One of my all time favorites.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Absolutely the worst movie.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

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.

When I checked the writer on this one and saw they wrote Casablanca, I had to shake my head. This script lacks most of the touches of that classic film. This is a screw ball comedy whose script just does not really work well. The cast has a lot of folks who would get star status later.Jane Fonda's first film has her trying to marry Anthony Perkins before he got a mother fixation. Ray Walston is a strict ethics professor before he became a Martian. Robert Redford is an uncredited basketball player. Perkins is a star player at a college being paid to throw an exhibition game to the Russian Sputniks. Fonda is a cheer leader and like many of her early films is highlighted physically. This is a movie you watch for the over acting cast trying to make a strange script work. It almost happens.

Tall Story is a college campus comedy, playfully highlighting a cold war era clash between us and the Russians in the form of an exhibition basketball game. Jane Fonda as the coquettish Jane Ryder in her film debut is engaging, entertaining, and a little bit cutesy. Anthony Perkins is a bit awkward for an All-American college star who also happens to be an honor student vigorously pursued by Fonda. From the moment Fonda's bicycle-riding Jane Ryder crashes into the two professors played by Ray Walston (foreshadowing Mr. Hand in Fast Times At Ridgemont High 20 years later) and Marc Connelly, the film proceeds similar in fashion to a situation comedy on television minus the laugh track.Director Joshua Logan keeps the film moving at a brisk pace but is less successful at convincing us that getting married to have sex and beating the Russians regardless of playing fair or not makes for a satisfying denouement. Logan was more successful as a choreographer. By the film's end, nearly every character compromises his/her ethics in some way in order to achieve the desired result of the script, which is to have Perkins character, Ray Blent, participate in the big game vs. the Russians in time to seal the victory. In order to do so, Ray Walston's Leo Sullivan is reduced to an overly stuffed shirt ethics professor, who is pressured by Fonda's Jane Ryder, the basketball coach played by Murray Hamilton, and his wife Myra Sullivan played by Anne Jackson. This scenario, though played for laughs in the film, is not too dissimilar from what today's students and parents do to teachers in order to get their way.Jane Fonda, in her debut film, already displays star quality and comedic talent in abundance. Anthony Perkins is acceptable in the film but does not appear to be as athletic as his character is supposed to be, somewhat of a flaw. Fonda and Perkins, interestingly enough, have a key scene inside of a cramped shower stall in the middle of the film, predating Perkins in Psycho by only a few months. The script was written by Julius Epstein, which was based on the play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and the novel "The Homecoming Game" by Howard Nemerov. Look fast for Robert Redford as a basketball player and Van Williams as a guy who exposes himself to Fonda in the men's shower area in their film debuts. Also, look for Tom Laughlin, Gary Lockwood, and Joe E. Ross in small roles. **1/2 of 4 stars.

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!