User reviews

I'm continually blown away with Fassbinder. And it's all the more affecting because, like all great artists, he challenges your conceptions and forces you to have a new experience. We have to fight our way through his movie, critiquing everything we see. Fox is sure he will win the lottery. Today will be the day. And, he does. Like the ending of "Ordet," this is a cliché embraced, but why? Fassbinder is far too intelligent and original a talent to be conventional without a reason. (In fact, in a regular movie Fox's lottery win would be a thrilling set-piece, sitting in front of a TV screen in a living room, with some dying family member in a hospital bed awaiting money for treatment. Here, we don't even see the win.) Of course the lottery win is a set-up for the way money affects a relationship, especially in gay culture.

Basically, Fassbinder is truth. There's a much more honest depiction of factory work here than in, say, von Trier's later films, where he dotes on the "common" man (just as often, woman) as if a simpleton that we should feel sorry for (I doubt they feel sorry for themselves; von Trier just obliges us to feel that way on their behalf). The mistakes made here are by the controllers of the factory -- it's Fox's scheming lover's father who gets the business bankrupt, and it's Fox, after he lends his lover money to get them out of debt, who screws up the printing. But Fox isn't humiliated by his mistake, whereas a blind, helpless Bjork in "Dancer in the Dark" is made to be a pitiable object. (To be fair, both Fassbinder and von Trier have a tendency to wallow in the miserable.)

Fassbinder focuses his film mainly on the class barrier -- Fox's lover makes insulting comments to him regarding proper manners -- but he's also giving us a kind of gay relationship film noir -- we see ex-lovers kissing (in a ceiling mirror!) behind current lovers' backs, and money corruption plays a large part in the film. (Fox's lover is excellent in his role; he never plays a character who's sole purpose for living is to plot in a corner about how he'll be evil today.) And Fassbinder's view of society as something that destroys people is very noirish (Fox isn't completely in the dark; he does understand he's being used as it's happening). But to be sure, Fassbinder is also detailing the upper-class homosexual in a very critical way; but I think he could have done much more exposing the shallowness of gay culture. (He mainly treats Fox's lover and his ex-/secret lover with peeking-through-keyhole disdain, no doubt partly from Fox's perspective, but I find that somewhat childish and not terribly interesting. It's the view of someone who's been screwed over and feels depressed about it, not someone intent on exposing why people are corrupt, and how.) You don't know quite how to feel about this; in a way Fassbinder is very brave -- he casts himself in an incredibly unromantic role. And at the same time it's interesting because, while Fassbinder doesn't seem too pleased with the superficial manner of the gays whose eyes immediately fixate on money and looks, his own film features an abundance of male nudity early on, of young, very attractive boys that Fox himself is quite attracted to.

On a more technical aspect, there are plenty of interesting shots, of reflections, or obscurities, or of the backs of heads or bodies; one particularly stand-out scene is the one where Fox and his lover are vacationing in Morocco and cruise for a man, and when in a taxi with him the camera observes the festival around them while we listen to their discussion. (The man they pick up is Ali from "Fear Eats the Soul," and many of Fassbinder's stable appear in the film. The fact that it's Ali playing a Moroccan -- albeit, one that's ostensibly gay, so it may not in fact be Ali -- gives the film a self-referential bent, though it's never gimmicky; rather, a continuous web of obsessions; there is a comment on racism inputted in this scene, as well.) The ending of the film is a bit too cruel and heavy-handed, though the pessimist in me appreciates it, the part of me that believes society is a pitiless social system out to wreck anything with a pureness of soul. 9/10

"Faustrecht der Freiheit" occupies a valued place in my video collection. I find myself returning to it again and again, thoroughly enjoying Fassbinder's talent, which run throughout the film. Perceptive, witty and challenging, this drama provides astute observations on societal motivations, political aspirations and, above all, human nature.

