The Basketball Fix

Director: Felix E. Feist, Felix Feist Felix E. Feist

Overview

A college basketball scandal provides the basis of this sports drama narrated by noted sportswriter Pete Ferreday. The trouble begins when a promising young player with a gambling problem racks up enormous debts. To pay them, and to keep from getting beaten up, he decides to fudge on the year's biggest game. Unfortunately, he is a lousy cheater and gets caught red-handed.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/16/2021
UPC:	0191091184622
Original Release:	1951
Rating:	NR
Language:	English
Time:	1:05:00
Sales rank:	57,426

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Ireland	Pete Ferreday
Marshall Thompson	Johnny Long
Vanessa Brown	Pat Judd
William Bishop	Mike Taft
Hazel Brooks	Lily Courtney
Johnny Sands	Jed Black
Bobby Hyatt	Mickey Long
Walter Sande	Nat Becker
Ted Pierson	Lt. Garrett
Johnny Phillips	Reporter
Lester Sharpe	Jewelry Salesman

Technical Credits

Charles Peck Jr.

Felix Feist	Director
Edward Leven	Producer
Charles Peck Jr.	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The real-life college basketball scandals of the early 1950s provides the backdrop for the fictional The Basketball Fix. If only Fix were as dramatic as its true life counterpart. Unfortunately, Fix is a fairly routine sports melodrama, with only the youthful age of its protagonist providing any variation on a very familiar theme. Sure, the sport is basketball, but it might just as well have been boxing in terms of the dramaturgy. And while it's a nice change of pace to see a couple of teams of tall players instead of two beefy bruisers, that modification only goes so far. Peter R. Brooke and Charles K. Pecl, Jr.'s screenplay is not only familiar in plot, it's familiar in dialogue as well; haven't we heard pretty much the same words spoken in many other films? The answer is yes. The actors are fine, with Johnny Ireland and Marshall Thompson doing all that is asked of them. But they aren't exceptional performers, and they lack the distinctive spark that might have made Fix count for something more. Much the same can be said for Felix E. Feist's effective but pedestrian direction. The only outstanding element of Fix is Stanley Cprtez's photography, which is considerably better than the rest of the picture.