Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown star in "The Express"
The Express is based on the inspirational true story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American Heisman trophy winner [played by Rob Brown]; how he overcame insurmountable odds growing up in poverty in the small town of Elmira in southern New York State, and how he refused to play by the racist rules of the day as the star runningback of the Syracuse Orangemen. Lead by Coach Ben Schwartzwalder [Dennis Quaid], Davis and the team managed to smash racial barriers and win their first national championship in 1959, and in 1961 Davis won the Heisman Trophy, inadvertently making the soft-spoken young man an icon of the civil rights movement. To date, Syracuse has only won one national championship, and has only had one Heisman trophy winner – thanks to Ernie Davis, who was nicknamed ‘The Elmira Express’ by an Elmira Gazette sports writer.
Trailer: The Express official movie site
Add’l Info: Release Date: Oct 3, 2008 • Runtime: TBD • Rated PG for thematic content, violence and language involving racism, and for brief sensuality • Photo credit: Chuck Hodes, ©Universal Pictures via allmoviephoto.com
