The NFL Network's A Football Life is in its sixth season. The highly-acclaimed series has produced a wide range of films on iconic figures such as Vince Lombardi and interesting characters like Dexter Manley. But it never examined the life of perhaps the greatest football player of all time.
Until now.
Jim Brown: A Football Life will make its debut after Thursday's Cleveland-Baltimore game on NFL Network. It also will air Friday at 9 p.m. ET.
So what took so long to finally do A Football Life on this larger-than-life figure whose impact went way beyond the field? Well, it wasn't for lack of trying by NFL Films.
Anthony Smith, one of the producers of the film, said Brown was always at the top of the list for A Football Life. However, Brown remained elusive in turning down inquiries. "HBO did a documentary on Brown in the early 2000s," Smith said. "Whenever we brought it to him and his family, they felt the story already had been told."
Smith, though, thought he detected an opening when he saw Brown and his wife, Monique, at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in Canton in 2015. She remarked that she wanted to do something special to celebrate his life on Brown's 80th birthday.
One thing lead to another, and Brown finally agreed to do A Football Life on him. "He now has (teenage) children who travel with him," Smith said. "I'm not speaking for Jim, but they are older now and they are getting an appreciation of his legacy and what he has meant for people. I think they finally felt the time was right to tell his story."
That brought up the next challenge for Smith. How do you tell the many aspects of Brown's immense life within a one-hour A Football Life? Smith admitted there was talk of doing a longer film on Brown. Eventually, they opted to stay within the format for the series.
"There was a sense of leaving the audience wanting more," Smith said. Smith, though, still had to make sure he hit all the high-points in this fast-moving film. Of course, there are numerous clips of Brown's devastation of opposing defenses during his spectacular 9-year career.
In the film, Hall of Famer and Browns teammate Paul Warfield said, "The creator said, 'I'm only going to do this one time in a very special player.'"
"We wanted to remind people of what made him so special," Smith said. Yet there is so much more to Brown's life. The film examines his early retirement at age 30 and how he transitioned to a career in Hollywood. It shows how his film roles broke from convention and laid the foundation for future African-American actors.
Interviews with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others, tell how Brown was a crusader among African-American athletes in pushing for social change in America. Smith says he didn't realize how close Brown was to Muhammad Ali.
"In many respects, he was a big brother to Ali," Smith said. The film shows how an older Brown personally intervened in dealing with an out-of-control gang problem with his Amer-I-Can program, and how he still remains a powerful force on many social issues.
"His principal legacy is going to be what he accomplished as a football player," said Dr. Harry Edwards in the film. "But Jim Brown was not principally a great football player. Jim Brown was a great man who just also happened to play a great game of football."
Brown, though, isn't without his flaws. The film deals with his arrests for domestic violence matters. He served four months in prison in 2002. Smith said he told Brown, "If we tell the life story, you have to tell the whole life story."
Brown opened up during two separate interviews totaling nearly four hours. Even though Brown is 80 and needs a cane, Smith said he still has "an intimidating presence."
"Jim Brown still is Jim Brown," Smith said. "As we got late into the interviews, you could see he was getting restless. You knew it was time to wrap it up."
With the passing of Ali, Smith said Brown remains one of the few legendary athletic figures still alive from "pre 24-hour news cycle." In making the film, Smith has passages where he uses a montage of photos of Brown to tell his story. Smith thought the snapshots were powerful in capturing moments of an important life that still remains constantly on the move.
"We have a chance to introduce Jim Brown the football player to a new audience of younger fans," Smith said. "Separate of that, we can show that he has been an important agent of change. In some way, now is the perfect time to reflect on his life. We hope it inspires people."
