Jim Thorpe was an incredible athlete and this movie shows this much,it is pretty accurate in the description of his athletic achievements. Where it fails miserably is in the telling of his personal life,for some strange reason it makes up a tragic story of Thorpe's life,concentrating on the fictitious death of his supposedly only son when a young boy, and the tragic consequences that follow,turning him into a sad,miserable and lonely middle-aged man. The truth is ,that Thorpe had 8 children,a son and 3daughters from his first wife and 4 sons from his second wife.His son from the first marriage died at age 2, but Thorpe had other children and the loss of his son did not destroy him. Furthermore ,after he divorced his first wife he didn't end up alone and miserable as the movie shows but remarried twice. Whatever problems he may have had later in his life,they were caused by other reasons and one wishes this movie tried to explain the true story of Thorpe and not make up one instead. Burt Lancaster is OK in the role,physically he seems perfect for the part,but the script doesn't help him understand this man by making up most of his personal life.

Emotional and heartfelt story of athlete Jim Thorpe (superbly portrayed by Burt Lancaster), a multi-faceted individual who dominated several sports of the early-20th Century. The film follows the title character from his youth at his reservation (Thorpe was a Native American) and proceeds through his college, professional and Olympic careers. Tragedy strikes on more than one occasion though as the super-star goes into a tail-spin, feeling that his nation and even God have turned their backs on him (due to his Olympic medals being stripped and the death of his young son). Through it all the film is told in wonderful flashbacks by Coach "Pop" Warner (the always outstanding Charles Bickford). Definitely worth a look. An under-rated and somewhat ignored gem from the director of "Casablanca" (Michael Curtiz). 4.5 out of 5 stars.

This is a powerful story of the trials and tribulations of Jim Thorpe, a hero in the true sense of the word. Burt Lancaster plays the extremely talented Native American Indian. We see the football heroics at Carlisle College; being stripped of his coveted Olympic medals, and the sinking into an alcoholic oblivion.Charles Bickford plays Pop Warner, Thorpe's coach at Carlisle. Phyliss Thaxter is the patient and concerned sweetheart. Also in the cast are Suni Warcloud, Jack Big Head and Al Mejia. The legendary Michael Curtiz directs. Lancaster is excellent as the multi-talented Thorpe, from the hills of Oklahoma.Parts of this movie were filmed at Bacone College and Indian Bowl in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

This was a great film, and was Lancaster at his best, he seemed so strong in this roll, winning almost everything he took part in had to be a sight to see, Thorpe was a good American, andshould never had his medals taken away, but that was life in those days. I know that he must have been really low at that time and disgusted with all of sports, I would have like to have seen him play but that was way before my time. The ending was sad, but it kind of left you wondering what he did do after sports.