The Basketball Fix

"Basketball Fix" has 25 year old Marshall Thompson playing Johnny, a basketball player fresh out of high school. (Which just goes to show that using actors in their mid-20s to play teenagers has been going on forever.) Anyway, Johnny becomes the best player on some unknown state university basketball team.

Things soon become complicated as he is approached by a friendly but shady character who wants him to shave points off of games. At first he refuses but circumstances cause him to reconsider.

There are no surprises at all in this film. The topic is handled just as you would expect it to be in the early '50s. It all culminates in an especially unfulfilling conclusion. 2/10

Basketball Fix, The (1951)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A poor college freshman is a wiz on the basketball court but soon gets involved with gangsters in a points shaving scheme. Here's another moral "B" film from the 1950's this time taking shots at gamblers. The film doesn't have good acting or a real good story but it remains slightly entertaining throughout. It doesn't hurt matters that it only runs 65-minutes either. John Ireland stars as the sports reporter who starts to see the star shaving the points.

You can find this film on DVD through various public domain companies.

The plot was decent - kind of a Mickey Rooney "Quicksand" on the basketball court, instead of a car dealership.

I guess they needed a babyface Marshall Thompson to play Johnny Long but it's a shame that they couldn't have found someone who looked like they actually knew how to play the game.

Maybe the make-up department could have done something with Chuck Connors, only 4 years older than Thompson, as he played for the Celtics after he returned from serving in WWII.

John Ireland is a sports reporter for a paper. He went to college on a basketball scholarship, and his old coach asks him to check out a local kid kid him. Marshall Thompson is a great prospect, and he's flattered to be asked, but he has to stay in town. He's got a sick father, so he needs to work side jobs to help out. So he goes to a local college and works side jobs.... and takes money to shave points.

It's a nice little exposé, with some organized crime and small town footage, to give it the sort of appeal that a B picture needed on the rapidly fading States Rights circuit. Director Felix Feist may have picked up an Oscar for telling Robert Benchley to sit at a desk and sound confused, but he was a B director at heart, able to get a decent movie on a tiny budget, and that's what he does here.

Ripped from the Headlines the Ads used to Say in the Day. This Little B-Movie Capitalized on Just That.

A Real-Life Scandal Shocked College Basketball and its Fans During the Early 50's.

The Sacrosanct Higher-Education System Took a Hit of Sorts as a Light was Shined on some "Dark-Dirty-Play".

Still Alive Today.

The Debate about Big-Money in College Sports as Amateur (by Law) Athletes are Exploited for Their Skills with No Financial Reward.

Sure some of the Top in the Field Get Scholarships Worth Money, but Not All the Player Get a "Full-Ride" and the Inequities are Transparent.

This Movie is Helped by the Versatile John Ireland as a Sports Journalist and Felix Feist, a Workman-Like Director.

Marshall Thompson Plays the B-Ball "Star" who Goes from High-School to College.

Maintaining a "Boy-Scout" Clean-Cut Life Sinking Baskets and Dominating the Game.

He also has Issues at Home Taking Care of a Younger Brother with Little Resources.

So No Christmas Toys for the Kid, and No Money to Solidify His Love with a "Diamond Ring", the "Shooter" Buckles and Deliberately Misses, for a Pay-Day from the "Mob"

Once Hooked, He's in it Forever.

The Production Code No-No's are Avoided and the Story is Told in a Rather White-Washed Display.

But Close Enough for the Strange and Off-Beat Foray into a Touchy Thing that Movies Generally Stayed Clear.

Worth a Watch.