After the Fox [DVD]

I have always loved this movie. Written by Neil Simon, and starring Peter Sellers. He plays an Italian career criminal known as The Fox. As the movie opens he is in prison, but escapes. For his first job he is hired to smuggle some stolen gold into Italy. He finally decides the best way to do that, is to act like he is making a movie about people who are trying to smuggle stolen gold into the country. So he goes do a quaint little Italian seaside village, convinces them he is a great and famous movie director and wants to make a movie in their town. They are all excited and quickly agree. He planned to film only one scene, the loading of the gold off the ship into his trucks (using the townspeople for the labor, as "extras" in the movie). But, well, things don't go according to plan. It is hilarious.

After the Fox is by far the greatest of the Peter Sellers comedys, making the Pink Panther films quite dull by comparison. There is not a weak link in the entire film, the parodies, the lines, it is all funny, and a good funny at that. There are a lot of visual jokes, too. For instance, as they flee from the police after the daring jail break, the driver wants to drive the car faster but Aldo says, "Drive slower, the police will be looking for a fast car." The police take the bait, pass the slow car and then rush off in search for a fast car. The funny thing is that this is about 1966 and the get away car is an early 1930s red convertable which has been seen by half a dozen prison guards, so the entire obvious description of the car itself is ignored.Another interesting thing is the way the film was made to look like it had been dubbed, except that you can lip read and see the speaker is obviously speaking the words. The music that accompanies the undercover police is so "foreign" that it is laughable itself (really). The undercover police have a certain bogus look, however, in WW2 United States Army medical histories of the occupation of Italy, there can be seen a dozen or more civil servants who dress and look almost exactly the same as the undercover police in the movie. So I think what may seem funny to an American or British audience might seem quite real to an Italian of the period.As the film progresses, other visual weirdness comes along. The old crook, the fat crook and the dumb crook are all seen in the background doing the most amazing physical feats such as climbing up to balconies using drain pipes only, and then throwing the heavy movie equipment from the ground to the balcony which must be 25 feet or more up. Other stuff like this happens, but no reference is ever made to it being unusual or noteworth.But the big thing for my family is that the entire situation, while being supposedly a parody of Italian families, is really quite accurate for my wife's family and we have made this our "family movie" since the late 80s. When one of us would borrow this line from the movie, "I cried, I cried like a baby" we all laugh and want to watch it again. And after seeing this movie scores of times, literally, we are still finding new things to laugh at.It is quite clear where Blake Edwards got his idea for the fine Pink Panther cartoons, the After the Fox cartoon fox is the model! Even the words to the opening are funny. Who are you, I am me, who is me, I am the fox...

I watched this as a kid and was happy to get a chance to see it again. It's not one of the funniest movies out there but it is still very entertaining. Peter Sellers was great in just about anything he did.

I was really surprised by this. Last year I took the time to watch as many movies as I could, nearly 200 in all and there were great ones and there were bad ones, but there were none like this. I don’t think this film is the best I saw, but it’s the one that makes my heart smile the most. There’s just something about it, there’s a certain energy that persists throughout every second of its run time that even when you can tell it might be edging on the point of dragging, you’re still smiling regardless. There’s an energy to this, there’s an earnest enthusiasm which I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else and I love that, this film makes my soul happy and that’s all that matters in the end. Out of all the films I saw for the first time last year this was the only one I bought, it was the only one I felt like I needed, I think that says something.

"After the Fox" is a classy production - for example, the early Cairo scenes are authentic, not sets or stock footage. Neil Simon was the scriptwriter, and Burt Bacharach wrote the score. Interesting to see an immaculately tailored Vittorio de Sica directing a biblical epic at Cinecitta, before Peter Sellers (as master criminal Aldo Vanucci, 'The Fox'), and his gang steal his equipment under cover of a wind-machine produced sand-storm and flee with it in a Citroen H-Van. The film has an excellent cast, including a young Britt Ekland. Victor Mature is great as vain and ageing heart-throb Tony Powell. The ending is the best part, when the incoherent pieces of the incompetently filmed movie the Fox has been to pretending to make to cover the reception of the stolen 'Gold of Cairo' in the Italian fishing village is shown in court; a person claiming to be a film critic leaps to his feet to praise the footage as the greatest film ever made in Italy and a masterpiece of neo-realist cinema. Peter Sellers also makes a moving speech to the court prior to being sent back to jail. The film could have been even funnier, but I think it will repay repeated viewings.

Having read all the reviews and knowing most of the actors involved, I expected something a lot better than this. Peter Sellers is not even funny!An improbable and rather silly story line, with little point in it and hardly any objectives.

Frankly, this is a very funny and engaging film, which I highly recommend. Great character acting from the whole cast, led by the superb Peter Sellers, who captures all the necessary Italian 'gusto' of his character perfectly. Victor Mature reminds us of just what a good and generous actor he was. And then there's a superb Neil Simon script, full of typical comedic plot twists, with a whole stream of things to laugh loudly or softly at!I saw it originally on British television, and then ensured we always had a copy around. A recent hunt for it, wanting to watch it after a week's holiday in Rome with my son, found we'd lost it! Just had to get this DVD version, and we both roared at it!I bet you'll like it!

It has all the mad-cap Peter Sellers entertainment that you'd expect. Of course, it's far-fetched, but that's what it's supposed to be!Sellers puts on a good performance, as usual, as a supposed master criminal, who escapes from jail in an entertaining way. This, of course, gives him the opportunity to commit a real crime, but also save his family, at the same time!If you like Peter Sellers, this is definitely a film for you. Don't expect it to be serious, but do look out for some good acting, some daft scenes and a completely mad script! I enjoy it each time I watch it.

Peter Sellers, Victor Mature and Britt Ekland in a comedy about an italian criminal mastermind (Sellers) who dreams up a brilliant plan to receive the stolen gold of Cairo. Victor Mature sends himself up as a vain, ageing actor, and Sellers is excellent as the scheming italian crook. Ekland plays Sellers younger sister, an aspiring teenage actress. Great musical score especially the title sequence, it will be in your head for days. Its a good film, well worth a view!

Great bit of stylish 60s caper. Rather implausible plot but all the 60s elements I love. Not the biggest Peter Sellers fan but though he's hamming it up some, he's nowhere near as bad as he became in later years. Britt Eckland was surprisingly good as an unrecognizable brunette and Victor Mature is terrific as a sort of self parody. I'm surprised this isn't a better known film.