Main Cast: Jane Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Marc Connelly, Ray Walston, Anne Jackson
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
In this romantic comedy, a young basketball star proposes to a tall and intelligent coed while attending Custer College. She accepts, and he begins to worry about how they will get the money they need to survive. He then finds himself tempted to take a gambler's bribe and throw the game during an upcoming match with a Russian team. The weight of his decision affects his studies, causing him to fail a major test. As a result, he nearly misses the big game. Jane Fonda made her debut in this film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
Those who know Jane Fonda only from films such as Julia or Klute will be surprised by her performance in her debut film, Tall Story. Playing a woman attending college for no purpose other than to get her MRS degree, she is the antithesis of the independent liberated woman with which she is commonly identified. It's a love of a performance, and it goes a long way to making this Doris Day-ish piece of romantic comedy fluff enjoyable. Anthony Perkins also helps matters tremendously with a charming performance that emphasizes his endearing, boyish qualities and allows him to have quite a bit of fun along the way. Unfortunately, all their youthful talent and eagerness can't disguise the fact that Tall Story has a terribly weak screenplay, filled with stock characters and situations and a plot that feels cribbed from numerous sources. Joshua Logan's stolid and formuliac direction does not appreciably help matters, but the stars -- and the solid supporting cast -- do manage to make this a moderately enjoyable trifle. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Kay Nelson - Costume Designer, Joshua Logan - Director, Philip W. Anderson - Editor, Cyril Mockridge - Composer (Music Score), Shelly Manne - Songwriter, Andre Previn - Songwriter, Dory Langdon - Songwriter, Ellsworth Fredericks - Cinematographer, Joshua Logan - Producer, Julius J. Epstein - Screenwriter, Howard Nemerov - Book Author, Russel Crouse - Play Author, Howard Lindsay - Play Author
The film was the first screen role for Fonda and she portrays a character who is the complete opposite of the independent liberated woman she later personified.[1] It is based on the 1957 novel "The Homecoming Game" by Howard Nemerov which was turned into a successful 1959 Broadway play by the distinguished writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.[2][3]
The story is a farcical social satire of American campus life.[1] It satirizes the way college life can become a marriage market for some students. It also examines the subject of ethics in the dilemma faced by a talented but naive student and basketball player, Ray Blent, when an attempt is made to bribe him. His ethics professor is forced to make a difficult ethical choice in deciding whether to make a special case of Blent which would allow him to take part in a Cold War basketball game between U.S. and Russian colleges.
The story takes place at the fictional Custer University. Ray Blent is an honor student and college basketball star. June Ryder has come to the university to study home economics and to find a husband.
The students and faculty are scandalized by her unashamed pursuit of Blent. She joins the cheerleader troupe and attends all the classes taken by Blent to ensure she has maximum contact with him. Everyone is aware of her designs on the sexually naive Blent except for him. She succeeds in convincing him that she has an intelligent, inquiring mind that he admires, although this is all done through deception.[2]
Ryder eventually gets Blent to fall for her and propose marriage. However, they need several thousand dollars to set up home.[2]
Blent is secretly propositioned, via a radio message, by a gambling syndicate to lose a key game with a visiting Russian team. He refuses to do this but is unable to return the money as he does not know who who is behind the bribe.
Rather than deliberately throw a game, he decides to deliberately fail an ethics exam, which automatically disqualifies him from playing. He is the best student in class and the only way he can fail is by copying Ryder's paper. Too late he realizes that his not playing is tantamount to ensuring his team will lose and he has given the gamblers exactly what they want.[2]
Meanwhile, his ethics professor, Leo Sullivan, is coming under extreme student and faculty pressure to reverse the failure and give Blent a passing mark. He refuses to do this on principle.[2]
The film climaxes with the professor giving Blent an oral retest while the game is in progress. Blent passes and plays for the last few minutes, achieving a one-point victory for his school.[2]
