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"Do you know how many good kisser are starving in Italy?" That's just one of the excellent lines from this underrated movie. The credits alone sound like the plot for a waco 60s jet-set movie: Vittorio De Sica directing a Neil Simon script? You've got to be kidding. True, the film sags and lags at parts, but between Peter Sellers, Victor Mature (truly awesome here), and the mouth-wateringly hummana-hummana Brit Ekland, the movie has enough going for it that it remains a favorite. And that incredible Burt Bacharach score! I swear that if you're depressed and listen to this music (available on CD as I write this), you'll be cured for life!

When I found this film I had never heard of it. In glancing at its box I saw "Peter Sellers" and "Vittorio De Sica." Just those two names prompted me to take it home.

I was quite happy with what this film is.

The story is solid, and is what keeps this film running. Sellers does a good job, but I still enjoy his Pink Panther role, as well as his roles in Dr. Sstrangelove. Nevertheless, he does well as an Italian crook and "flamboyant" film director.

The comedy isn't too slapstick, it is smart. There are sight gags, there are setups and punchlines, there are one-liners, not to mention spoofed-themes, and pokes at other Italian film directors/producers.

I didn't exactly know what I would get with a De Sica comedy. He did a fine job, though. "Federico Fabrizi" sometimes looks and seems to be just like Federico Fellini. There are some moments where Fellini's 8 1/2 comes to mind.

A critic said that he didn't understand the ending. At first, I didn't. Think, though! Think! This is De Sica!

Take a look at this film, it's a good one.

This much forgotten film has kept me in stitches for years. My brother and I quoted lines from it for years on appropriate occasions. What a surprise to find that Victor Mature was very funny. You have to see it to believe it.

In this clever little film Neil Simon crafted one of his greatest screenplays and the actors translated it into one of the most humorous off-beat comedies of the 60's. It is hilarious even by Coen brother and Zucker brother standards.

Essentially this film is a study in human ego:

Aldo Vanucci (Peter Sellers) wants to be seen as the great master thief.

His sister (Britt Ekland) wants to be a film actress (pronounced "film akdress")

Aldo's mother wants to be the mother of famous children ("my son the director" "My daughter the akdress")

The Agent (Martin Balsam) is proud that he can see through everybody--save himself.

Tony Powell, famous film star, (Victor Mature) is an aging actor that won't accept that he's an aging actor. He wants to play young man roles even though he is in his 60's.

The Police chief wants to say "Gooda Morning" in the movie so he'll get his "Warhol allotment."

The whole town of Savalio wants: "To be inna movie."

This film is a scream. If you watch this and don't simply crack up, its obvious that farce is not your fare. It's okay--farcical humor isn't for everyone. CAVEAT: If you like this check out "The Wrong Box."

At any rate, the finale of this film (I won't give it away) surely made Fellini blush--he is so well lampooned by Simon. This film hands out the ultimate insult to the avant guard film crowd of the 60's. It has the courage to insinuate: "We don't get your films and that doesn't make you smarter than us!"

As a comedy for an American audience, After the Fox is a pleasant diversion, especially the classic performance by Victor Mature as the aging Hollywood hunk who can't accept reality. But for any person who has spent any time in Italy--whether in an urban center such as Rome or the Italian equivalent of Mayberry--this movie is hilarious. The writers and performers have captured the essence of the Italian personality as well as the spirit of the abrasive American personality. Since this film was shot entirely on location, we get a real sense of Italy as a place. Peter Sellers posing as the self-important filmmaker Federico Fabrizi with Fellini black-rimmed glasses and all gives an excellent performance. I love this movie.

"After the Fox" is a fine and entertaining comedy with Peter Sellers at his best right after a couple of "Pink Panther" titles, as a master thief who finds the way through which the police will guard his millionaire robbery while he is accomplishing it.

A good supporting cast with Akim Tamiroff, Martin Balsam and pretty Britt Ekland is there too. But what really surprised me is Victor Mature's convincing and funny performance as an aging star who refuses to accept the pass of time and his inevitable entering into more adult roles. I always had Mature has a just standard performer who couldn't help overacting and just helped in his career by his somehow interesting screen presence. In a likable character he does very good in this picture and is one of the highlights of the film.

Good for Victor in one of his last roles!