View source for Brian's Song

{{short description|1971 television film directed by Buzz Kulik}}
{{About|the original 1971 television film|the remake|Brian's Song (2001 film)|the ''Family Guy'' episode|Movin' Out (Brian's Song)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox television
| image              = Brians song tv guide 1971 premiere.jpg
| image_alt          = 
| caption            = Premiere advertisement from ''TV Guide''
| genre              = Biography<br />Drama<br />Sport
| creator            = 
| based_on           = ''I Am Third''<br />by [[Gale Sayers]]<br />[[Al Silverman]]
| writer             = [[William Blinn]]
| screenplay         = 
| story              = 
| director           = [[Buzz Kulik]]
| starring           = [[James Caan (actor)|James Caan]]<br />[[Billy Dee Williams]]
| narrated           = 
| music              = [[Michel Legrand]]
| country            = United States
| language           = English
| executive_producer = 
| producer           = [[Paul Junger Witt]]
| editor             = Bud S. Isaacs
| cinematography     = [[Joseph F. Biroc]]
| runtime            = 74 minutes
| company            = [[Screen Gems]]
| budget             = 
| network            = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| first_aired        = {{Film date|TV=y|1971|11|30}}<ref name="Marill 53-4" />
}}
'''''Brian's Song''''' is a 1971 [[ABC Movie of the Week]] that recounts the life of [[Brian Piccolo]] ([[James Caan]]), a [[Chicago Bears]] football player stricken with terminal [[cancer]], focusing on his friendship with teammate [[Gale Sayers]] ([[Billy Dee Williams]]). 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lerner |first=Barron H. |date=November 29, 2011 |title="Brian's Song": What Really Happened |website=History News Network |url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/143269 |access-date=January 23, 2017 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202025616/http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/143269 |url-status=live }}</ref> The production was such a success on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] that it was later shown in theaters by [[Columbia Pictures]]<ref name="thomas">[[Bob Thomas (reporter)|Thomas, Bob]] ("TV 'Brian's Song' on movie screens", ''The Dallas Morning News'', April 29, 1972, page 2</ref> with a major [[premiere]] in [[Chicago]]; however, it was soon withdrawn for lack of business.<ref name="Marill 53-4">{{cite book |last=Marill |first=Alvin H. |year=1987 |title=Movies Made For Television: The Telefeature and the Mini-series, 1964–1986 |publisher=Baseline/New York Zoetrope |location=New York |isbn=0-918432-85-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/moviesmadefortel0000mari/page/53 53–4] |url=https://archive.org/details/moviesmadefortel0000mari |url-access=registration}}</ref> Critics have called the movie one of the finest [[television movie]]s ever made.<ref name="Marill 53-4" /><ref name="bowman">Harry Bowman. "Broadcast Beat [TV column]: 'Brian's Song' superior film", ''The Dallas Morning News'', November 27, 1971, page 7A.</ref> A 2005 readers' poll taken by ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' ranked ''Brian's Song'' seventh in its list of the top "guy-cry" films.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=A Guy Cry {{!}} 7. ''Brian's Song'' |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0%2C%2C20015186_6%2C00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=March 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319181351/http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20015186_6,00.html |archive-date=March 19, 2007}}</ref>

The movie is based on Sayers's account of his friendship with Piccolo and coping with Piccolo's illness in Sayers's 1970 autobiography, ''I Am Third''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sayers |first1=Gayle |author-link1=Gayle Sayers |last2=Silverman |first2=Al |author-link2=Al Silverman |year=1970 |title=I am Third |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |location=[[New York City]] |isbn=978-0670389773 |url=https://archive.org/details/iamthird00saye |url-access=registration}}</ref> The film was written by [[William Blinn]],<ref name="Brian's Song">{{cite web |title=Brian's Song (1971) |url=https://prod-www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/456268/brians-song#credits |access-date=March 5, 2018 |work=[[Turner Classic Movies|Turner Classic Movie Database]] |publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]] |location=United States}}</ref> whose script one Dallas television critic called "highly restrained, steering clear of any overt sentimentality [yet conveying] the genuine affection the two men felt so deeply for each other."<ref name="bowman"/>

==Plot==
The movie begins as [[Chicago Bears]] rookie [[running back]] [[Gale Sayers]] arrives at team practice as an errant punt lands near him. Fellow rookie running back [[Brian Piccolo]] goes to retrieve the ball, and Sayers flips it to him. Before Sayers meets with coach [[George Halas]] in his office, Piccolo tells him – as a prank – that Halas has a hearing problem, and Sayers acts strangely at the meeting. Sayers pranks him back by placing mashed potatoes on his seat while Piccolo is singing [[Wake Forest University|his alma mater]]'s fight song.