A powerful and harrowing melodrama and one of Fassbinder's most accessible movies,this is a must-see for all those interested in intelligent filmmaking.The tragic story of Fox is masterfully and poignantly handled by Fassbinder, while never slipping into sloppy sentimentality.At the same time the film explores sexual and political issues that are still very much relevant.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder has long been honored as the 'bad boy' in European cinema, a writer/director/actor who repeatedly has taken chances and because of his brutal honesty has succeeded in making a stream of important films. FOX AND HIS FRIENDS dates back to 1975 and remains one of Fassbinder's most successful films. As with all of his films, Fassbinder deals with the homosexual subculture in Germany but his main message goes far beyond the characters he creates: the examination of how people manipulate people for personal gain and the destruction that produces is a recurring problem and one that this film certainly explores.

'Fox' - a nickname of Franz Bieberkopf - (acted with consummate skill by Fassbinder himself) is a lower class gay carny kid whose lover is arrested, leaving the carnival to collapse and leaving Fox without support. Enter handsome Max (Karlheinz Böhm), a wealthy antiques dealer, who picks up Fox, helps him buy the requisite 'lottery ticket' on which Fox bases his hopes for financial survival (!) via manipulative means, and takes him home, introducing Fox to his gay friends who regard Fox as scum but show obvious physical attraction to his rawness. Surprisingly Fox wins the lottery and suddenly has 500,000 DMs and with his new money, Max's friends abruptly see a target for obtaining that money. One of the friends named Eugen (Peter Chatel) takes Fox in as a lover and talks him into investing in Eugen's family business of bookbinding. Eugen's father Wolf (Adrian Hoven) and mother (Ulla Jacobsson) tolerate their son's life with a low class wretch, ridiculing his manners and lack of culture and education, but willingly take his money to salvage their business.

With a lover and a business and a role model to make him suave, Fox dons fancy clothes, banters with his old friends in a tawdry club, and makes the pretenses that at last he is secure and happy. But in time Fox is blamed for problems at the business and when his funds have been depleted on expensive vacations and apartments by the smarmy self-centered Eugen, Fox realizes that now without money he has no 'fancy friends', no lover, no security and his life becomes unbearable: the ending to the film is a tragedy beyond description.

Some would say the film is mannered in ways that depict stereotypes of the gay world (effeminate men, transvestites, opportunists, hustlers, etc), but Fassbinder is completely honest in his attempt to recreate a subculture of a specific time in Germany. And the characters are well written and well acted allowing us to look at Fassbinder's greater picture of depravity between social class antipathies. In many ways this is a difficult film to watch, but Fassbinder wisely places the main character whom he enacts in a place where his foibles and lack of higher class knowledge can be at once very humorous as well as pitiable. FOX AND HIS FRIENDS has some minor flaws but it has already become a classic in gay cinema repertoire. In German with English subtitles. Grady Harp

Fox and his Friends caused some controversy when it was first made - it was thought that this story of a gay sideshow worker who wins the lottery, only to be exploited to the hilt by his upper-class lover, was potentially homophobic. Fassbinder himself commented that the story could have been about a heterosexual relationship, but it wouldn't have been as clear.

Fassbinder himself plays Fox - the burly ugly duckling of German cinema miraculously slimmed down, looking almost handsome. Fox's street skills and good humour are undercut by his naivety, as his repellently snobbish boyfriend systematically scams him out of the thousands of marks he's won on the lottery. The story proceeds with ruthless inevitability, as Fox becomes more and more demoralised. Yet the film contains some of Fassbinder's sharpest comedy, particularly in a brilliantly embarrassing dinner party scene. RWF is excellent in the title role; amazing to think that the guy who wrote and directed the film (among so many others) could play a good-natured dimwit with such conviction.

Fassbinder is an acquired taste in every sense of the word. It took me awhile to be able to fully digest and appreciate his films, and even then it can be difficult.

Fox and His Friends is one of his "accessible" movies, but Fassbinder at his most accessible would probably highly alienate most movie goers.

I've seen this movie 3 times. The first time I thought "that was a good Fassbinder". The second time, I thought the same. The third time, I realized it was brilliant. It might be because I recently bought the amazing dvd, which has an excellent transfer. Fassbinder made his films quickly, very quickly, so a faded old videotape sometimes seems to reflect that. However, when seeing the crisp DVD I realized just how great the camera work was and how well-planned out the movie was.

