Review: Jim Thorpe: All-American

Biopic of Native American athlete Jim Thorpe (Burt Lancaster) who went from the Indian reservation to Olympic success (Pentathlon and Decathlon- seriously, the guy was amazing!), as well as stints playing gridiron and baseball. However, Thorpe’s life was filled with sadness including the death of a child, an unsuccessful marriage, Olympic controversy, and the decline of his sporting career. Phyllis Thaxter plays the white girl who would become Thorpe’s first wife, Charles Bickford plays coach and mentor ‘Pop’ Warner, and Steve Cochran plays a rival collegiate athlete at the school for Native American students Thorpe attends as a young man.

 

Underrated biopic of what surely must rank as one of the greatest (and multi-skilled) American athletes of all-time, this 1951 Michael Curtiz (“Captain Blood”, “Casablanca”, “We’re No Angels”) film is really enjoyable both from a cultural perspective and as entertainment. Blue-eyed Burt Lancaster may at first seem flagrantly miscast as a Native American, but I’ve read that the real-life Jim Thorpe wasn’t full-blooded, and Burt Lancaster playing an athlete? That’s something anyone can buy, it’s the perfect fit for the former acrobat turned actor. It’s a quick and easy transition to acceptance of him in the part, actually (though making this film in colour would’ve been a disaster. Just watch Lancaster play an ‘injun’ in “Apache” for proof of that). In fact, if anything he’s too old for the college-set scenes, but Lancaster is so persuasive as an athlete that you quickly forget that he’s not that young (37 at the time) and not Native American. He’s Jim Thorpe. This is probably one of the more likeable and ego-free performances of Lancaster’s career. Yeah, he’s playing a super athlete with a great physique, but he’s also kind of an underdog due to his ethnicity, and not easily accepted, despite his great athletic abilities. Hell, he even gets to play the outcast kid who is sweet on the girl who is dating the football hero, basically. So this is one of the few Lancaster performances (and I love the guy), where you’re not really seeing the actor, but the character. Thorpe was a phenomenal athlete, but also a troubled guy, particularly seen in the latter stages of the film. Lancaster conveys that darker side of Thorpe particularly well. It’s rather sad to see what became of him once his career fell apart.

 

Sturdy supporting performances by Charles Bickford (one of cinema’s greatest-ever character actors) and a very sweet Phyllis Thaxter also add to the quality of the film. But it’s Lancaster and the rather extraordinary life and career of Thorpe himself that really grab your attention here. I feel ashamed for not having heard of this amazing athlete before seeing this film. It also offers up a really interesting point in American history in between the wild west era of face-painted ‘injun’ warrior cliché and the portrait of Native Americans today. This was set at a point where Native Americans were starting to integrate into the greater American society and become educated and so forth. It’s not only fascinating to see this period the film is set in being depicted, but there’s also interest in seeing it being depicted with a 1951 understanding. The only thing I didn’t get about the film was Thorpe’s aspiration to coach, rather than compete as an athlete. What the hell is that all about? Were coaches better paid than athletes at the time? Otherwise, I’ve always heard that those who can’t do, teach. Thorpe could quite obviously do, and do multiple things. Strange.

 

A rock-solid biopic of a truly extraordinary athlete. It’s a bit corny, but certainly deserves credit for not being overly patronising, and Burt Lancaster certainly deserves credit for one of his best-ever performances. Excellent, lively Max Steiner (“King Kong”, “Johnny Belinda”) score, if a tad culturally clichéd at times. Based on a biography by Russell Birdwell and Thorpe himself, the screenplay is by Douglas Morrow (“Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”, “The Stratton Story”), Frank Davis (“Ten Tall Men”, “The Indian Fighter”, “The Train”), and Everett Freeman (“Larceny, Inc.”, “Million Dollar Mermaid”), from a story by Morrow and Vincent X. Flaherty.

 

Rating: B