The TV movie starring Billy Dee Williams and James Caan was in the tradition of sad-but-uplifting sports films and marked a massive hit for ABC.
In November 1971, ABC stepped into the film subgenre known as the "guy cry," and scored a massive hit withThe TV movie was in the tradition of sad-but-uplifting sports films that dates back to 1942's. The 74-minute film told the true story of Chicago Bears Hall of Famer Gale Sayers and his mid-'60s friendship with fellow player and roommate Brian Piccolo .
The tearjerker's key element is Piccolo's death at 26 from cancer. "The film was really a love story about two guys from different backgrounds coming together," says Williams. "a tastefully done, well-written movie that didn't capitalize on a sad situation, but rather was about life and wonderful relationships." Other critics didn't agree.said the film "left no possible manipulation of emotions unmanipulated.
The film was such a phenomenon that a month after the broadcast, it was given a full-scale, Christmastime premiere event in Chicago and a brief theatrical run there as well as in L.A.'s Century City. The Wonderful World of Disney"What made this movie work was the relationship between these guys and the way it touched people's lives," says Williams.
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