During practice, Piccolo struggles while Sayers shines. Sayers and Piccolo are placed as roommates, a rarity during the racial strife at the time. Piccolo is afraid that he did not make the team, but Sayers makes the point that "if you didn't make the team, we wouldn't be placed together as roommates." Their friendship flourishes, in football and in life, quickly extending to their wives, Joy Piccolo and Linda Sayers. Sayers quickly becomes a standout player, but he injures his knee in a game against the [[San Francisco 49ers]]. To aid in Sayers's recovery, Piccolo brings a weight machine to his house. In Sayers' place, Piccolo rushes for 160 yards in a 17–16 win over the [[Los Angeles Rams]] and is given the game ball. Piccolo challenges Sayers to a race across the park, where Sayers stumbles but wins. Piccolo wins the starting [[Fullback (gridiron football)|fullback]] position, meaning both he and Sayers will now be on the field together, and both excel in their roles.

Piccolo starts to lose weight and his performance declines, so he is sent to a hospital for a diagnosis. Soon after, Halas tells Sayers that Piccolo has cancer and will have part of a lung removed. In an emotional speech to his teammates, Sayers states that they will win the game for Piccolo and give him the game ball. When the players later visit the hospital, Piccolo teases them about losing the game, laughing that the line in the old movie wasn't [[Knute Rockne, All American#"Win one for the Gipper"|"let’s blow one for the Gipper."]]

After a game against the [[St. Louis Cardinals (NFL)|St. Louis Cardinals]], Sayers visits Joy, who reveals that Piccolo has to have another surgery for his tumor. After he is awarded the "George S. Halas Most Courageous Player Award", Sayers dedicates his award to Piccolo, telling the crowd that they had selected the wrong person for the prize and saying, "I love Brian Piccolo, and I'd like all of you to love him, too. And tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him." In a call, Sayers mentions that he gave Piccolo a pint of blood while he was in critical condition. Piccolo dies with his wife by his side. The movie ends with a flashback of Piccolo and Sayers running through the park, while Halas narrates that Piccolo died at age 26 and is remembered not for how he died but for how he lived.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[James Caan]] as [[Brian Piccolo]]
* [[Billy Dee Williams]] as [[Gale Sayers]]
* [[Jack Warden]] as Coach [[George Halas]]
* [[Shelley Fabares]] as Joy Piccolo
* [[Judy Pace]] as Linda Sayers
* [[Bernie Casey]] as [[J. C. Caroline]]
* [[David Huddleston]] as [[Ed McCaskey]]
* [[Ron Feinberg]] as [[Doug Atkins]]
* [[Jack Concannon]] as Himself
* [[Abe Gibron]] as Himself
* [[Ed O'Bradovich]] as Himself
* [[Dick Butkus]] as Himself
* [[Chicago Bears]] as Themselves
}}

==Music==
The musical theme to ''Brian's Song'', "The Hands of Time", was a popular tune during the early 1970s and has become a standard.<ref name="Marill 53-4" /> The music for the film was by [[Michel Legrand]], with lyrics to the song by [[Alan and Marilyn Bergman]].

Legrand's instrumental version of the theme song charted for eight weeks in 1972, peaking at No. 56 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].<ref>Whitburn, Joel (2000). ''Top Pop Singles 1955–1999''. Record Research (Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin). p.371. {{ISBN|0-89820-139-X}}</ref> It also won the [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Grammy Award Nominees 1973 – Grammy Award Winners 1973 |website=Awardsandshows.com |url=http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1973-222.html |access-date=11 August 2019 |archive-date=11 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611030500/http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1973-222.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Reception==
The film received acclaim and is often cited as one of the greatest television films ever made, as well as one of the greatest sports films.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Higgins |first=Bill |date=2019-08-03 |title=Hollywood Flashback: "Guy Cry" Flick 'Brian's Song' Won Emmys in 1971 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/guy-cry-flick-brians-song-won-emmys-1971-1227775/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

The film was the most watched movie on U.S. television during 1971 and the most watched made-for-TV movie ever with a [[Nielsen rating]] of 32.9 and an audience share of 48% until it was surpassed by ''[[The Night Stalker (1972 film)|The Night Stalker]]'' in January 1972.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=January 25, 1972 |title=Made-For-TV Movie Rankings |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=81}}</ref><ref name=rating>{{cite magazine |date=January 24, 1990 |title=Hit Movies on U.S. TV Since 1961 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=160}}</ref>

It holds a 92% "Fresh" score on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 12 critics, with a consensus stating "Buoyed by standout performances from James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, ''Brian's Song'' is a touching tale of friendship whose central relationship transcendeds its standard sports movie moments."

In his 2016 book co-written with [[Alan Sepinwall]] titled ''[[TV (The Book)]]'', television critic [[Matt Zoller Seitz]] named ''Brian's Song'' as the fifth greatest American TV-movie of all time, stating that the film was "The dramatic and emotional template for a good number of sports films and male weepies (categories which tend to overlap a bit)", as well as "an influential early example of the interracial buddy movie."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sepinwall |first1=Alan |author-link1=Alan Sepinwall |last2=Seitz |first2=Matt Zoller |author-link2=Matt Zoller Seitz |date=September 2016 |title=TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time |edition=1st |publisher=[[Hachette Book Group#Publishing groups and imprints|Grand Central Publishing]] |location=New York, NY |isbn=9781455588190 |page=375}}</ref> ''Filmink'' magazine said the film "has a deserved reputation for the definitive guy cry movie – cancer, race, football, stoicism."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-stardom-of-james-caan/|title=The Stardom of James Caan|first= Stephen|last= Vagg|date=September 27, 2022}}</ref>

