Brian's Song

I saw Brian's Song (or at least part of it) some time back. It was on one of the movie channels and I caught a bit of the film again. It was a well received t.v. movie (1971) and is actually pretty short -- less than 75 minutes. It's a tear jerker, a way for men to cry (heck it's mixed with sports), and the interracial friendship still had some bite then.

I checked it out of the library and the DVD has the leads provide commentary. There is also a featurette with the real Gale Sayles (played by a young Billy Dee Williams, pre-Star Wars, in the film with James Caan playing Brian Piccolo). Something like forty-minutes is sports related, include Sayles dealing with his first injury (a second shortened his career and he went into academia and business), the last thirty or so minutes focusing on Brian's illness.

It's a crisp film. Well acted, with various familiar faces (the wives were in some things), and superior fare for a t.v. movie. The dramatic music was a tad too heavy-handed.