Foxes (1980)

Jodie Foster Movie

Was good and interesting. Jodie Foster is young and in this movie you can see why she did so well for herself...Good Quality August 29, 2008

Please come back here so I can beat you up!

Foxes is a coming of age drama about four teenage girls growing up in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. It attempts to be a gritty behind the scenes look at the sex, drugs, and rock and roll of teenagers in the late 70's, but it comes off more akin to another force feeding of aerosol cheese by director Adrian Lyne. Jodie Foster is like the den mother of the Foxes in question, and while she is always interesting in whatever role she is playing, this is a tremendous waste of her talents. She tries to manage the situations and solve all the problems of her three friends, but it is beyond her capability. While she seeks to control the personal lives of her friends, who they date, and so forth, what of her own love life?

The closest she comes to a love interest of her own is Brad, who is almost like a mascot for the Foxes. He is too cute and short to be taken seriously by Annie (Cherie Currie from the all girl rock group The Runaways). He is also too cute to be taken seriously by the audience. The whole time he is onscreen you are thinking, Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, and Charles in Charge. Mostly though you are thinking, what is Chachi doing in this movie that purports to be a gritty behind the scenes look at the secret lives of teenage girls?

Cherie Currie, as the stoner girl that Jeannie (Jodie Foster) is always trying to rescue, either from bad boys who get her drugged up for date rape, or from her psycho cop father, is a disappointment as an actress. You'd think that a rock star from the legendary rock band The Runaways would have some stage presence, but sadly she is totally lacking in charisma. It is so hard to be sympathetic for such a shallow, stupid, and doomed character. They should have picked Joan Jett, if they needed someone from The Runaways so badly. Even Lita Ford, judging by her subsequent musical career, would have been a better choice.

Another bad choice: Angel, the rock band, really added little to the film. Were they supposed to show the total lack of creativity and inspiration the youth of 1980 had to draw on? If so, maybe it was a great choice. I don't remember Angel at all, and judging by what I saw in Foxes, I am grateful for the memory lapse. Speaking of bad musical choices, though, they chose a couple of songs that were totally inappropriate, just really bland pop music that didn't seem to have anything whatsover to do with anything that was even happening in the film. It was as if they owed some songwriter a favor. Was it The Beckmeier Brothers? There were some tunes by Angel that were lame, and lots of stuff by Giorgio Moroder. The only song that worked at all, and then only for a bit of late 70's nostalgia, was "More Than a Feeling" by Boston.

Finally, they slap in a totally gratuitous car/skateboard chase, and a totally contrived ending. This was a very ill conceived project. The only reason to watch it is if you are totally obsessed with Jodie Foster, like Hinckley, or if you just want to confirm what a rotten director Adrian Lyne is, has been, and will always be. Foxes is one of his early efforts and also one of his worst. A far better use of your time would be to watch Valley Girl, which doesn't aspire to be any more than a light hearted comedy, but is vastly more entertaining; and has a great soundtrack featuring The Plimsouls (who perform a song live), Josie Cotton, The Psychedelic Furs, Sparks, and Modern English. Plus, you get Nicolas Cage as a Hollywood (the actual city, not as in Tinsel Town) punk rocker.

FILMS DIRECTED BY ADRIAN LYNNE

Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition) (1987)
9 1/2 Weeks (1986)
Flashdance (1983)

FILMS AND ROLES OF JODIE FOSTER

Nell (1994) .... Nell Kellty has been raised in isolation and speaks in a language all her own. Kind of a huge chance for an actor, a chance that it will come off totally ridiculous. Mixed reviews, some saying Foster was brilliant, and others saying, yes, totally ridiculous.
The Silence of the Lambs (Widescreen Special Edition) (1991) .... Jodie Foster won the Oscar for playing FBI Agent Clarice Starling.
The Accused (1988) .... Another Oscar for Jodie for her role as Sarah Tobias , rape victim made to feel as if she was the accused.
Carny (1980) .... Jodie plays Donna, who joins the carnival along with Gary Busey as a clown and Robbie Robertson from The Band as the carnival boss.
Bugsy Malone [Region 3] (1976) .... Jodie Foster plays Tallulah, and Scott Baio is Bugsy Malone!
Taxi Driver (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (1976) .... The role of Iris Steensma, teenage hooker, who is rescued by taxi driver Travis Bickle, played by Robert DeNiro, really got Jodie Foster noticed. Unfortunately, from John Hinckley, Jr.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) .... Jodie Foster plays Audrey, a young tomboy, in what will be seen as foreshadowing if the Jodie Foster bio pic ever gets made. August 11, 2008

Surprised Me Then With How Accurate It Was...Still Think So.

Foxes was a movie that surprised me with how gritty and accurate it was, then and now. I was 22 when this flick came out in 1980, and it quite realistically sums up the end of the 1970s. I recall the 70s as being far from the Happy Face, Brady Bunch era they're often remembered as in pop media these days. My high school experiences from '72 to '76 were much more like the grubby, druggy, post-Watergate-and-60s-hangover jaded teen pessimism portrayed in this movie. Jodie Foster is outstanding as the capable, common-sense teen lead, and Cherie Currie does a great job as the train-wreck tight-jeans doomed sexpot chick who's headed for the trailer park, pimp's stable, or morgue slab--take your best guess which. U-hadda-be-there, I guess. Great girl-point-of-view coda to the 1970s, and very recognizable to those of us who grew up in that era. Gritty and real. Superior movie, redolent of it's time. June 24, 2008

Foxes still worthy of viewing!

I can't tell you how many times I've seen this movie in the last 25 years or so. Granted, some of the little plot twists are a bit hokey, but as a whole I think the movie stands up well. I do wish there was something in the way of "bonus features" though. It'd be nice to have had audio commentary from Cherie Currie, or Jodie Foster. And it certainly would be nice to have had some more additional concert footage of Angel! I know there is more, as I attended that concert taping at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. April 10, 2008

A cautionary tale

This film is something of a cautionary tale about the dangers of drug use, but underneath it, it also presents a very cynical view of humanity in general. Following the lives of four teenage girls in Los Angeles, circa 1979, it consists of episodes tied together by the thinnest of plot lines. Everything appears trashy, ugly and venal. The city is run down and dilapidated. The teenagers lead barren lives that alternate between mindless drunken brawls and bouts of despair. The adults are scarcely better, empty, dysfunctional, older but little wiser. All the characters are intellectually shallow. Still, there are some powerful moments. The dream-like soft-focus introduction contrasts the softness of the girl's bodies with the harshness of the environment they live in. Cherrie Currie, herself a rock singer in real life, is completely believable as a drugged-out delinquent who is sexually attracted to drug-pushing thugs. The one uplifting element is Jodie Foster's performance as the only person who remains caring and compassionate in a chaotic world. April 7, 2008

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