La tête à l'envers

Shot in B&W and released in 1960, "Tall Story" was directed by Joshua Logan and starred Jane Fonda (in her screen debut) and Antony Perkins. The story is set at a the small campus of Custer College, a liberal arts school where the basketball team rules. Jane Fonda plays June Ryder, a student who transfers to Custer just to meet the star of the basketball team, Ray Blent (Perkins). Purpose: matrimony. The film is a comedy and while "Tall Story" laughs at the premise, it does so with a wink, knowing that the primary reason many coeds went to college was to find a husband.

The story is infused with an innocent air. Later in the film, we find that the big dilemma of the film is Ray flunking an exam, prohibiting him from playing in the big game. In 1960, there were Beach Blanket films and fluffy Rock Hudson/Doris Day films. In a few years, America's male students would still play basketball, but college attendance would mean an educational deferment from the military draft. In the early 60s, things would change quickly.

"Tall Story" is beautifully filmed. And the background music is excellent. The story is, of course, somewhat silly. But the cast makes it well worth watching.

Jane Fonda is fresh-faced, enthusiastic, and undeniably sexy. It would be five more years before what I consider her big break, "Cat Ballou", but the screen loves her from the first seconds she appears on film, when her character brashly advises two professors that they must compete for her enrollment in their classes. Fonda is about age 22 and working with the director (Logan) who convinced her to enter acting. She is wonderful in this role.

Tony Perkins is about age 27 during the filming, but he easily portrays the star collegiate athlete who the fans hoist on their shoulders. Is he convincing as an athlete? Probably not. But June is not interested in him for his athletic abilities; she thinks he's a dreamboat. 1960 is also the year that Hitchcock's "Psycho" would hit the big screen, transforming Tony Perkins' career.

In this film, professors are oddball academics, but lovable. The two professors are played by Ray Walston and Marc Connelly. As usual, Walston is delightful. Connelly stays right with him in this film, as does Anne Jackson who plays Walston's wife. Three years after this film, Walston would make an impact in the TV comedy "My Favorite Martian". Much later in his career, he would again play a teacher, the iconic Mr. Hand in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".

"Tall Story" is dated, but deliciously so. The big game is going to be against the "Sputniks", the touring Soviet national team. Can Custer's men of the hardcourt withstand the Soviet machine? Of course, because Ray has a secret weapon--his "scientific" theory for shooting a basketball. The discerning viewer will note that his theory is nonsense and actually rooted in mysticism, evidenced by the way June, like a disturbance in the force, disrupts his abilities by standing too close to him.

The longest scene in the film is a flirting scene between Ray and June. Ray is no smooth Casanova. Perkins plays him as a gulping, romantic incompetent. But June manages to turn his head and redirect some of his ambitions.

In one scene they visit a trailer court for married couples. It is a picture of marital bliss (and young passions). June's friends live in a trailer dubbed "Lovesville, USA"--cozy (cramped) quarters decorated with hearts. The couple is played by Tom Laughlin (who would become Billy Jack in 1971) and Barbara Darrow, an actress I am unfamiliar with, but who I think dominates the screen when she is in it.

This film is adapted from the stage, something Joshua Logan had done successfully many times. Here he directs an extremely enjoyable cast, resulting in a comedy that is entertaining and fun to watch as a period piece.

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.")

Basketball players flock to "Custer College" and its team. Located somewhere in sunny California, the university is known for scholastics and athletics. After drooling over a portrait of popular All-American player Anthony Perkins (as Ray Blent), pretty young Jane Fonda (as June Ryder) enrolls as a home economics major. Looking to make Mr. Perkins her husband, Ms. Fonda decides to join activities which show off her comely legs. Of course, this puts her on the court in a short skirt. Fonda also takes the same classes as Perkins – modern ethics with Ray Walston (as Leo Sullivan) and chemistry with Marc Connelly (as Charles Osman). Cupid's arrow lands safely and Perkins proposes. Their future happiness is threatened due to lack of money – then Perkins is offered $4,000 to throw a game...

This was an odd assignment for director Joshua Logan at the time, but he makes it an enjoyable collegiate comedy about ethics – with sexual overtures. Chiefly responsible for the passing grade are costars Perkins and Fonda. This was his last role as a "teen idol" as the next released "Psycho" (1960) changed Perkins' image forever. Here, he is innocent and genuine. In her very first performance, Fonda is obviously beginning her "sex kitten" phase. She is lovely and arousing. The supporting cast is full of interesting names and faces. "Tall Story" is best when making itself fun – Fonda on her bicycle, seeing Van Williams naked, colliding with Perkins on the basketball court – Highlights are the love scenes, Fonda' sexy babysitting seduction and the couple trying out Tom Laughlin's shower for size.

****** Tall Story (4/6/60) Joshua Logan ~ Anthony Perkins, Jane Fonda, Ray Walston, Marc Connelly

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.

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.