Jim Thorpe -- All-American

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Jim Thorpe -- All-American
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Produced by Everett Freeman
Written by Jim Thorpe (autobiography)
Russell Birdwell (biography)
Frank Davis (addl. dialogue)
Vincent X. Flaherty (adaptation)
Everett Freeman (screenplay)
Douglas Morrow (adaptation and screenplay)
Starring Burt Lancaster
Charles Bickford
Phyllis Thaxter
Music by Max Steiner
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) 24 August 1951
Running time 107 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
IMDb profile

Jim Thorpe -- All-American is a 1951 biographical film produced by Warner Bros. and directed by Michael Curtiz, honoring Jim Thorpe, the great Native American athlete who won medals at the 1912 Olympics and distinguished himself in various sports, both in college and on professional teams.

The film starred Burt Lancaster as Thorpe and featured some archival footage of both the 1912 and 1932 Summer Olympics, as well as other footage of the real Thorpe (seen in long shots). Charles Bickford played the famed coach Pop Warner, who was Thorpe's longtime mentor. Bickford also narrated the film, which told of Thorpe's athletic rise and fall, ending on an upbeat note when he was asked by a group of boys to coach them. Phyllis Thaxter portrayed Thorpe's first wife. Warner Bros. used a number of contract players in the film, as well as a few Native American actors.[1]

Contents

[edit] Cast

  • Burt Lancaster as Jim Thorpe
  • Charles Bickford as Glenn S. 'Pop' Warner
  • Steve Cochran as Peter Allendine
  • Phyllis Thaxter as Margaret Miller
  • Dick Wesson as Ed Guyac
  • Jack Big Head ... Little Boy Who Walk Like Bear (as Jack Bighead)
  • Sonny Chorre ... Wally Denny (as Suni Warcloud)
  • Al Mejia ... Louis Tewanema
  • Hubie Kerns ... Tom Ashenbrunner

[edit] Epilogue

Although Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic medals after it was discovered he had played for a professional baseball team, they were reinstated in 1983; thirty years after his death.

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Turner Classic Movies