Review of Fox and His Friends (1975) by Salvador S — 12 Nov 2012

Fassbinder turns his camera on himself, as he stars as Fox, a naive blue-collar guy who wins the lottery and then gets exploited by snooty upper-class friends. Fassbinder felt that the fact that his story takes place within gay circles and the prime exploiter is a boyfriend actually softened the melodrama, although I'm not sure of that.

Obviously, the real focus is on class differences and we are led to feel closer to the friendly supportive guys in the dive bar. Fassbinder's eye for color and some clever set-pieces and shots (such as a great one in a mirror) are already in good form (in 1974).

He makes great use of full frontal male nudity, by positioning it in a distracting way just off-center in the frame in one great scene when you are supposed to be paying attention to another character speaking.

Another strong film in this amazing canon.