After the Fox (1966)
"Caccia alla volpe" (original title)

Peter Sellers plays Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), one of the greatest criminals of the world, and master of disguise. After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again... See full summary »

Director:

Vittorio De Sica

Writers:

Neil Simon (play), Neil Simon (screenplay),

Stars:

Peter Sellers, Victor Mature, Britt Ekland

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Sellers	...	Aldo Vanucci
Victor Mature	...	Tony Powell
Britt Ekland	...	Gina Romantica
Martin Balsam	...	Harry Granoff
Akim Tamiroff	...	Okra
Paolo Stoppa	...	Polio
Tino Buazzelli	...	Siepi
Mac Ronay	...	Carlo
Lydia Brazzi	...	Mamma Vanucci
Lando Buzzanca	...	Police Chief
Maria Grazia Buccella	...	Bikini Girl
Maurice Denham	...	Chief of Interpol
Tiberio Murgia	...	1st Detective
Francesco De Leone	...	2nd Detective
Carlo Croccolo	...	Café Owner

Storyline

Peter Sellers plays Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), one of the greatest criminals of the world, and master of disguise. After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again with his friends, and plans to retrieve the "gold of Cairo" a large shipment of gold, that waits to be unloaded somewhere in Italy. Aldo devices the perfect plan. Posing as a famous director, he finds the ideal coastal village to unload the shipment, and persuades the entire population that he has chosen their village as the set for his new movie. Everybody, including the idiot chief of the local police is so excited, that they can't even imagine that in fact they are helping the Fox to get the "gold of Cairo"...

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Plot Keywords:

prison | sister | italy | disguise | posing | 

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Taglines:

Watch your girl, guard your gold, hold your jewels ...the fox is loose!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

Italy UK

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

1966 (UK)

Also Known As:

After the Fox

Filming Locations:

Ischia Island, Naples, Campania, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinecitta Italiana Stabilimenti Cinematografici, Compagnia Cinematografica Montoro (CCM), Nancy Enterprises (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actor portraying Moses (in the Biblical epic being filmed by Vittorio De Sica in the desert) has a hairstyle modeled on Michelangelo's renowned sculpture, "Moses"; horns are sculpted into the actor's hair, mimicking the horns in Michelangelo's statue (placed there due to a mistranslation of the Bible, in which the Hebrew word for "rays" was misread as 'horns').

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Goofs

Gina Romantica rubs Tony Powell's hair dye on her face. Seconds later, the marks on her face are still there but her hands are clean.

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Quotes

Aldo Vanucci: [to the police chief] In films either you have got a face or you don't got a face. You have got a face.

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Connections

Spoofed in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

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Soundtracks

"After the Fox"
Music by Burt Bacharach
Lyrics by Hal David
Orchestration by Charles Blackwell
Performed by The Hollies and Peter Sellers

User Reviews

A bit uneven, but it's still unique and a lot of fun

Peter Sellers is a real enigma. During his career, he made many brilliant films with amazing characterizations (such as DR. STRANGELOVE, BEING THERE, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED and many others), but he also did a lot of amazingly limp films that he practically slept through (THE FIENDISH PLOT OF FU MANCHU and THE PRISONER OF ZENDA). AFTER THE FOX is unusual in that it isn't exactly brilliant but still is very good. As far as Sellers' performance goes, he did a lovely Italian accent and his character was pretty credible, though despite being the star of the film, he wasn't the standout performer (I think this was actually Victor Mature--doing a wonderful self-parody).

The Fox is a master criminal who escapes from prison rather easily in order to keep his sister out of trouble. At first, he thinks she's become a prostitute, but later he finds she's become (horrors) and actress!! Interestingly enough, his sister is played by Sellers' real-life wife, Britt Ekland and his love interest in the film was played by an unknown (but beautiful) Italian. Once out of prison, he learns about a big caper from Akim Tamiroff--smuggling in millions of dollars worth of gold into Italy. So, inspired by his sister's desire to be a movie star, he decides to make a fake film and use this as the cover to smuggle in the gold--and this is how Victor Mature comes into the film. He plays a parody of himself but is very vain and over the hill--telling everyone he's in his thirties even though he's pushing 60! I loved how he insisted he was so young when it was so obvious he wasn't--especially in the scene where Britt throws herself at him and runs her fingers through his hair--only to have them stained black by hair dye. Plus, he was so full of himself that he was gullible enough to believe he was making an art film when in fact Sellers and his gang obviously had no idea what they were doing.

By the way, how Sellers got all the film equipment was pretty interesting. As the film was directed by Vittorio DeSica, he himself appeared in a small scene. He and his crew were filming some Egyptian epic when suddenly the wind machines turned on at full blast. When they were finally turned off, all the equipment--even DeSica's platform and cameras--were missing--stolen by Sellers' gang.

Throughout the film there were many cute moments, but also towards the end the film did lag a bit and the ending seemed to be a bit of a letdown. I especially became bored with the chase scene and the ensuing courtroom scene. Still, it was original and moderately funny with some excellent performances.

By the way, the film clip we see of a younger Victor Mature in an older black and white film was from EASY LIVING--one of Mature's better films. I suggest you try to find it.