Jim Brown: All American

Directed by lifelong sports fan Spike Lee and produced for HBO, this documentary examines the tempestuous life of the legendary Cleveland Browns running back, whose post-game career included movies, hands-on social activism and run-ins with the law. Born on St. Simon's Island off the coast of Georgia, Brown was raised first by his grandmother and then by his mother, who in 1944 brought her son to Manhasset, Long Island, where she worked as a domestic and enrolled him at the local high school. An outstanding teenage athlete, he excelled at several sports: He played basketball, football, baseball and lacrosse, which was then considered his best game. Despite pervasive ...