This would make a good starting point for entering the world of Fassbinder I would think, it has it all: well-framed shots, black humor, and an extremely depressing ending. Depending on how much you can relate to this sort of thing, I would recommend checking it out.

p.s. The last scene was later homaged in My Own Private Idaho (another great movie) and Fassbinder gives a really good performance in the lead.

They don't want you to succeed. Not in the way you want to. They put up a fight to keep the status quo of your situation and class status. They will take advantage of you in any way they can. It's also a test they give you to see if you earn your position among them. They hate quick money because of their status but also because they think they worked to get where they are.

They also take every advantage to bring you down a peg with their passive-aggressive pompous and arrogant attitude. And guess what, we take it. We take it because that's the way we can smell the air they are smelling...that's the gateway to their world...that's how we lie to ourselves.

You can bring the Fox into the city, but you can't remove the forest from the Fox.

It's a dark tragedy about class and exploitation set in Munich, Germany, in the mid-1970s. It follows a young gay man who wins a giant lottery.

Franz Bieberkopf (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) is a young gay man who works at a carnival that is closed down by the police. His sister, Hedwig (Christiane Maybach), holds him in contempt. However, Franz (also known as Fox) wins 500,000 marks in the lottery while in the company of Max (Karlheinz Böhm), a higher-class businessman he picked up at a public bathroom.

At the local gay bar, Max introduces Franz to his friends, including Eugen (Peter Chatel) and Philip (Harry Baer), who are a couple. Eugen suddenly is interested in Franz when he learns of the winning since his father (Adrian Hoven) has a factory in financial trouble. Eugen partners with and exploits Franz for two years until the money is almost gone. Franz always tries but fails to match the higher-class expectations of Eugen and his friends. "Fox and his Friends" ends sadly.

Although all the primary characters are gay, the film is really about exploitation in which the underclass can never win. The script, acting, and directing are all uneven, but Fassbinder presents the underlying theme well. "Fox and his Friends" is one of the more accessible Fassbinder films to follow.

The main point of Fox and his Friends seems to be that money corrupts the chances of meaningful human interaction; and the movie has a lot more going for it, there's a deep aesthetic richness, quality of textual reference, and it has the pulse of relationships.

Franz aka Fox is a circus entertainer who wins the lottery and is then fleeced by those whose love he aspires to.

I found myself admiring Fassbinder and Ballhaus' homages to Sternberg, taking the slatted light of Mogador (Morocco - 1930) and pouring colour in, so that the Moroccan street looks like late Bridget Riley. Following on from Welt am draht two years earlier another of Dietrich's iconic moments under Sternberg's gaze is referenced (Dishonored in Welt am draht, Shanghai Express here), pallid mockeries full of weltschmerz (weltschmerz heaped on weltschmerz), a sense that life might be better.

It's quite easy to get carried away with the design, to see the movie as a parade of yellow dresses and peach-coloured flowers. There's a relentless gay aesthetic, for example Eugen, the dandy entrepreneur who grifts fox, has a poster for The Prince of Homburg in his flat, the ambisexual play by high-strung Heinrich von Kleist, whose search for the ideal, seems to govern Eugen's private life. Eugen is an unpleasant man, there's a brilliant shot of him looking through a spyhole, keeping his distance from his waiting lover, coolly observing.

Franz has panic attacks in the movie, a good touch I thought, that's what unrequited love does to you. Aesthetically the best of Fassbinder's movies that I've seen. Gods of the Plague touches it out in terms of successful content.

Before watching any Fassbinder movie, one should be aware of the fact that this is an artist who used to direct up to six feature films a year. And in Fox And His Friends, boy does it show, everywhere and all the time and in the director's trademark superb low-key f**k you fashion. Does it matter that much to you? If it does, then you might not be watching this film for the right reasons.

