JIM BROWN:ALL AMERICAN – DVD MovieSpike Lee directs a flawed but fascinating portrait of the sports legend, actor, and activist in Jim Brown: All American. Interviewing former coaches, teammates, and celebrity observers (including Oliver Stone), and with Brown’s cooperation, this HBO documentary is best at detailing Brown’s early life. Briefly raised by a great-grandmother in Georgia, Brown moved to Long Island, where he found a supportive, predominantly white, community that encouraged his high school victories in basketball, lacrosse, tennis, and, of course, football. He encounters racism at Syracuse University, but Brown’s performance and pride overwhelmed all resistance. The Cleveland Browns chapter explains how Brown dominated the game, and then Lee ventures into his subject’s experiences in Hollywood and as an African American community leader. The film is engaging and disciplined until controversial issues arise–Brown’s alleged abuse toward women, for example–and Lee refuses to press. But in general, this is a good piece about a charismatic, dynamic figure. –Tom Keogh
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December 28, 2010
#1
Jim Brown All American,
I have seen only one Spike Lee movie so what I’m about to say is said (by my own admission) with ignorance, but Jim Brown All American must be his masterpiece… his tour de force. This hour long documentary deeply explores not only the incredible athletic career of this exceptional athlete but also the obstacles– notably prejudice– over which Jim Brown had to prevail on his way to greatness. It also reveals what makes Jim Brown an exceptional (and admirable) human being off the playing field as well. His capacity for love and forgiveness, portrayed in the opening scene of the documentary, impressed me at least as much as did his absolutely unbelievable performances on the football AND lacrosse fields.
At the same time, I was very impressed with Mr. Lee’s evenhanded and thoughtful treatment of Jim Brown’s legal troubles. He didn’t whitewash or paper over this turbulent aspect of Jim Brown’s life. He also documented the critical intervention of many good people in his formative years without whom Jim Brown’s life might have taken a different course.
I know what you’re thinking…”This guy’s just another rabid Cleveland Browns fan in his 50′s who grew up rooting for Jim Brown.” Not so. I’m a rabid Chicago Bears fan in his 50′s who sees Jim Brown and Gale Sayers starting in the same backfield on God’s All-Universe Team.
The documentary was informative, entertaining, and– above all– inspiring. I can’t wait until it is issued so I can buy it for myself and show it to all the aging Cleveland Browns fans who surround me in my cul-de-sac.
I wish I could give it more than five stars.
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|December 28, 2010
#2
Complex Subject; Complex Life,
This documentary is probably more balanced thatn ESPN’s and FOX’s versions combined. Subjects like Jim Brown are difficult to be encapsuled in such a short time, but Spike probably did as good a job as any filmmaker could.
I also agree agout the balance concerning his legal issues. Allowing multiple parties to express their perspectives gives the viewer the responsibility to make up his/her own mind.
The most impressive thing was Jim expressing lament and remorse for not being the father he wanted to be for his children (prior to his present marriage to Monique and their two children). He took responsibility for their development and stated that by dealing with his personal survival and conflict with their respective mothers, the children suffer.
Overall, I highly recommend this documetary to anyone who says that athletes are one-dimensional and superficial.
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|December 28, 2010
#3
Jim Brown is still breaking tackles,
JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN is just that, as the story of athlete/actor/philanthropist Jim Brown says as much about America as it does about the man. I don’t think I need to give examples of what I mean when I say one’s view of Jim Brown reveals no less than how he or she sees the United States.
While I recommend this documentary, I don’t rate it higher because of the expectations I took to it. JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN is a Home Box Office presentation of a Spike Lee film about Jim Brown, after all! The quality of H.B.O. television is an oasis from the vast wasteland of the medium. Spike Lee is one of our premiere filmmakers. With such a creative force behind JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN, I envisioned nothing less than the movie version of Jim Brown’s dead honest 1989 autobiography OUT OF BOUNDS, where with just words on paper the man flattened me, giving me an idea of how the football players whose tackles he so easily broke every season must have felt watching him hurtle by, let alone those who challenged him in other ways.
JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN has its moments, showing us this man who seems to have a wall between himself and you; at times even Jim Brown’s children feel they must keep their distance. Yet with his ventures such as Amer-I-Can he reaches out, seeking to help others realize their potential. The wall keeping you from getting near Jim Brown seems to be just who he is, and those who try to penetrate it can end up like yet another gridiron defender tumbling in in grass and dirt, feeling foolish for trying to take him down.
On the whole, though, JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN does not keep up the intensity I anticipated. But again, maybe I was just expecting too much.
I’ll say this. Without blowing how JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN ends, its final scene touched me. And when you see the film, you will know the emotional wallop with which it concludes comes not from what’s obvious but because it takes you as close to Jim Brown as such a daunting man could allow.
See JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN.
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