Brian's Song (1971)
November 30, 1971Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently Brian's Song is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Microsoft Store, Vudu, AMC on Demand, Tubi TV, Pluto TV
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
James Caan
Brian Piccolo
Billy Dee Williams
Gale Sayers
Jack Warden
Coach Halas
Bernie Casey
J.C. Caroline
Shelley Fabares
Joy Piccolo
David Huddleston
Ed McCaskey
Judy Pace
Linda Sayers
Abe Gibron
Abe Gibron
Jack Concannon
Jack Concannon
Ed O'Bradovich
Ed O'Bradovich
Harold 'Happy' Hairston
Veteran Player #1
Ron Feinberg
Veteran Player #2
Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Roommate
Jim Boeke
Veteran Player #3
Larry Delaney
Dr. Fox
Stephen Coit
Mr. Eberle
Doreen Lang
Nurse #1
Jennifer Kulik
Nurse #2
Allen Secher
Hotel Man
Stu Nahan
Speaker
Mario Machado
Reporter #1
Bud Furillo
Reporter #2
Jack Wells
Toastmaster
Dick Butkus
Dick Butkus (uncredited)
Mike Ditka
Mike Ditka (archive footage) (uncredited)
January L'Angelle
Girl in Hospital (uncredited)
Buzz Kulik
Director
William Blinn
Writer
Al Silverman
Book
Bud S. Isaacs
Editor
Joseph F. Biroc
Director of Photography
Renée Valente
Casting
Gale Sayers
Book
Eddie Saeta
Unit Production Manager / Assistant Director
Frank Lombardo
Set Decoration
Ross Bellah
Art Direction
Paul Junger Witt
Producer
Tony Thomas
Associate Producer
Richard Learman
Second Assistant Director
George C. Emick
Sound Editor
Wayne Fury
Sound Editor
Ralph Hickey
Sound Editor
Marvin I. Kosberg
Sound Editor
Paul Laune
Sound Editor
William J. Montague
Sound Mixer
Monty Pearce
Sound Editor
Harold E. Wooley
Sound Editor
Dave Friedman
Still Photographer
Ernie Ernse
Thanks
Michel Legrand
Original Music Composer
Alfred E. Overton
Sound Mixer
Joe Guarracino
Thanks
Jack Newman
Thanks
Steve Sabol
Thanks
Media.
Details.
Wiki.
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. 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.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. The film was written by William Blinn, 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."