Jogando Para Sobreviver

Although this remake falls a little bit short of the original in several departments (that others have brought up, such as the casting and the watering down of the racially charged dialogue between Sayers and Piccolo), it stays fairly true to the core story, with some new parts about their families and a more extensive portrayal of Piccolo's illness. "Brian's Song" has often been described as a "Love Story" style tearjerker for guys, and the new version managed to pull this off with me, in the night scene where the two are talking alone on the field, and we hear just a few notes of the Michael Legrand theme from the original. This brings me to my main point. . .why not more of that music? That theme (called "the Hands of Time") is, in my opinion, one of the most poignant and emotionally touching bits of music I know. If one listens carefully, you can hear some examples of derivative composing in movies such as "Lilo & Stitch" where other composers try to cash in on the Brian's Song theme.

The original was the best football movie ever. It also was the one movie that made it all right for guys to get weepy (just TRY not to sniffle during the "I love Brian Piccolo" speech) and it featured actual game footage of Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo. The new version adds nothing.

I just read all of the comments on this movie and some people did not like this remake. "Brian's Song" is my favorite movie of all time and when I saw the remake, I was impressed. The first part of this remake was word for word to the original but then they started to go in depth. The original 1971 version showed more of the friendship of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, which was great, but the 2001 remake showed more of Piccolo's struggle with cancer. The title of the movie is "Brian's Song" so I thought it was great to show this aspect of his life. If you do what I did and watch both DVD's back to back, starting with the 1971 original, you will get the full story of Brian Piccolo. It doesn't matter that the Michel Legrand theme song isn't featured as much in the remake; this is the story of a man's life, not a song. If you liked the original movie as much as I did, take these comments to heart and rewatch this remake. If you have never seen the original movie, I highly recommend it. Like I said up front, 1971's "Brian's Song" is my all time favorite movie but on a scale of 1-10, I have to give this remake a 10.

Maher and Phifer do a terrific job of bringing Piccolo and Sayers to life. Brain's Song was in a way the grandaddy of them all, one of the first made for television movies; and in the eyes of many one of the best. I think it would take a person utterly without feelings not to be moved by the original and this one (surprise, surprise) is just as good. I thought it would be a word by word remake (like that ridiculous Psycho movie in 1998) but this one is different. I guess to be politically correct, it shows more of the relationship between the players wives as well. What makes it a little chilling is the makeup job on Maher as he is becoming sicker and sicker, they pointed out that you couldn't show death on tv that way in 1971. I think that they should have used the exact same music as in the original, it was just too perfect and it would not have mattered (didn't they use the same music in all of the Rocky films?). I hope that we see more of these two young actors as both did a terrific job and I hope they remember them at Emmy time. An added treat, that old raascal Ben Gazzara is on hand as grouchy Coach Halas and he does a wonderful job of theatrical larceny. A story of courage found and the power of friendship, but ultimately a tragedy. A an added footnote, today medical science has made great advances in treating the kind of cancer that killed Brian Piccolo.

More than 30 years ago, the original Brian's Song not only brought James Caan and Billy Dee Williams into the forefront of their careers, it became the standard by which all disease-of-the-week tearjerkers are measured. It was an entertaining film worthy of all awards bestowed upon it. To this day, my heart and soul melt over the talents not only the Messrs. Caan and Williams, but also of Michel Legrand for composing a memorable theme song.

This remake, albeit a little more explanatory, does not, I repeat, does not match the quality of the movie that was first telecast that fall day in 1971.

There's only one Brian's Song for me, and that one stars James Caan and Billy Dee Williams.

Maybe there should be a movie about remake-itis.