I Finally Watched "The Express" | Syracusefan.com

I Finally Watched "The Express"

pacusewife said:
...and I've been ugly crying for the past 15 minutes. Damn. Just damn.
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1) what the hell is ugly crying
2) this movie has been out for years, how did you just decide to watch it
3) there are a number of historical inaccuracies, including some of the games, most importantly the west Virginia game which didn't happen.
 
orangehomer said:
1) what the hell is ugly crying
2) this movie has been out for years, how did you just decide to watch it
3) there are a number of historical inaccuracies, including some of the games, most importantly the west Virginia game which didn't happen.
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1) it's a full on don't care what it looks like because emotions have the best of you kinda cry
2)I've been a fan maybe 3-4 years. I didn't know about the movie until perhaps last year and it was something "I'll get around to." Tonight was a good combo of having the time and happening to be thinking about it. I think I read it came out in 2008, I wasn't even watching CFB nor did I care for it at the time.
3)Yep, PAcuse clued me on what I needed to know as I watched it but thank you :)
 
pacusewife said:
1) it's a full on don't care what it looks like because emotions have the best of you kinda cry
2)I've been a fan maybe 3-4 years. I didn't know about the movie until perhaps last year and it was something "I'll get around to." Tonight was a good combo of having the time and happening to be thinking about it. I think I read it came out in 2008, I wasn't even watching CFB nor did I care for it at the time.
3)Yep, PAcuse clued me on what I needed to know as I watched it but thank you :)
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1)reasonable
2)reasonable
3)reasonable
 
orangehomer said:
1) what the hell is ugly crying
2) this movie has been out for years, how did you just decide to watch it
3) there are a number of historical inaccuracies, including some of the games, most importantly the west Virginia game which didn't happen.
Expand...
Yes,the West Virginia did happen. It was played at Archbold. No racism though. Pure Hollywood on that one. What didn't happen was Boston College. We played Boston University. Tons of other mistakes also.
 
billorange44 said:
Yes,the West Virginia did happen. It was played at Archbold. No racism though. Pure Hollywood on that one. What didn't happen was Boston College. We played Boston University. Tons of other mistakes also.
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I think there is also a scene when you can see that parking garage down the street from the Sheraton. It just doesn't jive with the the late 50's early 60's look of the movie.
 
billorange44 said:
Yes,the West Virginia did happen. It was played at Archbold. No racism though. Pure Hollywood on that one. What didn't happen was Boston College. We played Boston University. Tons of other mistakes also.
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Not only did it happen playing Wva but the racism thing happened too. Only it was two years earlier. Right from the horses mouth from people that were there on the team. Like any movie they take creative license and make an amalgam of it all for the movie, but most of that stuff happened, maybe not in the sequence presented (like ED's Cotton bowl long td showing at the the end of the game vs the start of the game when it happened).

So yes there's some inaccuracies but not with the meat of it especially the racism angle.
 
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I like the movie. It could have been better, for sure. Production was top notch but the story-telling was completely botched (I'm not talking about historical inaccuracies. Actually, the West Virginia inaccuracy is a highlight of the movie!)

From the real life story of Ernie Davis, you have 5 automatically built-in tensions, that if fleshed out, would have made this an EXTRAORDINARY movie:

1. Would Jim Brown get the Heisman? The movie only made a passing reference to this. No back story on this at all--and important since it would directly touch on the tension of Ernie winning the Heisman

2. Could Syracuse possibly win a championship with Ernie Davis? Some of the movie was dedicated to that season, but the most extraordinary thing displayed was Syracuse taking a bus to Texas

3. Would Ernie Davis win the Heisman? A saga that could have been even more pronounced, not to mention a bigger hand-wringer if the Heisman hopes, expectations, and disappointments of Jim Brown had been more pronounced

4. Would Ernie Davis get drafted? Touched on, but the stakes were not elevated appropriately

5. Would Ernie Davis beat leukemia or never play again? Hardly visualized at all. Instead we get a prolonged ending exposition from Rob Brown (who plays Davis) as Davis runs out onto a field.

I did like this movie (look at my avatar!). But I was hoping to be absolutely floored by it. The movie barely scratched the national consciousness. I think this movie needs to get remade, and done right.
 
