Jim Thorpe — All-American (1951)

Jim Thorpe — All-American: Directed by Michael Curtiz. With Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, Steve Cochran, Phyllis Thaxter. The triumph and tragedy of Native American Jim Thorpe, who, after winning both the pentathlon and decathlon in the same Olympics, is stripped of his medals on a technicality.

“Jim Thorpe was a Native American who after reluctantly leaving his Oklahoma reservation, went on to become one of the greatest athletes that America produced. Naturally things arenu0026#39;t all wine and roses, and this is a tale that hits both the light and dark of human achievement.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBeing English and not over familiar with the later life of Jim Thorpe, i canu0026#39;t attest to the accuracy of this particular biopic, so {perhaps a bonus} i can only judge this piece solely as the roller-coaster picture it turned out to be. What we get is a great story of a man who was permanently pushing himself to be better, and yes to be accepted for his racial background that he felt was hindering him to his ultimate goals. From an unaware angry young man to an all encompassing sports star, Jim Thorpe pushed the boundaries of each discipline he took on. Be it Baseball, Football, and total domination in Track u0026amp; Field, Jim Thorpe was an incredible man whou0026#39;s story probably deserves better than this picture was able to give us. Thatu0026#39;s not to say that this Michael Curtiz picture is found wanting, because itu0026#39;s a very solid and impacting piece, i just feel that it doesnu0026#39;t quite reach the glorious heights that Thorpe himself reached.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBurt Lancaster stars as Thorpe, and itu0026#39;s a great bit of casting, physically heu0026#39;s perfect {he trained hard to capture believability in the role}, and he enthuses a great deal of emotion with the character, particularly during the darker parts of the story. Also standing out is Charles Bickford as Glen u0026quot;Popu0026quot; Warner , a crucial mentor and voice of reason to Thorpe, whilst iu0026#39;ll raise a glass to the bright as a button performance of Phyliss Thaxter as Thorpeu0026#39;s wife Margaret, she is asked solely to carry the female weight in the picture and layers it perfectly. Sometimes uplifting, and at times inspirational, Jim Thorpe-All American is still an ultimately sobering experience, and itu0026#39;s with the sobering side of the picture that i come out of it with a rating of 8/10.”