Plot: What’s it about?
In the early 1960’s, there was a force to be reckoned with in the sport of football. There was an unstoppable running back that seemed to be almost untouchable on the field that played for the Cleveland Browns and led his team to a Super Bowl. That man is Jim Brown and in the early part of this twenty first century, director Spike Lee wanted to document his life from the good and the bad away from football and some of the movies as well as his efforts out of the limelight. When the smoke cleared and when the football color commentators see a presence that is big, dominating and a champion, they could not only be looking at a former Cleveland Brown but unrelated they may be looking at Jim Brown: All American
From his humble beginnings in Georgia, Jim Brown had an all around solid athletic ability. Where there are many that consider football his dominant sport, what some don’t know is that his dominance spread around other sports, most notably lacrosse. Jim had many struggles when it came to life after high school. Through that element of struggle, Jim would rise above and go from an All American at Syracuse to the NFL where his talents in the gridiron surprised both fellow players and spectators. Beyond that, Hollywood was calling and Jim jumped at the chance and retired when he was at the top of his game.
For years, this viewer had heard a great deal about this individual and this documentary got this viewer to learn about this individual both as a player, an activist and as a person. Through all of his struggles both professionally and personally, Jim is an individual that is always willing to help his fellow man and opened the doors for a lot of people. It was also interesting to see how much of a cinematic following he had in the late sixties/early seventies. My only regret was that there was one movie I remember him greatly in that wasn’t included in the mix. It was a film with Rod Taylor called Dark of the Sun. It was made in the late sixties and it was a solid heist film.
Spike Lee combined a lot of footage along with people that knew Jim through the years and they shared some anecdotes about the All American. It’s interesting to see how far he has come from solid athlete to popular film star to greatness. Jim Brown All American is a constantly entertaining piece that balances all that happens his life very nicely and it’s always a treat to hear the song “Grazing In The Grass” in any film of any kind.
Video: How does it look?
Jim Brown All American is in 1.85:1 non anamorphic widescreen and the results are decent. There is many clear moments and the old footage range from some specks to debris. Even in it’s clear stock, there is debris evident every eight minutes and it doesn’t take away from the film but for a film that is present day that keeps the look clear, there are shares of specks every once in a while. For the most part it’s a good transfer but it could be greater.
Audio: How does it sound?
The documentary has a Dolby Digital Stereo track and the results are good. It’s interesting that there are few audio limitations on the older footage and the dialogue by all comes out clear but the surround effects are good especially during the football segments. It keeps a good balance but keeps most of it’s activity to the middle channels. This disc has English subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The only extra on this disc is a commentary track by director Spike Lee and after hearing this, one thing stuck to mind. I hope sometime in the future they re-release Malcolm X with his commentary because his work on this is solid. He comes across as frank, honest and goes into further things as the film goes along. His track is a film progress track where some tracks have interviews which is a non progress track. There were some interesting stories shared by Lee while the film was going along. He also commented back to his own work and the track is a bit gappy but the overall result is a very well done commentary track. What? No trailer for an HBO Film? Me Worry?
Jim Brown All American is a well done feature length documentary that is a learning experience of a individual that has risen and fallen but through all the struggles always has come back up slowly and smartly along with a very good commentary track.
