The Grey Fox

1983's THE GREY FOX has to be the nicest, most gently directed Western I've seen.  That does not mean it is innocuous, worthless pap designed to appeal to multi-generational viewing where concerns of questionable content are nil.  The film was Canadian shot and produced, and reflects the sensibility (or at least the popular image) of its citizens.   THE GREY FOX is low key and friendly, with only an occasional, brief bit of unpleasantness.  Such is the life (at least in the window of time of this movie) of Bill Miner, the noted stagecoach stick up man who was in and out of prison in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  He served 33 years behind bars before being unleashed into the 1900s, when stagecoaches had given way to trains and gold prospecting was passe. A man has to change with the times.

Wonderfully portrayed by Richard Farnsworth, Miner tries to go legit but can only fake it for so long.  His attempts to be an oysterman while staying with his sister and brother-in-law are short lived.  He's got "too much ambition in him" to work for someone else.  And he's damned good at robberies.  It's all he's ever known.  Miner favors a .41 Colt, but never hurts anyone.  He was dubbed the "Gentleman Bandit" for a reason.  He was so gracious, folks almost delighted in handing over the loot.  The grey fox would also become a folk hero of sorts as he stuck it to the man by robbing the greedy railroad company, which he learned first hand nickled and dimed its employees.

It was after a viewing of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (in an iconic scene) that Miner was finally convinced to go after the locomotives.  In 1904 he pulled the alleged first train heist in Canada.  He and a cohort escape and hide their shares, settling in the mining town of Kamloops in British Colombia.  Through an old contact he arranges some time on the DL, and even falls in love with a local photographer named Katerine Flynn (Jackie Burroughs), who was surely the only feminist for miles.  In her he finds a similar free spirit/thinker.  But can the Pinkerton snoops be far behind?

THE GREY FOX was recently remastered and issued on Blu-ray, after being unavailable for decades.  It nicely highlights Frank Tidy's picturesque cinematography, at times quite stunning.  Some of the actual locations of Bill Miner's key moments were used.  Borsos' direction is understated but solid.  Farnsworth is absolutely perfect, a signature role for him, perhaps second only to THE STRAIGHT STORY.  I liked the scoring by The Chieftains.  It all adds up to a pleasant but decidedly slight experience.  This is not an especially ambitious movie or a lost classic, rather more like a comfy sweater.  Sometimes that's just what you want/need.