==Accolades==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| [[American Cinema Editors#Eddie Awards|American Cinema Editors Awards]]
| [[American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television|Best Edited Television Program]]
| Bud S. Isaacs
| {{nom}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000017/1972/1/?ref_=ev_eh |title=Nominees/Winners |publisher=[[IMDb]] |accessdate=April 2, 2019}}</ref>
|-
| [[24th Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television]]
| [[Buzz Kulik]]
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1970s/1971.aspx?value=1971|title=24th DGA Awards |website=[[Directors Guild of America Awards]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[29th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film|Best Television Film]]
| {{nom}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/brians-song |title=Brian's Song – Golden Globes |website=[[HFPA]] |access-date=July 5, 2021 |ref={{harvid|HFPA|1972}}}}</ref>
|-
| [[15th Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Awards]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition|Best Instrumental Composition]]
| "Brian's Song" – [[Michel Legrand]]
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/15th-annual-grammy-awards |title=1972 Grammy Award Winners| publisher=Grammy.com| access-date=1 May 2011}}</ref>
|-
| Online Film & Television Association Awards
| colspan="2"| Hall of Fame – Television Programs
| {{won|Inducted}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oftaawards.com/tv-hall-of-fame/television-hall-of-fame-productions-2/ |title=Television Hall of Fame Productions |website=Online Film & Television Association |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[Peabody Awards]]
| [[List of Peabody Award winners (1970–1979)#1971|Entertainment]]
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Television]] and [[William Blinn]]
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/brians-song/ |title=Brian's Song |website=[[Peabody Awards]] |access-date=October 26, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="11"| [[24th Primetime Emmy Awards|Primetime Emmy Awards]]
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Program of the Year|Outstanding Single Program – Drama or Comedy]]
| [[Paul Junger Witt]]
| {{won}}
| align="center" rowspan="11"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/brians-song-movie-week |title=Brian's Song: Movie of the Week |website=Emmys.com |publisher=[[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] |access-date=July 13, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role]]
| [[James Caan]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Billy Dee Williams]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series|Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama]]
| [[Jack Warden]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama – A Single Program]]
| Buzz Kulik
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama – Adaptation]]
| William Blinn
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming – <br> For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television]]
| [[Joseph Biroc]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Entertainment Programming – <br> For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television]]
| Bud S. Isaacs
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special|Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing]]
| George Emick, Wayne Fury, Ralph Hickey, Marvin I. Kosberg, <br> Paul Laune, Monty Pearce, and Harold Wooley
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie|Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Mixing]]
| William J. Montague and Alfred E. Overton
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special|Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition – For a Special Program]]
| Michel Legrand
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[9th Golden Laurel Awards|Producers Guild of America Awards]]
| Hall of Fame – Television Programs
| Paul Junger Witt
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite news|last1=Madigan|first1=Nick|title=PGA lauds Daly, Semel with its Golden Laurels|url=https://variety.com/1998/film/news/pga-lauds-daly-semel-with-its-golden-laurels-1117468362/|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Variety|date=March 1, 1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115658/http://variety.com/1998/film/news/pga-lauds-daly-semel-with-its-golden-laurels-1117468362/|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[TV Land Award]]s
| Blockbuster Movie of the Week
| James Caan and Billy Dee Williams
| {{won}}
| align="center"| 
|}

==Remake==
{{main|Brian's Song (2001 film)}}
Thirty years after its original airing, [[Brian's Song (2001 film)|a remake]] was aired in [[2001 in film|2001]] on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Disney anthology television series|The Wonderful World of Disney]]'' starring [[Mekhi Phifer]] as Sayers and [[Sean Maher]] as Piccolo.<ref>{{cite web |last=Talley |first=Bud |date=2 December 2001 |title=Brian's Song (TV Movie 2001) |work=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289873/ |access-date=24 September 2015 |archive-date=24 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061224152145/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289873/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American football films]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0068315}}
* {{tcmdb title|456268}}
* {{AllMovie title|7079}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|1003076_brians_song}}
* {{Internet Archive film|brianssong_201705}}

{{EmmyAward ProgramoftheYear}}
{{Buzz Kulik}}
{{Chicago Bears}}

[[Category:1971 television films]]
[[Category:1971 drama films]]
[[Category:1971 films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:1970s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:1970s buddy drama films]]
[[Category:1970s sports drama films]]
[[Category:ABC Movie of the Week]]
[[Category:American buddy drama films]]
[[Category:American football films]]
[[Category:American sports drama films]]
[[Category:Biographical films about sportspeople]]
[[Category:Chicago Bears]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of players of American football]]
[[Category:Films about cancer]]
[[Category:Films based on biographies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Buzz Kulik]]
[[Category:Films scored by Michel Legrand]]
[[Category:Films shot in Indiana]]
[[Category:Peabody Award-winning broadcasts]]
[[Category:Sports films based on actual events]]