A lot of fiction in the 'true' story of Ernie Davis
What did you expect from Hollywood in a true story -- truth?
"The Express," the story of the first African American Heisman Trophy winner, Ernie Davis,'' has a powerful story to tell. And it still would have been powerful if the filmmakers hadn't taken so many liberties with the facts.
They seem to have gotten the tone of the Syracuse trip to Dallas for the 1960 Cotton Bowl game against Texas basically right, so why play with so many facts? And an earlier scene about the vitriolic racial reaction the Orangemen received when they played a game at West Virginia is unnecessarily misleading and insulting to the people of that state. The game during the 1959 season was played at Syracuse.
The Times review of "The Express," by the way, said the movie "gets off track.''
On LATimes.com, Jim Brown, who also played at Syracuse and helped recruit Davis to the school, talks about the movie and also tells Kobe Bryant to step up for the good of the country. And an L.A. Times staffer tells about seeing Davis play in 1961.
-- Randy Harvey
Photo: A still photo from the movie "The Express" with (left to right) Coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid) facing off against Ernie Davis (Rob Brown). Credit: Chuck Hodes / Universal Studios
How many "based on fact" Hollywood movies are factual? Not many, if any. But the racism in West Virginia, where I live, is alive and well. I wrote a post about it at my site, but forgot to include something: while pumping fuel two days ago, I went to pay the young, male and white cashier. "Have you heard about Governor Manchin's letter, regarding the new WVU-Syracuse movie?" I asked him. He hadn't. So I told him about it.
"Governor Manchin says it doesn't portray West Virginia honestly, that there's no racism here," I explained.
He did a double take. A real, live double take. "No kidding?" he said sarcastically."That's crazy," he added.
"That's what I thought, too, when I read about his letter," I replied.
As I wrote in my blog, no, the movie didn't portray facts authentically or accurately, but yes, the idea is real--and denying that racism exists here will do little to eradicate it.
Posted by: Daleen Berry | October 16, 2008 at 03:02 PM
It is absolutely true that racism flourishes in W Va. Although the U of W Va is integrated now, it wasnt in 1959. During the 2008 Presidential campaign many network news reports and news articles documented the racism with interviews of W. Vairginians who expressed tha they wouldnt vote for Obama because he was Black. The "N' word was also profusely used. Obama lost by a huge margin to Hillary Clnton in the Dem Primary. And McCain defeated him by 93,000 votes. Even if the election can be of no concern due to it being in the South wherre the KKK and lynchings once flourished.
Posted by: Max Brody | January 24, 2009 at 10:59 AM