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Briancuse said:
What took you so long ;)? I don't know how you couldn't cry during that movie.
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I know, I'm horrible lol. It was just one of those things that I kept putting off because I wanted to be able to dedicate all of my attention to it and of course it wasn't in the forefront of my mind. I have no idea what made it pop into my mind last night. I'm really glad it did though.
 
Orijinal said:
I like the movie. It could have been better, for sure. Production was top notch but the story-telling was completely botched (I'm not talking about historical inaccuracies. Actually, the West Virginia inaccuracy is a highlight of the movie!)

From the real life story of Ernie Davis, you have 5 automatically built-in tensions, that if fleshed out, would have made this an EXTRAORDINARY movie:

1. Would Jim Brown get the Heisman? The movie only made a passing reference to this. No back story on this at all--and important since it would directly touch on the tension of Ernie winning the Heisman

2. Could Syracuse possibly win a championship with Ernie Davis? Some of the movie was dedicated to that season, but the most extraordinary thing displayed was Syracuse taking a bus to Texas

3. Would Ernie Davis win the Heisman? A saga that could have been even more pronounced, not to mention a bigger hand-wringer if the Heisman hopes, expectations, and disappointments of Jim Brown had been more pronounced

4. Would Ernie Davis get drafted? Touched on, but the stakes were not elevated appropriately

5. Would Ernie Davis beat leukemia or never play again? Hardly visualized at all. Instead we get a prolonged ending exposition from Rob Brown (who plays Davis) as Davis runs out onto a field.

I did like this movie (look at my avatar!). But I was hoping to be absolutely floored by it. The movie barely scratched the national consciousness. I think this movie needs to get remade, and done right.
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You've got some really good points there. Honestly, I'm a "bad" movie watcher in that I mentally pick everything apart. It takes a lot to away these days. I miss being able to watch a movie without guessing the events based on necessity for plot progression or ratings and all of that. I didn't watch The Express with that mentality, though. I just watched. I got chills the first time they said "Syracuse" in the movie. Besides the story, it was just so cool to watch something that was actually about the team I love. (To be fair when we come into town for games, I get goosebumps when the bus driver calls "Next stop, Syracuse!" so that's not saying much ;) )
 
OMG at that auto-censor edit thing on my last post. Hahaha.
 
lummgr said:
I love the movie, for all the right reasons.

All movies about true events embellish things.

Take Pearl Harbor for instance. That movie was historically inaccurate. There were no nurses in Pearl Harbor as smoking hot as Kate Beckinsale.
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I don't think there is a historical movie that is completely factually accurate, if they were most people wouldn't watch them.
 
pacusewife said:
You've got some really good points there. Honestly, I'm a "bad" movie watcher in that I mentally pick everything apart. It takes a lot to . . . . . . . away these days. I miss being able to watch a movie without guessing the events based on necessity for plot progression or ratings and all of that. I didn't watch The Express with that mentality, though. I just watched. I got chills the first time they said "Syracuse" in the movie. Besides the story, it was just so cool to watch something that was actually about the team I love. (To be fair when we come into town for games, I get goosebumps when the bus driver calls "Next stop, Syracuse!" so that's not saying much ;) )
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Oh yeah. I'm mentally fist pumping all through that movie because this is something about Cuse. Really exciting when it came out
 
Eric15 said:
Very true. For example, the Titanic didn't actually sink, it was an embellishment invented by James Cameron to make a routine Transatlantic voyage seem more interesting.
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I knew it!
 
billorange44 said:
Yes,the West Virginia did happen. It was played at Archbold. No racism though. Pure Hollywood on that one. What didn't happen was Boston College. We played Boston University. Tons of other mistakes also.
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Maybe I'm boring, but this is why when it comes to non-fiction I prefer documentaries over movies. I just want to know what happened. I don't want to come out of the movie having to research what is authentic and what isn't. Give me a Ken Burns documentary over a movie like the The Express all day long.
 
Eric15 said:
Maybe I'm boring, but this is why when it comes to non-fiction I prefer documentaries over movies. I just want to know what happened. I don't want to come out of the movie having to research what is authentic and what isn't. Give me a Ken Burns documentary over a movie like the The Express all day long.
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Give me both. Different experiences and expectations going in.
 
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