AFTER THE FOX

aka Caccia alla volpe (I), Le renard s'évade à 3 heures (Fr), Jagt den Fuchs! (WG)
1966
Italy/France
John Bryan for Compagnia Cinematografica Montoro (Rome), Nancy Enterprises (London)
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Story: Neil Simon
Screenplay: Neil Simon, Cesare Zavattini
Music: Burt Bacharach (Italian version: Piero Piccioni)
Cinematography: Leonida Barboni
Release information and running times: UK (1966, 102'), France (01.68, 100'), West Germany (16.12.66, 103'), USA (New York, 15.12.66, 102')
Italian takings: 379.000.000 lire
Cast: Peter Sellers (Aldo Vanucci/Federico Fabrizi), Victor Mature (Tony Powell), Britt Ekland (Gina Vanucci aka "Gina Romantica"), Martin Balsam (Harry), Akim Tamiroff (Okra), Paolo Stoppa (Polio), Tino Buazzelli (Siepi), Mac Ronay (Carlo), Lydia Brazzi (Vanucci's mother), Lando Buzzanca (the police chief), Maria Grazia Buccella (Miss Okra, the bikini trap), Maurice Denham (the chief of Interpol), Tiberio Murgia (the 1st detective), Francesco De Leone (the 2nd detective), Carlo Croccolo (a cafe owner), Nino Musco (the mayor), Pier Luigi Pizzi (the prison doctor), Lino Mattera (a singer), Piero Gerlini (the 1st jailer), Daniele Vargas (the public prosecutor), Franco Sportelli (the judge), Giustino Durano (a critic), Mimmo Poli (the fat actor), Enzo Fiermonte (Raymond), Roberto De Simoni [Simone] (Marcel Vignon), Angelo Spaggiari (Felix Kessler), Mario Del Vago (Manuel Ortega)
Uncredited: Timothy Bateson (Michael O'Reilly), Carlo Delle Piane, Vittorio De Sica (himself), Daniela Igliozzi, David Lodge (a police officer), Enrico Luzi (movie director on Via Veneto), Carlo Pisacane (the 2nd judge), Marcella Rovena (Salvatore's Wife), Lizabeth Scott (the actress in Tony Powell movie), Nino Vingelli (the 3rd judge)

After the Fox is one of those lavish, sprawling affairs that - like What's New Pussycat and Casino Royale - seems designed primarily to polarise critical opinion. To some, it is a self-indulgent, trivial mess. And a trivial mess, to boot, where the humour misses the mark more often than it hits. To others, though, it is a portion of pure sixties entertainment; it may mean absolutely nothing, but - hey - when nothing looks and tastes this good why not just cool your boots and enjoy it.

Mimmo Poli, Peter Sellers and Britt Eckland in AFTER THE FOX

Mr Okra (Akim Tamiroff) and his gang have carried out a daring gold robbery in Egypt, but now have to transport their booty into Europe for sale. There's only one man who can undertake such a tricky operation: Aldo Vanucci (Peter Sellers), aka 'the Fox', a master criminal whose ability is cunningly disguised by appearing to be absolutely hopeless in his chosen, nefarious field. Vanucci is initially reluctant as he is quite happy lounging around, being treated like a king, in jail. When he hears that his flighty sister, Gina (Britt Eckland) is behaving in a distinctly un-demure fashion, however, he changes his mind, and decides that breaking out is the only thing to do if he is to keep her under control. Of course, a 50% cut of Mr. Okra's swag acts as a further incentive.

Maria Grazia Buccella wears a preposterous dress in AFTER THE FOX

But how to get the gold into Italy? Well, here Vanucci hits upon a novel, not to say unlikely, plan: masquerading as a hotshot film director, he pretends to be shooting a new blockbuster in a picturesque fishing village, even going so far as to persuade fading Hollywood star Tony Powell (Victor Mature) to appear in it. One of the major sequences in this 'film' involves, you got it, a shipment of gold being smuggled into the country from Egypt. The villagers are all cock-a-hoot about having their home featured in a sure-fire box-office hit, and are even more excited when given the opportunity to act as extras. Little do they know that they are actually becoming involved in a real, honest-to-God, criminal activity.

Intended as a vehicle for Peter Sellers' considerable comic talents, this is - on a superficial level - a moderately successful comedy caper movie. There are some good gags: Vanucci's hiding out in a dovecot above his Roman flat; his somewhat dissolute fellow criminal masterminds (too old, fat or short-sighted to be effective any more); a selection of preposterous disguises. It never really reaches a laugh-out-loud standard, though, being more of an entertaining diversion than truly funny. Even so, it's nicely constructed, with a great Bacharach soundtrack (Piero Piccioni did the Italian version), nice costumes and some lush cinematography from Leonida Barboni (A Difficult Life (Una vita difficile, 61). With plenty of car chases, beautiful women, mugging from supporting actors and lovely scenery, it's an archetypal, albeit inconsequential product of its time.

Victor Mature in AFTER THE FOX

Beyond this, however, if you dig a bit deeper there's some very curious stuff going on here: dealing almost entirely with the process of filmmaking, and the way in which cinema-madness overwhelmed Italy in the sixties, After the Fox is nothing less than a comedy sibling of Federico Fellini's La dolce vita. Vanucci's film directing alter ego - Federico Fabrizi, no less - is a proponent of the naturalistic style, allowing performers to improvise their scenes and directing on the fly. This is because he doesn't have a script, of course, but that's by-the-by. Just about every character is obsessed by the cinema, from Gina (who wants to be an actress) to the local police chief (popular Italian comedian Lando Buzzanca, surprisingly effective in a small role). The character of Tony Powell is obviously modelled on the American performers who decamped to Italy once their careers entered a downward turn; performers such as, err, Victor Mature, who does excellent work here.

Lando Buzzanca, surprisingly funny in AFTER THE FOX

This post-modern tangle is muddled further by the appearance of director Vittorio De Sica as a director shooting a tacky peplum starring John Huston as Moses (Vanucci steals his equipment). So here you have a movie within a movie, oodles of intertextuality and serious self-reference. It's like an explosion in a cultural studies seminar.

From a production point of view, After the Fox is also of some interest. An international co-production, this features a script by an American (Neil Simon, just before he made his name with Barefoot in the Park (67) and The Odd Couple (68)), a British star and a primarily Italian cast and crew. De Sica, who made his name with the neo-realist classic The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette, 48), developed a dab hand for comedy in his later years, making such films as Marriage Italian Style (Matrimonio all'Italiano, 64) and Woman Times Seven (Sette volte donna, 67). This isn't his best, but still stands as a more than acceptable slice of sixties euro-fluff.

Matt B