Mamie Van Doren, Lori Nelson and Richard Long star in the film alongside real-life All-American Herman Hickman, coach at Yale University). Also in the cast were other real-life football players, including future sportscasters Frank Gifford (making his film debut) and Tom Harmon (father of actor Mark Harmon), as well as Jim Sears and Donn Moo-maw, Detroit Lion Jim Hardy and Olympic discus champion Fortune Gordien.
The film was the first directed by Jesse Hibbs, who had been promoted from assistant director at Universal. Hibbs was a former All-American himself, having played for USC in 1927 and later becoming a professional football player with the Chicago Bears. Written by D.D. Beauchamp from an adaptation by Robert Libott of Leonard Freeman's original story, The All American was shot on the Universal Studios lot and at several locations around Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Bovard Field at the University of Southern California, and, according to Tony Curtis in his mem-oirs, at UCLA. Production was a scant month between late March and late April 1953, and its star was not happy.
Although he enjoyed working with his friend Richard Long, Curtis was nearly 30 when he starred in this film and had just finished Houdini (1953). He considered The All American "a typical low-budget Universal movie in which he threw touchdown passes and got tackled by Frank Gifford." At the beginning of production, he was also not impressed with his co-star, Mamie Van Doren, who he considered "another version of Marilyn [Monroe], only even more voluptuous. She was another actress trying to climb her way up, but I didn't think she was smart enough to make it. Nobody was really that interested in her. She didn't really have any style; she just had this incredible body, she was sweet and kind, and she wanted a career in film. To my surprise, she was wonderful in The All American. [...] I still wasn't convinced that Mamie had what it took to get into the big time, though. Hollywood was a tough nut to crack in those days."
Curtis wasn't the only one shrugging off The All American when it was released in October 1953, with Modern Screen trashing just about everything in the film, even Curtis' character getting a scholarship to an Ivy League school. "He belongs in the place the way Marilyn Monroe belongs at Radcliffe. Richard Long, whose father (Donald Randolph) owns most of the school and possibly the entire United States, would like To-ny to pack up his pinstripe suit and leave. [...] until Tony climbs into his cleats and knee-guards to heap glory on the Alma Mater. Pretty soon you can't tell Richard Long from an alcoholic, he's that depressed about democracy in action." The industry trade paper Motion Picture Herald called it "just another picture."
By Lorraine LoBianco
