Product Description

A down-and-out down-on-his-luck homosexual carnival worker wins the lottery and along with it some new friends. Unfortunately a charming scheming lover fleeces him of his newfound money. Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 06/19/2007 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43720 in DVD
• Brand: Fox
• Released on: 2002-07-02
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 123 minutes

Amazon.com
The original German title, Faustrecht der Freiheit, which roughly translates as "Might Makes Right," describes rather bluntly the crux of this compelling drama, one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's most acclaimed films. Fassbinder takes a rare starring role as Franz--"Fox" to his friends--a gay carny thrown out of work when the cops close a fairground sideshow. Introduced to a group of cultivated homosexuals by an antique and art dealer (Karlheinz Böhm of Peeping Tom fame), he becomes involved with high-class dandy Eugen (Peter Chatel), who finds the naive, uneducated innocent easy prey when he unexpectedly wins 500 thousand marks in the lottery. Eugen alternately flatters and humiliates Fox, ridiculing his working-class manners and tastes while sponging off his fast-disappearing fortune. The story is partially autobiographical, inspired by Fassbinder's own relationship with an illiterate butcher, but the director casts himself as the victim in the cinematic incarnation and turns his tormentor into a veritable vampire. Biographical considerations aside, it remains one of Fassbinder's most affecting, accomplished, and personal films, and he delivers a sweet, wounded performance as the proletariat Fox in a den of cultured, upper-class hounds. His evocation of the affluent gay community is catty and brittle, but ultimately this powerful drama is less about sexual orientation than class, power, and sexual control. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Powerful film & excellent DVD transfer
FOX AND HIS FRIENDS is one of Fassbinder's most poignant and accessible works. The story and performances are direct, and the look of the film is polished. Yet it also deals powerfully with some of his central themes, such of the search for love, and exploitation in its many forms (both homosexual and heterosexual). Wellspring Media has released a pristine DVD of the film, from a carefully restored print. If offers both a vivid new Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, as well as the original stereo, plus filmographies and Web links.

Fassbinder is very effective at shattering, or at least twisting, stereotypes in his films, whether they concern people from a "different" class (MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS), race (ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL), age (MOTHER KUSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN), or physical ability (CHINESE ROULETTE). In FOX AND HIS FRIENDS he focuses on homosexual men, in one of the first films ever to depict their lives - warts and all - as complex lived experience. (Of course, in the years since FOX's 1975 release, film has come a long way in exploring the diversity of homosexual experience.) Fassbinder made only a handful of other films dealing with homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people: 1972's THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT, 1978's IN A YEAR OF 13 MOONS, and 1982's QUERELLE. All are worth seeing, and each remains among his most controversial works.

Since some people consider FOX to be homophobic, it's worth noting that there are perhaps as many unscrupulous straight characters (including Fox's new lover's mother and father - who swindle him for the "noble" purpose of keeping open their business, which employs 70 people) as homosexual ones. Also, Fox's bar buddies include several caring and likable homosexual and transgender characters, who represent a diversity of ages, body types, and demeanors (some are "straight-acting," others love to camp it up). And Fassbinder, in his most demanding role as an actor, gives his most nuanced performance. There are many complex layers to Franz "Fox" Biberkopf, and Fassbinder explores them all, from street-smarts to sweetness to pain to defiance to despair, and more.

When I first saw FOX, I was horrified by the final scene (although it is vintage Fassbinder). Now, after watching it again, I have to wonder if the film actually ends inside Fox's mind (for his sake, I hope so). That metro/subway stop is unnaturally - eerily - clean and quiet. Everything is blue and white, even the clothes worn by all the characters who pass through. Yet this comes at the end of one of Fassbinder's most naturalistic films; nothing earlier is as stylized. So, is this just a nightmare vision? (But as a friend noted, if you are going to include one dream state in a film - and make it the final scene - be sure the audience understands the ambiguity.) Has Fox learned, from his devastating experiences, that the glitzy "lifestyle" he has just lost was what was destroying him? So maybe - just maybe - Fox is ready to begin putting himself back together... if the final scene is just a nightmare.

An overlooked Fassbinder gem!
This is one of Fassbinder's funniest and most heartbreaking films. Playing the title role himself, Fassbinder delivers an unforgettable performance as Fox--a directionless carnival worker who finds himself lured into a relationship with an upper-class German man after winning the lottery. A very visually striking and emotionally engaging film. Certainly one of Fassbinder's bests.

As for the DVD transfer, it's as good as if not better than the version I saw on VHS.

A Gripping and Poignant Gay Tragedy; BoundTo Be A Classic
"Fox, a bumbling but sincere and big hearted unsophisicated carvinal worker who's job is terminate when his boyfriend, the carnival owner, is arrested by the German police. Out of a Job, Fox wins the 500,000 DM lottery and finds a new group of friends who pounce on the oppertunity to swindle him out of his winnings. His new b/f selects the apartment and furniture, purchased from the b/f's friends gallery; new clothes, a trip to Morocco, and a loan to the b/f's parents failing business drain poor Fox'es wealth.
As the film progress you cannot help but to have sympathy for Fox; and all his attempts to win the love and affection of his goldigging lover and unscrupulous friends. Let me warn you; this is not a "feel good" film; but rather be ready to be appalled by how far the depth of human cruelty can decend.
It's beautifully directed, the scenes flow smoothly, art direction and cinematography are all first rate with no flaws to distract you from the quality of this production; and Fassbinder plays his characther so convincingly, I wondered how this inept individual (Fox) could produce such a movie. Made circa 1974 but certainly not dated in focus and depth.
The conclusion will break your heart; and if you havn't devlopment a sense of compassion and sympathy for Fassbinder's character by the end of this film, you have ice water in your veins. A gripping and poignant gay tragedy; worthy of your conceration and as an addition to your collection of gay works.
Thankyou for reading this review; I hope it enlightened you on this truely magnificant story.
Jerry Balmes