[newbie] Cannot Execute binary file

[BamBam]

When I try to execute .tar.gz and .tgz files from the terminal window, I get 
a message that says cannot execute binary file.  I've tried ./filename and sh 
filename with no success.  Can someone help me out with this one?  Oh yea...  
I almost forgot.  chmod 755 filename was also tried, but I still cannot 
execute anything from the terminal window.  Any help would be greatly 
appreciated.