The Fox (1967) Queer Film B+

The Fox
DIRECTOR: Mark Rydell
Bypassing the Hays Office, the film was released independently, without a Code seal. Playing at Film Festivals, Art Houses, and College Campuses, it found an audience, and Lalo Schifrin’s Oscar-nominated score gave it a second wind in the Spring of 1969 – the movie was not shown in LA until 1968. It was later submitted to the MPAA retroactively and received an R rating.
Director Rydell (The Rose, On Golden Pond) moves the location of D.H. Lawrence’s short story to rural Canada, where our lesbian couple, Jill Banford (Sandy Dennis) and Ellen March (Anne Heywood), support themselves by raising chickens. They are happy and content. There is genuine chemistry between the two actresses without things being overtly physical. Then, unexpectedly, in the dead of winter, merchant seaman Paul (Keir Dullea) arrives on the property in search of his grandfather.
Yes, a fox keeps killing the chickens, and there is a dying oak tree, which we begin to realize is the Canadian equivalent of Chekov’s gun. Like John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye, released the same year, The Fox does interesting things with color saturation (Bill Fraker was the cinematographer), and the Lalo Schifrin score has deservedly entered the jazz canon.
All three leads are impressive, and although the ending is a disappointment from a gay perspective, the movie is well worth seeing.

PRODUCER: Raymond Stross

Warner Bros. Seven Arts

“THE FOX” IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING. THE DVD CAN BE PURCHASED FROM AMAZON.

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