The Express, an instant football classic biopic of the great Ernie Davis who played for Syracuse and was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961, his senior year. Dennis Quaid plays Ben Schwartzwalder, one of the great coaches in college football with Rob Brown, from Coach Carter and Finding Forrester, as Ernie Davis, and Darrin Dewitt Henson as the great Jim Brown, the running back who preceded Ernie Davis at Syracuse. This movie is on par with those great sports tales in Coach Carter, Remember the Titans and Rudy. The football scenes are plentiful and entertaining, as well as painful at times, often depicting what it really is like to be on the field, especially when everyone is gunning for you far beyond the typical interest of winning the game.

The story starts with his child hood and proceeds to his untimely death soon after being drafted by the Cleveland Browns. Now thats not a spoiler, being a biopic, its freely available and really won't ruin the movie for you. He goes through the many hardships seen by most African Americans during the 50's and 60's, especially with their rise in sports and college in general. With the quality of character Ernie possessed, these were just inconviences, which he put down saying "I do my talking on the field," a true inspiration that many of todays athletes could learn from. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we've heard enough from the overpaid and under performers complaining about their obviously poor situation of having to play in the NFL.

Ernie Davis is a truly inspirational story, and this movie does a great job of showing and telling his story without feeling to heavy and loaded down by the subject matter. Well worth the money to see it, even in this crowded movie time of year.