The Grey Fox (1983)

No soap-opera writing. No clothes-tearing, overblown, wa-a-ay-too-dramatic acting. No smart-mouthed kids. No adam sandler. No *Pop Personalities*. No *SPECIAL EFFECTS*. No ad placement. No pre-digested, pre-ordained, pre-viewed politically-correct plot that everyone has seen at least 1000 times.Grey Fox has much more than anyone expects to see in modern movies. Unknown actors (who REALLY KNOW how to act); spectacular photography; a REAL story line about REAL people.You will be excited, hopeful, sad. You will weep. What more would you want in a motion picture?

What's not to like about Richard Farnsworth? He was one of the few actors that received nothing but compliments during his acting days, an extremely likable "old man." Hey, few people every remember seeing this guy as anything but old, since he spent his younger days as a stuntman, rather than as an actor.So, he was a very good choice to portray a likable thief: Bill Miner, the last of the stagecoach and train robbers. "The Gentleman Bandit," I believe, was his label. This is a nice low-key adventure, with almost no bad language and the British Columbia and Washington state scenery is absolutely gorgeous. It would look great on widescreen DVD. What's the holdup? (pun intended)The only bad news of this tale is the usual filmmakers' twisted message to root for a man who simply was a crook, nothing else. The film also - especially to get the younger audience - needs more action. It will be too slow for them, but I liked it, if for no other reason that I can listen to Farnsworth's voice all night. What a "cool" guy he was, and it''s always a pleasure to see him on screen.

Yeah, I agree that shooting the guard was a bit of an eyebrow raiser. But what the hell, he deserved it for being so anal. We are not really worried about the Hollywood spin - - we're not gonna' call up the guy's family. It's just movie BS. I love it. I also think he was dead right to threaten the guy's life and so on. That made my day. He stood up for Shorty, and that's what counts. Don't sell Shorty short. Great movie. Don't expect Christian charity.

Many would consider this movie to be slow moving, and I couldn't argue with the judgment, but it is this flow which makes this movie for me, and makes it believable. Bill Miner is not a lovable character, he is very human. He knows how to do one thing, he does it well, and he realizes that this occupation is his life. He is willing to sacrifice everything for this, and he almost does.