Review of Fox and His Friends (1975) by David Ray G — 10 Nov 2009

I have seen a few of Fassbinder's more political movies. I had heard Ebert had been sponsoring a Fassbinder movie festival in Chicago for several years. I decided to look into more of Fassbinderâ??s movies.

He is one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema. He made over 40 films most independently. In these films, Fassbinder explored how rooted prejudices about race, sex, sexual orientation, politics, class are inherent in society, while also tackling his trademark subject of the everyday fascism of family life and friendship.

In this movie Franz "Fox" is a working-class guy, at loose ends when his lover is arrested and the police shutter their carnival booth. In need of cash for his weekly lottery purchase, Fox lets himself be picked up by an elegant older man named Max.

At Max's, he meets two younger gay men who have expensive tastes and images to uphold. The next day, Fox wins ½ mil marks in the lottery-Max's friends suddenly become Fox's friends, especially Eugen, the heir to a bookbinding firm that's short of cash.

Eugen's polish beguiles Fox, and the fleecing begins. The point of the movie's title is, that Fox has no friends. Fefore Hollywood made its 1st steps in the direction of a new frankness about homosexuality, Fassbinder was miles ahead.

He was so comfortable with gay characters that he felt no hesitation in portraying some of them as selfish, brutal and grasping -- as evil, indeed, as heterosexuals in other movies. This movie is about characters defined by their sexuality.

The film takes the sexuality as a given, and defines them by their values and morals. And in the slow descent for Fox, Fassbinder indicts their materialism and narcissism. This was a shocking film for 1975.

Fassbinder focuses his film mainly on the class barriers. The film gives examination of how people manipulate people for personal gain and the destruction that produces is a recurring problem and one that this film certainly explores.

Brilliant film 4 stars.