game, the show Davis' feet, then the number on his jersey, then fans in the stand, then his whole body, then a shot of the coach, etc. What happened to the long take? Why must film makers resort to MTV style quick cuts? A good example of this technique is when Dennis Quaid is giving the rousing half time speech. There are two distinct cuts while he's speaking. Can't Mr. Quaid remember the whole speech? Is that why they cut it? Or is this some stylistic device, making the movie look "cool"? When I was growing up, some movies had the tag line "based on a true story". I understood that the screenwriters weren't actually in the rooms where the real characters spoke, so they had to make up lines for them.But lately the tag lines have changed to "inspired by a true story". OK, so there's more dramatic latitude.But this film says "inspired by real events". What does that mean? I'm guessing that in one game Mr. Davis scored a touchdown, and in another game the score was 24-10, and the writers "blended" these "real events" into one football game. Isn't Mr. Davis' story dramatic and interesting enough that they didn't have to do this? It's like taking two, isolated events and writing a story that connects them both. Let's see, man landed on the moon July 20, 1969 and Obama won the election in 2008. Let's see if we can somehow connect these two "real events" and making a film out of it.Mr. Davis' story is inspiring and wonderful. The film makers should be ashamed for mishandling it.