A year before Fox, the combo writer-director-cinematographer-editor-actor Rainer Werner Fassbinder portrayed the mishaps of a forbidden and most non-glamorous love affair between an old cleaning lady and a young – Arab – homosexual in the dangerously gorgeous film Ali. In Fox, RW Fassbinder stars himself as a young, big-mouthed, bad-mannered and proud-to-be gay man (that looks exactly like a hybrid between the middle boy in the Von Trapp family and Tintin) and chronicles his endeavors as he falls in love with a guy out of stupidity while the latter falls in love with him for his newfound money. Everything you don't want to mix in a feature film. Yet it works.

You don't "have fun" while watching Fox And His Friends, but you don't struggle that much through it either (at least not the way some people would struggle through, say, Querelle, or a middle-age Goddard). Pace does plunge from time to time but it ends up being an irrelevant issue. Fassbinder knows very well that the audience measures its excitement and boredom on a Hollywood-established scale and he makes it perfectly clear that he doesn't care. He's not trying to annoy you. He's too busy voicing issues that would never get a chance in a corporate-funded film, so he simply couldn't care less.

And speaking of corporate, it feels very satisfying to watch Fassbinder unfold his utter disgust of corporations, as you sit through the perfect recipe of a Hollywood suicide: lighting is terrible, editing is all over the place, nobody was paid to record live sound and don't get me started on dubbing, the narrative proves that the author trimmed holes in his script like squares in a backyard, 95% of the characters are gay, lovers, or gay lovers, the director/main actor walks around naked in half of the film while he congratulates himself on having very questionable hygiene, actors never bother to deliver more than one dimension, the cinematographer sticks to the classic 4/3 academic ratio in a generation where ultra-widescreen formats rule and the film finally performs Hara Kiri in the most non-pretty non-happy ending ever.

A rather intriguing aspect of watching Fox And His Friends in the 21st Century is that it triggers AIDS-related goose bumps as the eponymous character is tested for a mysterious illness, despite the film being released years before the AIDS epidemic broke in the West. When Fox was produced in 1975, AIDS didn't even exist as an unidentified enemy, but homosexuality was a very degrading thing to be, and perhaps this film acts as a voice to this unspoken terror. There wasn't AIDS yet, but there was sexual terrorism. Fox even goes beyond sexual fear and labels and encapsulates the problematic of social identification altogether (the working-class sister who's afraid to confront the world of socialites because of her manners and her drinking problem, the lover who judges Fox's intelligence based on his musical tastes and, later, who forces him to dress, listen and behave like him because he's in denial of social cleavage, the Maitre D who'd rather send white male stewards for prostitution instead of local Moroccan men…). Fassbinder ultimately dresses his film to kill, which reminds you that punks are and will remain a community that refuses to conform, and this ideology is indispensable for a working group of people like Fassbinder and his crew as it allows them to be liberated from any commitment to please, sell or attract and lets them underline such topics as the fear of belonging to a category, be it social, sexual or aesthetic. This anti-masterpiece stinks of artistic merit.

Not even for the sake of academic documentation, but rather for the sake of tolerance, payback to minorities, respect of the punk community, social and sexual awareness and, hell, freedom of speech, I think that every single person in the world should watch at least one Fassbinder film at some point in their life.

In "Fox and His Friends" (1975) which Rainer Werner Fassbinder wrote and directed, he played a main character, Franz Bieberkopf alias "Fox", a lower class, uneducated circus worker who loses his job when his lover, the circus owner is arrested and sent to prison for tax fraud. Fox believes in his luck and strikes it rich by winning 500,000 marks in the lottery and very soon attracts the attention of an elegant, posh, and sophisticated Eugen who knows very well how to make Fox pay for his expensive habits and how to make him invest a lot of money in his father business that is not very successful to say the least. What fascinated me the most - how convincingly Fassbinder - one man production company who came up with the idea, wrote the screenplay and directed the movie- played seemingly tough but as it turned, confused and vulnerable Fox. Another interesting aspect of the movie is the way Fassbinder describes the gay community in Germany of the early 70s. He does not make any excuses and he does not make his characters complete villains or innocent victims. The story he tells could've happened in any community.

