Jim Thorpe - All-American Page #7

you were playing patty-cake!

Practice at 10:
00 in the morning

and I mean 10:
00.

Well, I trust, Mr. Thorpe,

that you will honor us with your presence.

You haven't got your kid here

for an excuse.

Practice at 10:
00 in the morning.

And the rest...

Jim!

Jim!

Tom, look.

I'm sorry, Jim. I didn't know.

Jim continued

to play professional football.

He still looked good out on the field,

but he'd begun to retreat

back into the old hard shell,

trying to escape from his bitterness.

He moved aimlessly

from one team to another.

Another one?

Come in.

Surprise. Margaret.

- Margaret!

- Happy Thanksgiving! Come on.

Oh, Ed!

- And Peter!

- Margaret, how are you?

Little Boy, hey.

Thanksgiving comes but once a year,

we thought we'd come with it.

I bumped into these lugs down

buying tickets to the game today.

- We decided to make it a grand reunion.

- What a wonderful surprise!

- Jim will be delighted.

- Where is he?

Oh, he just went down

to the corner to get a paper.

- Here, will you take these?

- Sure.

- I must look awful.

- No.

Excuse me. Make yourselves at home.

Little Boy,

I thought you had a ranch out West.

- I came East to see my lawyer.

- He's a man of affairs now.

Eight hundred head of cattle

and still growing.

He certainly looks it.

- How's your girl?

- Oh, she's not my girl anymore.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

- She's my wife.

He's not only making money,

he's making jokes now, too.

You look pretty prosperous yourself,

Peter.

Oh, this is just a front.

I'm in a new business now.

Radio! But, believe me,

it'll never replace the phonograph.

- Play one of those, Pete.

- I'd better get these in some water.

Open some of that candy.

I'll be back in a second.

- How's your law practice, Ed?

- Booming.

I'm saving my money

so I can buy back Manhattan Island.

- Can I help?

- No, I'll manage, thanks.

Ed, I can't tell you how happy I am

to see you all.

- Jim will be, too.

- How is the old war horse?

- I never hear from him anymore.

- He's fine.

- Sure?

- Course, I'm sure.

Ed, I'm worried.

Something's happened to Jim.

Something's gone out of him.

Jimmy's death twisted him inside.

It's almost as though he blamed himself.

I can't seem to reach him anymore.

He's still playing great football.

Only Jim could keep playing football and...

Yes, I know. It gets around.

He spends his time with people

he wouldn't have

wasted 10 minutes on before.

They flatter them, he buys them drinks.

They tell him what he wants to hear.

Ed, if he'd only quit playing football.

His heart isn't in it.

He always wanted to be a coach,

he won't admit it.

Margaret, I...

Hey, what's all the gabbing?

We're wasting good music in there.

Come on, Margaret.

- Oh, grab the vase, water boy.

- Water boy!

- You're still the greatest dancer.

- Water boy.

- Hello, Jim!

- Jim!

How are you, Bright Path?

Carlisle, Carlisle, Indians, Indians, yeah.

Gosh, it's good to see you fellows.

Little Boy, how I've missed you.

I wouldn't have this

if I had you around to block for me.

- But I'd have a busted knee.

- Gee, you look great.

- You mean it?

- I've never seen you look better.

- Gee, I never felt better.

- Still checking your press notices, I see.

Yeah. That's right.

There's a hot one in there today

by this fellow named Lacey.

Sit down, I'll read it you.

Sure. Pull up a chair, Little Boy. Sit down.

He starts off by saying

that I'm a champion

in everything I ever tried.

Then he says,

"So it is with deep regret

that we witness the perceptible breakup."

Breakup, get that! "Of the greatest

athletic machine of all time.

"A breakup

that might have been postponed for years

"if he stayed in training."

- What do you think of a drip like that, huh?

- Oh, well...

He should have seen me

against the Packers last week.

- I ran 70 yards for a touchdown, 70 yards.

- Is that right?

Margaret! Margaret, tell them what I did

to the Bulldogs out in Cleveland.

Well, go on, tell them!

- He ran a kickoff back for a touchdown.

- What else?

He caught a pass

and ran for another touchdown.

- How many yards?

- Forty-eight.

And that's not all. I made six more points.

I kicked two extra drop-kicks.

Does that sound like I'm breaking up?

Well, does it?

Poor fellow.

Maybe I will come back and help him.

Well...

- Well, fellows, I think we'd better be going.

- Oh, now wait a minute. You just got here.

There's a million things I wanna ask you.

I know,

but it's less than two hours to game time,

and I think you better get some rest,

you broken-down old war horse!

Well, when am I gonna see you again?

How about Thanksgiving dinner

after the game at Antonio's?

- Oh, that's fine.

- Good.

The gathering of the tribe!

- How about it, Margaret?

- I'd love to.

- I'm sorry you're leaving.

- Bye, Margaret.

- Bye, Pete.

- See you tonight, Jim.

- We'll meet you at 7:00.

- We'll see you tonight.

- Show us something out there today, Jim.

- You bet I will.

Be great

to see that old fireball in action again!

And how. And I don't mean "Hi".

- Good-bye, Jim.

- So long, Jim.

Good-bye, Margaret.

I never realized how much I missed them.

It was wonderful seeing them all again,

wasn't it?

It sure was.

Darling,

why don't you lie down for awhile?

- You've got plenty of time.

- Yeah.

Yeah, I think I will.

My goodness, whatever am I gonna do

with all this candy?

He's a liar, Jimmy.

He's a liar.

We Thorpes never break up. He's a liar!

- Which one of you guys is Lacey?

- I'm Lacey.

Well, I'm Thorpe!

I didn't hear from Jim after that,

but I never lost track of him.

Once in a while bits of news

about him drifted back.

Rather disturbing news.

Put him down.

Come on!

- Jim, old boy, you sure are.

- Drinks on you, Buck!

- Okay. Set them up!

- Hey! Wait a minute. I won, didn't I?

- You certainly did.

- They're on me!

You got a letter from Ed.

Yeah? What's he say?

He's established title

to your government land in Oklahoma.

A hundred and sixty acres.

Isn't that wonderful?

What's wonderful about it?

Well, I thought...

I mean, Ed says

it will have to be sold for taxes

unless somebody goes back and works it.

Yeah, well, let him sell it.

I'd like to see Ed go back.

That's what I'd like to see.

- Ed's a lawyer.

- Yeah? Well, I'm a football player.

You can't be a football player forever.

Oh, stop nagging me.

Let me alone, will you?

We could borrow enough on the land

so we could build a little house.

It would be good for us, for both of us.

I don't say it has to be forever.

But just long enough so that we could...

They'd all like to see me go back

to the reservation, wouldn't they?

You'd like to see me go back,

wouldn't you?

- Jim, I didn't say that.

- Good old Jim Thorpe!

Back in the blanket where he belongs.

Sitting in front of a teepee

smoking a corncob pipe.

Can't get into any trouble.

- No money, no firewater.

- Jim, please!

- Stupid, illiterate Indian boy!

- Jim, stop!

Make plenty of fine, handmade moccasins.

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