Tall Story
Tall Story
| 06 April 1960 (USA)
Tall Story Trailers

A young insecure college sportsman is in trouble. He wants to marry his very straightforward girlfriend, but has no money. When he is offered a bribe to fix a game, he is torn even more about the matter.

Reviews
ChikPapa Very disappointed :(
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
bkoganbing I noted that in this comedy about a college basketball star lanky Anthony Perkins sure looks the part. But if you watch closely there are no real shots of him actually playing basketball. I suspect that Perkins in real life was no athlete though the story focuses on him potentially missing a big game.A big game it is indeed with no less than a team of Soviet All-stars touring the USA and playing many colleges. Perkins missing the game would certainly affect the odds.So when money is dumped on him from a mysterious source to throw the game this throws Perkins in an ethical quandary. And because he's got Ray Walston his professor who is his ethics professor the whole thing becomes a mess as Perkins deliberately flunks Walston's class to miss the big game.Although Perkins and a young Jane Fonda as the coed looking to snare Tony for a husband, the real star of this show is Walston. When he flunks Perkins and then refuses to give him a makeup exam to make him eligible he's got everyone hating him including his wife Anne Jackson and next door neighbor and colleague Marc Connelly. In 1959 Tall Story ran on Broadway for 108 performances. Authored by the legendary team of Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, only Connelly and Robert Wright as the college president repeat their Broadway roles in the film.Some mention has to be given to Murray Hamilton as the frantic basketball coach who has the idea that the university exists to give his basketball team a home. What could possibly give him that idea in the America of 1960 let alone today?The stars do well and the supporting cast is fine. But this film is a must for fans of Ray Walston.
my_wife_smells I was pleasantly surprised to find this playing one morning on TCM. I didn't know anything about the film before, so I was completely unprepared for what turned out to be a truly delightful comedy. At first I thought the movie was serious, then it started turning sillier and sillier. Anthony Perkins and Jane Fonda do a great job. This was a perfect vehicle for Fonda to launch her acting career. And I must admit I agree with her - she does have quite beautiful legs, and I feel fortunate that we are treated to seeing them in her cute little cheerleader outfit.This movie is entertaining and I recommend viewing it on a lazy afternoon one day, it is much better than watching re-runs of Gilligans Island.
Hermit C-2 There was life before 'Psycho' for Anthony Perkins. I'm not so sure how much there was afterward. Prior to that movie's 1960 release (the same year as 'Tall Story') he could get roles in light comedies like this one, and other kinds of work, too. The Hitchcock picture identified him forever with one character, and though he achieved fame, his options as an actor were severely limited.That's a shame, because he's very good in this pleasant story of a college basketball star being pursued by a single-mined husband-hunter. There are some funny lines and moments, especially in the latter third of the film.This was Jane Fonda's first starring role and she is already fully formed as an actress. With all due respect to Henry and Peter, even early on in her career it's evident who was the standout talent in the Fonda family. She must shake her head sometimes about the role she played here. Near the film's start her character tells two professors she came to this college because she was tall. They look puzzled, so she explains she will have a better chance of snaring a husband at this school, with its outstanding basketball program. This role might embarrass her more than Barbarella.There's a fine supporting cast of old pros on hand including Ray Walston, Marc Connelly, Anne Jackson and Murray Hamilton. Look closely and you'll see Gary Lockwood ('2001...') as one of the basketball players. But even if you are a fan of the 'Billy Jack' movies, you might not recognize Tom Laughlin as a married friend of the young couple.
lisakay Perhaps most notable as Jane Fonda's screen debut, "Tall Story" is also remarkable for what it didn't do for Anthony Perkins: define his acting career. Released the same year as Hitchcock's classic thriller "Psycho," "Tall Story" shows the charming, naive and humorous side of Perkins. He stars as Ray Blent, Custer's star basketball player and star student who finds himself caught in an ethical nightmare just before the biggest game of his life against the Russian Sputniks. Fonda is adorable as a cunning co-ed whose one aim in college is to snare the unwitting Ray. Unfortunately, we didn't see more Perkins characters like this one because the actor was typecast as a psychotic madman following his admittedly excellent portrayal of Norman Bates in "Psycho." This movie shows the virtuosity of a great actor who regretfully didn't get the chance to demonstrate his full range of acting skills more often.