A homosexual fair ground performer Franz Fox wins the lottery and is soon seduced by an upper class man Eugen who appears to be after only one thing, Franz's money.

Not a bad film, just a bit long and at times rather dreary. There is not much of a story to it but there are numerous interesting characters along the way that Fox encounters.

The hideous character of Eugen is played rather well by Peter Chatel, a snob who looks down his nose at the working class Fox. In addition, Max (played by Karlheinz Bohm of 'Peeping Tom' fame),plays the older man who seems to care for Fox to some extent.

Rainer Fassbinder plays Fox very well and one cannot help feeling sorry for Fox who has fallen for a sneaky and deceitful man.

An OK film, a little trippy at times but not recommended particularly highly by this viewer.

In an interview with RW Fassbinder, he mentioned that it was important to him that this be the first movie featuring homosexuals where that wasn't the problem, or rather that wasn't some kind of big focus- they're gay, big deal, get over it, lets go on with the rest of the story. And his intentions were realized since it's not about homosexuals, per-say, but about class. In the film Fox (Fassbinder himself in part of the title role) is a carnival worker- Fox and the Severed Head the act is, and in a clever turn Fassbinder never shows us his own character's trick, perhaps as an allusion to disappointment in the film for Fox- and loses his job, only to miraculously win the lottery and meet a man (Peter Chatel) who is a little more well-spoken and well-raised, from a richer background than Fox's working-class roots. But Fox falls in love, and soon they get an apartment, as well as Fox becoming a business partner for his new lover's father's business.

There is some melodrama, to be sure, but it's only somewhat about romance between two men, or about men who want to pick up other men for sex (there are a couple of very interesting scenes of this, such as when Fox and Eugen are on vacation and bicker with one another as to what to do with a Moroccan; Salem from Fear Eats the Soul in a great bit part). But it's more about money, about status and the crushing sense of self-worth that comes in a society based on a value system - even in the "lower" class, like the guys at the bar and the bar owner, who have their own sense of worth in their community, one that is not totally at ease with Fox after a while. Often Fassbinder has dealt with the element of the outsider in society, and here one can find no better example: Fox is awkward, doesn't always say the smart things, is not "book" smart to get by with intellectuals nor does he have the butch capacity of those like the traveling-through American soldiers.

And yet at the same time Fox is, as well as the way Fassbinder brilliantly plays him, a good person at heart, not meaning to really hurt anyone, but just f***ing up a lot of the time, like when he puts through 40,000 pamphlets the wrong way through a copy machine at his work. Indeed I can't think of anyone else in Fassbinder's circle of actors who could've done it better: he's someone we sympathize with, even when he messes up royally or does the wrong thing at a family dinner or when his sister, a classic blue-collar woman, gets drunk and embarrasses those around her. He is, at least, more human than the out-for-his-own Eugen (and, likewise, Chatel portrays this coldness very effectively, like when we see his eyes darting around and lying right behind Fox). It takes a little time in the middle for things to get really interesting with the plot, in seeing Fox rising little by little to his quasi-ascension to a plastic happiness, as it were. But once Fassbinder gets there to the meaty parts of the drama, it's hard to resist its pleasures.

And, also, there's some funny moments too, and as Fassbinder is such a likable guy on screen (ironic considering his reputation) there ends up being a few sardonic moments of humor, little jabs here and there about sex or that very obvious scene where Eugen is caught with having Fox in his apartment with another man coming by in the morning... and the twist, late in the film, when this situation becomes reversed. Fox and His Friends is not a masterpiece, but it is essential viewing in the Fassbinder cannon, for the way he goes about telling this story, how he avoids making it *about* gay people (just as he avoided making it simply about race in Fear Eats the Soul), and he himself proves himself a very good actor here in his own right.

One of Fassbinder´s most sad, dramatic films. Very 70´s and interesting. The gay theme must have been very provocative in these times. But if you want to watch another, even more gay film by him, watch his final movie "Querelle" (after the novel "Querelle de Brest" by Jean Genet). For me this one is a ´9´.

