dougdoepke A gang of crooks pretends to be a movie crew in order to get a gold shipment into Italy.Frantic is the word for this comedic concoction. On one hand it's a send-up of pretentious art films; on the other, it appears an attempt to cash in on Peter Sellers' Clouseau in the Pink Panther. The trouble is ace director de Sica has bitten off a chunk he over-chews. Despite the good bits, which are many, the whole package, including Sellers is working at comedic hyper-speed. It's like every scene has to be at least amusing. As a result, impact from one scene is too often quickly undercut by the next. Too bad.The main reason to tune in for us geezers is to catch 40's hunk Victor Mature doing a hilarious parody of a Hollywood movie star with a paste-on grin. Hard to believe here that Mature starred in such bleak noirs as Kiss of Death (1947) and Cry of the City (1948). Generally overshadowed, at the same time, is Britt Ekland looking little like the blonde Swedish bombshell. Anyway, it's a second-rank Peter Sellers film, and a long way from his Inspector Clouseau, despite frantic efforts to the contrary.

ShadeGrenade 'After The Fox' probably looks funnier now than when it was first released in 1966. Peter Sellers plays 'Aldo Vanucci', Italy's top criminal mastermind - known as 'The Fox' - and also a master of disguise. When his cronies visit him in jail, he gives them food and magazines. Hearing that his sister Gina ( Britt Ekland, Sellers' wife at the time ) is walking the streets of Rome, he is furious and escapes by switching places with a psychiatrist. It turns out Gina is only making a movie. He wants her to go back to school, but she is determined to become a movie star. She has changed her surname to the more exotic sounding 'Romantica'. A daring bullion robbery has been pulled off in Cairo, and Aldo must help the thieves get the gold into Italy. He decides to trick the townspeople of Sevalio into thinking they are taking part in a movie, and to this end manages to secure the services of fading Hollywood matinée idol 'Tony Powell' ( Victor Mature )...At times, 'Fox' feels like an Italian version of one of Sellers' earlier British comedies, such as 'Two Way Stretch' and 'The Wrong Arm Of The Law'. Aldo shares many similarities to 'Dodger Lane' and 'Pearly Gates'. Neil Simon's script is not bad - though not among his better efforts - but it needed a director of the calibre of Blake Edwards to make it work. Instead we have Vittorio De Sica, and his heart is just not in it. As 'Vanucci', Sellers is okay, but its when he gets to impersonate eccentric director 'Frederico Fabrizi' ( pointing to his head, he says to Tony: "In here is my script!" ) that the film really starts to becomes funny, with some amusing jibes at the expense of the neo-realism school of cinema ( of which De Sica was a leading exponent ). Giving Sellers competition in the comedy department is Mature, with a highly amusing self parody as a film star who refuses to admit he is over the hill. When he brags to his agent 'Harry' that he is a youthful forty, the man replies: "But your son is thirty-five!". Another asset is the bouncy Burt Bacharach soundtrack. The catchy theme song was performed by Sellers ( as 'Vanucci' ) and 'The Hollies'. 'Fox' was not a big commercial success, but now seems a decent way to kill 90 minutes, even if it does end with a somewhat uninspired car chase.The best moment comes in the final scene. Vanucci is on trial ( along with the townspeople of Sevalio ). The film is screened to the jury. It is disjointed, jumpy, with jerky camera work ( just like every major film on release these days ). When it is over, everyone who took part looks embarrassed. A wild-eyed critic, however, proclaims it a masterpiece!

