The Basketball Fix

What to expect from a 1951 public domain movie entitled 'The Basketball Fix'? With low expectations, surprises can be big. Are there any happy surprises?

The basketball fix is a mildly entertaining sports/crime drama, including all the familiar characters: the humble reporter, the smooth-talking crook, the odd coach and our hero, the money-struck, tempted sports star.

It's not a boring movie, and the subject of fixed matches is an interesting topic. The basketball game footage has its fair share and the actors are above average in this B flic. I won't remember a second from it a year from now though.

Thompson is the college basketball star, Ireland the sportswriter attempting to set him straight. Story moves along slow, in this early 'jock' movie. Interesting, if for no other reason, to see early work by Thompson, Ireland.

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.

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.

Newspaper sports columnist John Ireland (as Pete Ferreday) finds mature-looking basketball player Marshall Thompson (as Johnny Long) in a high school locker room. With his father in a sanitarium, Mr. Thompson must work to support himself and little brother Bobby Hyatt (as Mickey); possibly, school officials were unaware of this living arrangement. After Mr. Ireland helps the young man win a scholarship, Thompson becomes a college freshman star athlete. Working at a swanky country club, Thompson meets curvy Vanessa Brown (as Pat Judd), and the two are quickly engaged. Still strapped for cash, Thompson is tempted by wealthy William Bishop (as Mike Taft), who pays players to "fix" game points.

"The Basketball Fix" doesn't look "Digitally Remastered," as is claimed on the present DVD releases; the picture is acceptable, but not sharp. The synopsis states, "This noir-ish film, expertly directed by Felix Feist, documents events that seem commonplace today, but were scandalous at the time of the film's original release." You might think a player like Thompson's "Johnny Long" would be satisfied with the millions of dollars he would make today, but perhaps not. And, the film doesn't really resemble a "film noir". It is a typical story about a sports youth being tempted by gangsters, but done in the style and structure of the recently successful "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), with Ireland channeling William Holden.

***** The Basketball Fix (8/51) Felix Feist ~ John Ireland, Marshall Thompson, Vanessa Brown, William Bishop