The ironically titled Fox and His Friends, Fassbinder's rather excellent study of a none-too-bright circus worker who wins a small fortune in the lottery, is a touching film that features a great performance from Fassbinder himself in the title role. A reflection on the class system and homosexual relationships of 1970's Germany, Fox and His Friends is unsentimental and guileless most of the time. Fox (Fassbinder) is one of the main attractions of a circus like festival, with his lover being arrested for tax fraud. Fox somehow knows he'll win the lottery, so when he picks up a wealthy man at the local 'pick-up toilets', Fox makes sure he reaches the store in time to lodge his ticket. Cut to Fox celebrating his 500 000 marks win, he's drinking in his usual tavern with the effete bar staff and clientele. Fox then somehow becomes involved with a somewhat arrogant and pretentious man, already in a relationship, who takes the naïve Fox for a ride, spending his money in selfish and extravagant ways. Fassbinder's melodrama is droll and poignant, with a tragically ironic ending. Oh, and you have to give extra marks to a director who inserts lengthy nude scenes of themselves in their films.

This is the first Fassbinder film I've seen, thanks to Francois Ozon, whose adaptation of Fassbinder's play Water Drops on Burning Rocks turned me on to him. After seeing Fox and His Friends, which stars Fassbinder, I most definitely want more. The story here is familiar - 'loser' gets to win big time and discovers how quickly people are willing - and able - to exploit him. It's the way the piece is written and performed that elevates it above predictability; there is a certain tongue-in-cheek quality to the proceedings that make it thoroughly captivating, through to the bitter end.

I just watched this film again after not seeing for over forty years. I knew it was fabulous but seeing it again makes me realize that Fassbinder had a very unique kind of talent that you don't find in any other directors at all - and that means people like Hitchcock, Goddard or even Chaplin. It's as if he represents the rebirth of Germany itself, born as he was right after the war ended. And while the Allied powers rebuilt Germany and not making the mistake they did after World War I which enabled Hitler to obtain supreme, Fassbinder and his movies represent an examination of the broken culture which, when he was making his films, didn't recover the magic of the old Germany. And it's his portrayals of pathetic characters like Fox that provided the rest of the world into the very first social view of the emptiness that Germany existed in and how it created a mournful civilization even as their economy flourished. It is really a great tragedy that Fassbinder's totally unique talent to present a completely different side of human nature in this and all of his films died with him. There are, of course, other great directors but Fassbinder had an ability to bring to the screen, a portrayal of culture unique to his time and one that can never be repeated.

So, this felt completely foreign: being taken into a writer/director's own personal world for the first time. Four gay men play some kind of musical chairs with their relationships, when one of them wins the lottery, things get complicated.

I've got to admit, I had no idea what was going on for most of this. I think I must have left the room at exactly the wrong moment, because I seemed to find out about the lottery win way later than I was supposed to. The characters are fascinating. They look at each other look food, ready to gobble them up. The characters who Fox meets are cold and distant, being nasty to him only seems to bring him closer. Fassbinder is effective in the main role, and the whole proceedings are engaging, even if like me you happened to miss the scene where the lottery win happens. Watch for it, though, its important.

Franz Biberkopf (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) is a young man who used to work in a circus type of show as a speaking head without a body and then wins the lottery. As a result, he joins the high class society by forming a homosexual relationship with Eugen Thiess (Peter Chatel). However, the feelings are one-sided, as Eugen views him as an easily exploitable prey that will save the family business that is on the brink of bankruptcy. When Franz realises there's no way he can fit in this world where he is endlessly ridiculed, he is in for a crushing reality check, finally being able to see the truth.

Fassbinder's movies are often characterised by sharp and bitter social commentary, but Faustrecht der Freiheit is extremely painful in that regard, as it shows the disgusting nature of human behaviour in all its glory, making for a difficult watching experience that will leave the viewer miserable and angry.

And of course it has to be said that Fassbinder in the leading role offers us what is arguably his greatest acting performance.