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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.
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