Até os Fortes Vacilam

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.

I was surprised to see that the play on which this is based is from 1959 and not 1939; it has so much of the flavor of 30s college flicks. Just imagine it with a cast from a quarter-century earlier and it makes for a more comfortable fit. Who would you cast in the principal roles? The contemporary young 30s actors to play Tall Naive Guys could be say, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, even musical comedy hoofers such as Ray Bolger or Buddy Ebsen for a different flavor. For the go-getter girl June (who needn't be tall) the possibilities are broader. Ginger Rogers? Early Betty Grable or Lucille Ball? Toby Wing? One could amass quite a list of potential Junes...

Let me confess that I didn't get to see this all the way through, but from what I saw I found it rather weird to find all these young people existing in a 1960 world devoid of young peoples' music, i.e. rock 'n' roll, doo-wop etc. When the couples are out spooning under the moon they're even singing "Cuddle Up A Little Closer, Lovey Mine", published in 1908 (the same year the director, Joshua Logan, was born). Granted this song had been revived to considerable success in the 40s during wartime and was still popular in the 50s, but it just didn't seem credible to me.

However, once one accepts that "Tall Story" is set in a time and place all its own it's a perfectly enjoyable trifle. Perkins is likably boyish, callow and gawky, and a trifle awkward to be convincing as an athlete, but one can swallow that with the rest of it-- remember, Willing Suspension of Disbelief. So we can buy Fonda's character being so besotted with the guy and pulling every string to land him. She of course is a thorough charmer, which is fun to watch from the perspective of the present day, looking back on her life and career.

This is a quite watchable piece of filmmaking, and a definite curiosity. Just put your brain in neutral and let it roll by.

I love this film. Jane Fonda is darling and irresistible and Tony Perkins is adorable. It is so blatantly 50's style sexist but great fun. Great supporting cast including "My Favorite Martian" guy and "Billy Jack". I just love Jane Fonda in this as well as in "Cat Ballou". She is sexy and oh so American girl cute. Unfortunately, it is not out on DVD yet, just VHS so I can't get it from netflix. I'm a sucker for Doris Day/ Rock Hudson movies and this is in that genre. In this movie, living in a trailer is celebrated and marriage is the goal for every girl, just like in a Jane Austen story. Warning: extremely sexy shower scene :), a far cry from the one in Psycho!

Tony Perkins wasn't type-cast after "Psycho." Not at first. For the next six years, he went on to act in seven or eight other movies, most of which were shot in Europe by some of the world's best directors including Orson Welles, Claude Chabrol, Jules Dassin and Anatol Litvak and none of the roles were similar to Norman Bates. In fact, Perkins went on to be a bigger star in Europe than he ever had been in America after starring in "Goodbye Again" in 1961, for which he won he Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. "Pretty Poison," released in 1968, was the first movie in which he played a similar character to Norman Bates, and only after that film did the "type-casting" begin. But it was really all of the "Pyscho" sequels that did him in, so to speak. Perkins had a wider range as an actor than producers, directors (and casting directors) had given him credit. Too bad he did not have a more "creative" agent for the second half of his career. (Ironically, he was represented by CMA also known as "Creative Management Associates.")

...and Jane Fonda starring in her film debut. This was directed by Josh Logan and very well I may add-the entire production is top notch. Perkins is lanky, adorable and comes across as a typical but naive young adult. Fonda is just gorgeous due to both youth and flattering photography, and we get to see her wearing more conservative 60's fashion as a college co-ed.

Where this movie fails horribly is the silly plot line (get ready) Fonda's character majors in Home Economics and is only attending college to "find a husband" - cue my surprised Pikachu face. She sets her sights on Perkins, the star basketball player who is bribed to "throw" the big game. Of course, everything ties up neatly in the end and if you just roll with the silly plot line, it's a fairly enjoyable little romp, not unlike some of the silly Doris Day/Rock Hudson type of films of the era.

This movie featured several familiar talented supporting actors such as Elizabeth Patterson, Jaws Mayor Murray Hamilton as the coach, and an unrecognizable Tom Laughlin as a fellow student.

But the standout for me was Ray Walston, whom I never cared for on MY FAVORITE MARTIAN. It was great to see him in a "normal" role and as a first year prof with goatee and glasses, just stood out as the best supporting actor in the film. The character's wife was played by Anne Jackson who, along with Ralston, was an Actor Studio member. She was beautiful and did the most she could with a small part.