The Fox

PG

Released Feb 7, 1968

1h 50m

Drama

List

60%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

45%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

Headstrong Ellen (Anne Heywood) and her more demure lesbian lover, Jill (Sandy Dennis), pass their time together on an isolated farm in backwoods Canada. While Jill longs for nothing more than their life together, Ellen is becoming discontented with their relationship. The farm's former owner's grandson, Paul (Keir Dullea), arrives unannounced and asks to spend the rest of his leave from the Merchant Marines living and working on the farm. But Ellen's attraction to him could be disastrous.

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Myles Standish

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A sensitive, moody and absorbing drama full of psychological nuances.

May 1, 2024

Full Review

Pauline Kael

New Yorker

The central problem of The Fox as a movie is the problem of adaptation.

Jul 6, 2022

Full Review

TIME Magazine

[Dennis] is excellent, though the movie goes sour anyway.

May 8, 2013

Full Review

Barbara Grier

The Ladder

The acting is superb, as is the photography. The handling of all of the various “controversial” scenes tends to be poignant rather than sensational. The voyeurs will be disappointed, but the lovers will rejoice.

Apr 14, 2022

Full Review

Manny Farber

Artforum

...always in a middle area between decorum and sensationalism: a rough-stuff movie dished up in the most insipid, uniform, up-tight manner. The movie has the piddling, top-of-a-cookie-tin look of a painting over a motel bed.

Jun 17, 2019

Full Review

TV Guide

Good performance by Heywood.

Rated: 3/4

May 8, 2013

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Dave S

Other than some lovely winter landscapes and some controversial subject matter (at least for its time), there's really no reason to waste energy in watching The Fox. The story? A pair of seemingly mismatched lesbians struggle to operate a farm and find themselves in a battle with a wily fox who seems quite comfortable wandering into the henhouse to steal what is not his. Suddenly, a handsome young man saunters into the house and, like the fox, decides to steal what is not his. Clearly, there's nothing subtle about The Fox. On top of that, the story is ludicrous, the ending is laughable, the score sounds like its from a 70s police drama, and the message, if that's what it is, seems a bit insulting. And by the way, watch out for falling trees.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

05/09/23

Full Review

steve d

Unpleasant story that tries to shock more than entertain.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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jim b

Wow. What complete garbage. A total anti-lesbian film, the message coming in the form of "Paul," a man who I wish I could have hit in the face with a shovel. This is unbelievably bad, with the worst possible message possible, found at the end. I've never seen such an awful message in a movie in my life that I can recall. This made me SICK.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best romance movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Only Heywood seems suited to her complex role. And even her competent performance is wasted in the haze of the film's self-consciousness.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

eric b

A three-actor movie (well, minus a brief character at the end and one train conductor), "The Fox" is about a wintery power struggle between two isolated female farmers (Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood) and a sexually potent drifter (Keir Dullea). Its main importance is its stature as a vanguard lesbian film, but it pulls its punches and keeps the couple's relationship ambiguous except for one quick scene. It's probably not coincidence that the film arrived during the peak of Ingmar Bergman's renown, because its small cast and determined focus on intense, psychological interplay certainly reflects the director's influence. But this approach comes with a grave risk of turning heavy-handed, and "The Fox" fully stumbles into this trap. Dennis is just the same rheumy, babbling character she always plays, but Heywood and Dullea really go over the top with all their tortured stares and portentous silences. And the obvious "fox in the henhouse" metaphor is hammered, hammered and hammered again. Lalo Schifrin adds a pretty score and the lovely cinematography takes advantage of the snowy, woodsy setting, but the central problem is that Dullea's character is so sullen, cruel and unpleasant that the women's attraction to him doesn't seem plausible. One outdoor scene has a strange, avant-garde insertion with freeze frames and flashes of orange, and it is anyone's guess what director Mark Rydell (who also helmed the structurally similar "On Golden Pond") intended here. Heywood grants some wholly unnecessary nudity for spice, and sensitive viewers may object to two disturbing moments of animal violence.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Mark Rydell

Director

Sandy Dennis

Jill Banford

Keir Dullea

Paul Renfield

Anne Heywood

Ellen March

Glyn Morris

Overstreet

Raymond Stross

Producer

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Synopsis

Headstrong Ellen (Anne Heywood) and her more demure lesbian lover, Jill (Sandy Dennis), pass their time together on an isolated farm in backwoods Canada. While Jill longs for nothing more than their life together, Ellen is becoming discontented with their relationship. The farm's former owner's grandson, Paul (Keir Dullea), arrives unannounced and asks to spend the rest of his leave from the Merchant Marines living and working on the farm. But Ellen's attraction to him could be disastrous.

Director: Mark Rydell
Producer: Steve Broidy
Distributor: Claridge Pictures
Production Co: Motion Pictures International
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 7, 1968, Original
Runtime: 1h 50m