Jim Thorpe: All American (1951)

Jim Thorpe – All American one sheet poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Michael Curtiz and Warner Bros. brought Jim Thorpe – All American to movie theaters in 1951. Burt Lancaster has the title role, with Charles Bickford as his athletic mentor.

Jim Thorpe (1888-1953): All American Athlete and Olympian

Jim Thorpe – All American is primarily based on the autobiography of the same name by James Francis Thorpe and Hollywood publicist Russell J. Birdwell. Also used was the story “Bright Path” by Douglas Morrow and Los Angeles Examiner sportswriter Vincent X. Flaherty.

MGM had originally bought the movie rights to Thorpe’s life story. But when Thorpe’s wife, who had power of attorney for her husband, couldn’t reach a final deal for the motion picture, MGM sold the rights to Vincent X. Flaherty.

Warner Bros. then purchased the movie rights from Flaherty in a deal that reportedly netted Jim Thorpe $25,000. In addition, the former Olympian was also hired as a technical adviser on the production. By this time Thorpe was hardly a Hollywood newcomer, having worked as an extra in a number of films, including the classic King Kong (1933). In one famous incident away from the cameras, the burly Thorpe had decked a rowdy Errol Flynn during a confrontation at a bar.

Jim Thorpe died of a heart attack at age 64 at his home in Lomita, California, on March 28, 1953. By his side was his third wife, Patricia.

Michael Curtiz Directs Jim Thorpe – All American

Douglas Morrow, Everett Freeman and Frank Davis wrote the screenplay for Warner Bros. Pictures. Michael Curtiz, who had won an Academy Award for 1943’s Casablanca, directed. Max Steiner created the original music score and Ernest Haller served as cinematographer.

The athletic Burt Lancaster, a former circus performer, heads the cast as Jim Thorpe. Other players include Charles Bickford (Glenn S. “Pop” Warner), Steve Cochran (Pete Allendine), Phyllis Thaxter (Margaret Miller), Dick Wesson (Ed Guyac), Jack Big Head (Little Boy Who Walk Like Bear), Sonny Chorre (Wally Denny), Al Mejia (Louis Tewanema), Hubie Kerns (Tom Ashenbrunner), Holly Bane (Ed Lacey), Jimmy Hawkins (Jimmy), Nestor Paiva (Hiram Thorpe), Roy Gordon (John McGraw), Max Terhune (Farmer), Jimmy Moss (Jim Thorpe Jr.) and Billy Gray (Young Jim Thorpe).

Also seriously considered for the Jim Thorpe role was the athletic Kirk Douglas, who had been a star wrestler at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.    

Jim Thorpe – All American Filmed in Oklahoma

Jim Thorpe – All American began shooting on August 25, 1950, eventually wrapping up in four weeks. Filming locations used were Bacone College outside Muskogee, Oklahoma, and the Los Angeles Coliseum. 

As technical adviser, Jim Thorpe, along with four other coaches, taught Burt Lancaster the art of drop kicking a football. Lancaster was also placed into training to get him down to a lean, muscle-hardened 175 lbs. Supervising much of his athletic regimen were USC track coach Jess Hill, UCLA football coach Bill Spaulding and former junior welterweight boxing champion Mushy Callahan.

The Hungarian-born Michael Curtiz was not that familiar with American football. During one scene, Curtiz walked onto the field and asked, “Where are all the men?” When told that there were the requisite eleven players on each team, Curtiz replied, “That’s not enough. Double it.”

Effectively incorporated into the picture was archival footage from both the 1912 and 1932 Summer Olympic Games, including several long shots of the actual Jim Thorpe in action.

Charles Bickford Narrates Jim Thorpe – All American

Narrated by Charles Bickford, Jim Thorpe – All American opens at a testimonial dinner in Oklahoma where Thorpe is being honored for his athletic achievements. In flashback form, we now see a young Jim Thorpe being driven to school by his father. Jim doesn’t like school, and runs 12 miles back to his home on the reservation, arriving before his dad.

Now a young man, Thorpe enrolls at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Under the tutelage of legendary coach Glenn S. “Pop” Warner, Thorpe becomes a standout college athlete in both football and track and field. In his senior year, the All American Thorpe and his Carlisle Indians engage in a titanic gridiron battle with Penn and its All American Tom Ashenbrunner.

Embittered that he wasn’t hired for a coveted coaching job following the Penn game, Thorpe now sets his sights on the 1912 Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm. After winning gold medals in both the decathlon and  pentathlon, Thorpe is saluted in victory by Sweden’s King Gustav V, who declares, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.”

One year later, Thorpe is stripped of his Olympic medals when it is learned that he had violated his amateur status by playing semipro baseball. Thorpe now becomes a professional athlete, plying his talents on both the baseball diamond and the gridiron.

When his young son dies, Thorpe begins drinking heavily, which leads to the breakup of his marriage to his college sweetheart. Thorpe later reconnects with his old mentor Pop Warner at the opening of the 1932 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Jim Thorpe – All American Opens in New York City 

Jim Thorpe – All American opened at New York City’s Astor Theater on August 24, 1951.

“The Warner Brothers…could not have assigned a better man to the title role than Burt Lancaster. He is equipped physically and, what is more important, professionally, for the job of depicting the storied athlete. Mr. Lancaster looks as though he might place in the Olympics, if not win,” reported A.H. Weiler of The New York Times (8/25/51).

Jim Thorpe – All American Trivia, DVD

• Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) performed the vast majority of his own jock work, including toe-to-toe gridiron combat with college football players from USC and UCLA.
• Burt Lancaster’s hair was dyed black and his skin darkened by makeup to reflect Jim Thorpe’s Sac and Fox Indian features. The real Thorpe later remarked, “I don’t think I was ever that handsome.”
• Jim Thorpe – All American, rife with the usual Hollywood embellishments and outright fictions, was released abroad under the title Man of Bronze.
• On DVD: Jim Thorpe – All American (Warner, 2007).