Review: The Fox

Butch Anne Heywood and clingy Sandy Dennis are attempting to run a chicken farm all on their own in snowy, woodland Canada. After a while, a male stranger (Keir Dullea) happens upon them and sets about pulling their tight bond apart. He has particular designs on the rather frosty Heywood, much to Dennis’ distraught. The title may have more than one meaning, though there is indeed an actual fox the two women attempt to catch.

 

I was all set to hate this 1967 adaptation of the 1918 D. H. Lawrence novel from debut film director Mark Rydell (who went on to direct “The Cowboys” and the popular “On Golden Pond”) and screenwriters Lewis John Carlino (“The Mechanic”) and producer Howard Koch (“Casablanca”, “The Best Years of Our Lives”, “The War Lover”). That turned out not to be the case, but there’s still some issues holding it back. If you’ve seen the documentary “The Celluloid Closet”, you know this early lesbian-themed film is not looked upon terribly fondly by the gay community for reasons that I will try not to spoil for the uninformed (Although I will point out one thing that many seem to have missed: The Anne Heywood character would today be viewed as bisexual, not simply a lesbian. I think that’s an important distinction with everything else that goes on in the film). Having now seen the film myself in 2016, I actually think the film (which is apparently a fairly loose adaptation of the novel) is a lot more ambiguous than many give it credit for, though apparently not as ambiguous as the Lawrence novel.

 

I think the Keir Dullea character is written (and certainly portrayed) as being kind of a prick, he is quite clearly not a good guy. However, the film has still dated a helluva lot (but c’mon, it’s a 1967 adaptation of a 1918 novel!), and while I think the film is more ambiguous in the end than many give it credit for (it’s certainly not a ‘happy’ ending at all and the male character is not remotely sympathetic), it’s still a pretty homophobic ending in at least one respect. “The Celluloid Closet” was right to throw that particular charge at the film. But what do I think of the film as a whole? I actually think it’s an interesting, tense, but obviously dated film. If you can put aside the specific gay theme in the film (because it really does cause quite a mess to try and get your head around), what you’re left with is actually a fairly interesting, claustrophobic, psychological character piece (or maybe a restrained psychodrama in a way). Change Dennis’ character to a guy, and the film won’t have dated at all. I’m not advocating taking out a gay character, mind you, just that the film would play a lot more seamlessly, albeit it would be a pretty different kind of film.

 

Flawed it certainly is, but it’s pretty tense stuff for a while (a little reminiscent I think of “The Night Digger”/“The Road Builder” with Patricia Neal), hampered mostly by one major performance issue. Anne Heywood is as stiff as they come in a very important role. She’s dull and doesn’t adequately convey the struggle going on inside of her character. The psychological aspect to the film is its strongest suit, but Heywood prevents it from being better than it is far more than any dated subject treatment. Although Keir Dullea is well-named, I have to say that at least his character is genuinely interesting. This guy is smug, chauvinistic, and frankly really shifty, and without him there would be no real drama or tension. It’s not a great performance by Dullea, but it’s probably one of his less tedious ones. The best performance by far comes from Sandy Dennis, she’s really good and genuinely sympathetic if you ask me (if a tad high-strung), which is very important when looking at whether the film is homophobic or not, and if so how much. If there’s a reason to still see the film, it’s the underrated Dennis’ performance, though some of you might find her an annoying chatterbox. The film has also been nicely shot by William A. Fraker (“Rosemary’s Baby”, “Bullitt”), the snowy, remote locales really drive home how isolated these two women are in the snowy woodlands. Even better is the really lovely Oscar-nominated score by Lalo Schifrin (“Cool Hand Luke”, “Bullitt”, “Enter the Dragon”), a definite highlight of the film. Also, I’m not entirely sure what the first film to feature a masturbation scene was, but I think the film features at the very least one of the first masturbation scenes in a mainstream film, though you don’t actually see anything really. Heywood also appears naked briefly as well, which although not unheard of at the time, wasn’t that frequently seen either.

 

A couple of stiff performances and some dated material hamper an otherwise tense, psychological character piece. Nicely shot and scored, and Sandy Dennis is good as always, but when you’ve got three characters and two of them are played by lesser actors, it’s never a good thing. It’s still kind of interesting, but a bit homophobic and flawed, the last third especially.

 

Rating: C+