Brian's Song (1971)
Genres: Biography, Sports, Drama
Cast: James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, Shelley Fabares, Bernie Casey, Jack Warden, David Huddleston
Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo, a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer, focusing on his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers. Piccolo's and Sayers's sharply differing temperaments and racial backgrounds made them unlikely to become friends but they did, becoming the first interracial roommates in the history of the National Football League. The film chronicles the evolution of their friendship, ending with Piccolo's death in 1970. The production was such a success on ABC that it was later shown in theaters by Columbia Pictures with a major premiere in Chicago; however, it was soon withdrawn for lack of business. Critics have called the movie one of the finest television movies ever made. A 2005 readers' poll taken by Entertainment Weekly ranked Brian's Song seventh in its list of the top "guy-cry" films.