diff --git a/Objects/tupleobject.c b/Objects/tupleobject.c
index d40f947..6cd74eb 100644
--- a/Objects/tupleobject.c
+++ b/Objects/tupleobject.c
@@ -376,6 +376,7 @@
 {
 	PyTupleObject *vt, *wt;
 	int i;
+	int vlen, wlen;
 
 	if (!PyTuple_Check(v) || !PyTuple_Check(w)) {
 		Py_INCREF(Py_NotImplemented);
@@ -385,19 +386,21 @@
 	vt = (PyTupleObject *)v;
 	wt = (PyTupleObject *)w;
 
-	if (vt->ob_size != wt->ob_size && (op == Py_EQ || op == Py_NE)) {
-		/* Shortcut: if the lengths differ, the tuples differ */
-		PyObject *res;
-		if (op == Py_EQ)
-			res = Py_False;
-		else
-			res = Py_True;
-		Py_INCREF(res);
-		return res;
-	}
+	vlen = vt->ob_size;
+	wlen = wt->ob_size;
 
-	/* Search for the first index where items are different */
-	for (i = 0; i < vt->ob_size && i < wt->ob_size; i++) {
+	/* Note:  the corresponding code for lists has an "early out" test
+	 * here when op is EQ or NE and the lengths differ.  That pays there,
+	 * but Tim was unable to find any real code where EQ/NE tuple
+	 * compares don't have the same length, so testing for it here would
+	 * have cost without benefit.
+	 */
+
+	/* Search for the first index where items are different.
+	 * Note that because tuples are immutable, it's safe to reuse
+	 * vlen and wlen across the comparison calls.
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < vlen && i < wlen; i++) {
 		int k = PyObject_RichCompareBool(vt->ob_item[i],
 						 wt->ob_item[i], Py_EQ);
 		if (k < 0)
@@ -406,19 +409,17 @@
 			break;
 	}
 
-	if (i >= vt->ob_size || i >= wt->ob_size) {
+	if (i >= vlen || i >= wlen) {
 		/* No more items to compare -- compare sizes */
-		int vs = vt->ob_size;
-		int ws = wt->ob_size;
 		int cmp;
 		PyObject *res;
 		switch (op) {
-		case Py_LT: cmp = vs <  ws; break;
-		case Py_LE: cmp = ws <= ws; break;
-		case Py_EQ: cmp = vs == ws; break;
-		case Py_NE: cmp = vs != ws; break;
-		case Py_GT: cmp = vs >  ws; break;
-		case Py_GE: cmp = vs >= ws; break;
+		case Py_LT: cmp = vlen <  wlen; break;
+		case Py_LE: cmp = vlen <= wlen; break;
+		case Py_EQ: cmp = vlen == wlen; break;
+		case Py_NE: cmp = vlen != wlen; break;
+		case Py_GT: cmp = vlen >  wlen; break;
+		case Py_GE: cmp = vlen >= wlen; break;
 		default: return NULL; /* cannot happen */
 		}
 		if (cmp)