morrison-dylan-fan Whilst Hollywood has seemed to have had trouble,trying to make Christmas/New Years Day "event films" in a post-Lord of the Rings era (with the main exceptions being 2005s double bill of event films,with the first Narnia film,and King Kong fighting it out, lion v ape,and last years world conquering return of James Cameron,after thirteen years,with the sci-fi adventure epic Avatar.)In the meantime,Bollywood has been turning the end of the year "event film",into a unstoppable juggernaut,with such films as the Mermento-inspired ultra-violence revenge thriller in Gujini,a gathering of (almost) every living Bollywood legend,in the fun reincarnation film Om Shanti Om,and a shockingly stunning mix of extremely strong writing,good casting,and an amazingly fast paced feel (even at a running time of over two and a half hours) with 2009s 3 Idiots.Sadly,this great run got stopped in 2010.with the comedy "event" film Tees Maar Khan,whose characters were just that little bit too annoying for most audience members to be entertained by.When I started reading up about Tees Maar a few weeks before its release,and I found out that the movie wad going to be a remake of a film called After the Fox.Since I have enjoyed watching some of the other great films that Neil Simon has wrote,and having always been entertained by some of the film and radio work that Peter Sellers has done,I was very intrigued to see what type of film would be made,with both of them working together..The plot:As news of a $3 million robbery of gold bars, reaches the ears of the (jailed) worlds best criminal Aldo "the Fox" Vanucci,He decides to tell the wardens that he is going to break out of the prison at 3pm!.With having stolen someones identity,Vanucci escapes the jail right under everybody's nose.When he returns to his old home,he finds the person who has set up the robbery,who needs help to bring the gold into the country.Although both men are able to work out a deal (with Aldo getting 50% of the gold)Vanucci also has to deal with the trouble of his sister giving up school,so that she can become an actress.Luckaly for The Fox,when he is getting chased by some officers who want him for the prison escape,he hides at a film premiere.Suddenly,a light bulb goes off in Aldos head,that if he pretends that he is a film director,making a film in a small town,he will be able to use all the local people and police offices to unwittingly help him transfer the gold!.Although,when he starts to make the film,The Fox realises that keeping his patients with the cast & crew might be even tougher then importing the gold...View on the film:Though the screenplay is not as strong as some of his later films,such as the excellent movie The Odd Couple,the first screenplay by Neil Simons is still filled with a good amount of fun material.With,parts of the film (such as the scenes where The Fox is trying to get a faded Hollywood actor to star in his "avant-garde film.")showing some great signs of some of his future work.Whilst I was watching the film,one of the main scenes that instantly stuck out to me,was a scene where Aldo talks to the gold smuggle through the middle (wo)man,which I instantly recognised as something that was copied for the third Austin Powers film,although I think that Simons version of the joke is a lot stronger.For the avant-garde false- film shooting,director Vittorio De Sica,impressively always makes it that the audience is laughing with the characters and there avant-garde film,and not at them,with De Sica making sure that the film does not turn into a totally bitter satire about the film industry.For the cast,I feel that whilst Peter Sellers gives a very good performance,of an oddly slightly centre character,the clear stand out is Victor Mature as the fading Hollywood star Tony.Mature impressively being far ahead of the self-mocking former major actors of the classic Larry Sanders Show,with his great grizzled performance, showing a very pleasing amount of surprising sincerity.Final view on the film:A fun- filled,slightly wacky film,with good performances,a well-written screenplay and extremely engaging directing form Vittorio De Sica

netwallah This movie is two good things at the same time—first, it's a Peter Sellers comedy, which is wonderful enough in itself. Here he plays an Italian master criminal, with full Italian cinema schtick, first as a gangster, and then as a director. He conceives a scheme to smuggle gold stolen in Egypt by the befezzed Egyptian Okra (Akim Tamiroff, ready to play any sort of foreigner), under the cover of making a movie. To do so, he steals the production equipment from Vittorio de Sica, playing himself—as Moses walks into the desert, he cries, "More sand! More sand in the desert!" And then the production, in a tiny coastal village, is a breathtaking parody of neorealism, with all the villagers clamouring to play parts, the vagueness and phony existentialism of the director's posturing, and the cheekbones of the starstruck police chief (Lando Buzzanca). At the trial—because of course things go wrong—the prosecutor shows grotesque black & white footage, and a film critic leaps to his feet applauding, and is carried out of the courtroom crying out that it is a work of primitive genius. The story is by Neil Simon, the star turn is by Peter Sellers, but the parody is pure de Sica. And it startled me; I had no idea!