The All American [The Winning Way] ** (1953, Tony Curtis, Lori Nelson, Richard Long, Mamie Van Doren) – Classic Movie Review 10,599

Director Jesse Hibbs’s 1953 Universal International Pictures black and white American football drama The All American [The Winning Way] stars Tony Curtis as the college football player Nick Bonelli who rejects sport for studies after his folks die in a bus crash on the way to the game. But then he joins a snooty college, Sheridan University, to pursue his real interest of studying architecture and, after a struggle against the taunting other lads and the trashy charms of Susie Ward (Mamie Van Doren), is a success on the field again.

The All-American is old-fashioned, all-American stuff with an upbeat ending, and the handsome young Curtis is still struggling to find his touch. Lori Nelson provides the synthetic romance.

Curtis recalled: ‘In those days I was mostly concerned that my hair looked OK, my suit was cut right. But gradually I was figuring out a few other things about the movies.’

The screenplay by D D Beauchamp and Robert Yale Libott is based on a story by Leonard Freeman.

Also in the cast are Lori Nelson, Richard Long, Mamie Van Doren, Gregg Palmer, Paul Cavanagh, Stuart Whitman, Jimmy Hunt, Douglas Kennedy, Herman Hickman, Barney Phillips, Donald Randolph, Frank Gifford and Tom Harmon.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,599

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