Foxfire

Charming film about deep rooted memories of an Appalachian farm family. Tandy won an Emmy for her performance. She had won a Tony on stage in the play version which also starred Cronyn.

So, it's B-Grade and low budget... and? This is my favourite film of all time: it's emotional, it's very clever with flashback integration, and it's a reflection on different lives. Country people are as solid as the characters portrayed them, and 80 years ago, people lived and loved as the two main characters did. I am thoroughly annoyed I can't get it on DVD, I've worn out 3 video tapes now. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to... if you have a heart anyhow. John Denver was so young when they made this, his talent has left us. He sings in this film, music I've not heard before and can't get from anywhere, but is a touching representation of life and love... Jessica Tandy and Hume are no longer with us either, and their real life love and true devotion shines through in the film and through their characters, making it easy to see just how much they loved each other.

It would be hard to imagine how a movie could better capture the essence of Appalachia. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy simply nail their parts, and no doubt the fact that they were married in real life helped. Hume Cronyn also wrote the script, and a nearly perfect script it is. All in all, it couldn't be more realistic, heartwarming and sad. And I should know, because I have strong ties with Appalachia and I lived there for a while as a kid. I knew real life equivalents to every character in this movie. Maybe those without my background won't see it, but I consider this movie to be a masterpiece of American culture.

Not only is John Denver, Hume Croyn, and Jessica Tandy not with us, but also Harriet Hall who played Holly. She passed away Sept 29, 2007 of a heart attack. She was in my class in high school, Maine West, in Des Plaines, Ill, class of '66. She was very popular and outgoing, a cheerleader and in many after school activities. Those that knew her know of the great person she was.

I believe that she did have heart trouble before her attack. Maine West published a book in 2003 where some people submitted information about themselves. In it she said that she was a retired actress and lived in Atlanta. I don't know if she ever married or had children. Her brother Davis Hall is listed in IMDb and has a fairly extensive biography of himself, but I notice there isn't anything about Harriet Hall except the movies and soap operas that she appeared in.

I really wanted to like Foxfire. I am a big fan of John Denver, and enjoyed his movie from a year earlier: A Christmas Tale, very much. Jessica Tandy was very good in Foxfire; I can't really say anything else good about it.

The dialogue was sub-standard and the scenes repetitive, but it was the unlikely, cynical and even shocking ending that killed this movie. The movie was going along well up to and including what should have been a fulcrum and the most critical scene of the movie: Harriet Hall (as Holly) criticised John Denver (as Dillard Nations) for being such a phony on stage. She was obviously in love with him, and the movie should have been re-written to have her lead Dillard to experience a change-of-heart about everything: The honesty of his relationships, his relationship to his work, his relationship to his mother and his relationship to the land, all of which are jaundiced and askew.

He has absolutely no appreciation for the appalachian life and land that he was raised on, and has no respect for the wishes of his mother. This is the first movie I have seen where John Denver plays a real self-centered creep: Did Dillard stop for one moment to think about what a trip to Florida could do to an old woman such as her? Did he think about how long she would last, being torn away from the land and memories that give her identity and roots? This is the cheapest, most callous ploy I have ever seen to get a free babysitter.

He had the opportunity, when Holly took-him-to-task, to get honest with himself and bring his children up there to live with her. He could have decided to help his mother, and respect her wishes, instead of fetch her to act as nanny in Florida to his then-motherless children.

When Jessica Tandy (as Annie Nations) decided to sell, it screwed with my head so bad, I threw the movie out. This would not, should not have happened, in real life. She would have lived her life there. I felt abused and betrayed by screenwriters Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn. I haven't researched either of them, but what do you want to bet they are a couple of city slickers?

How can we feel good about Foxfire? A mountain girl like Annie would have lasted maybe 3 months best in the Florida high-rise retirement/tourist swamp.

(spit)

Foxfire could have been great, but instead of John Denver's character experiencing the transformation he did in A Christmas Tale, he remained the same careless, selfish lout he was at the beginning of the movie. I still love John Denver, but I'm sorry I watched Firefox. If you want to see a movie about appalachia, then watch Song Catcher, or Fire Down Below, instead.