Themes: Kids in Trouble, Generation Gap, Dysfunctional Families
Main Cast: Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Sally Kellerman, Randy Quaid, Marilyn Kagan, Lois Smith
Release Year: 1980
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Foxes details the exploits of four teenage San Fernando Valley girls as they drink, dope and sleep their way into oblivion. Jeanie (Jodie Foster, in a standout performance), the most grounded of the quartet, deals with her burned-out working-student-mother (Sally Kellerman, also excellent) while playing mother to her cohorts; Annie (Cherie Curie), a promiscuous drug-vacuum, attempts to dodge her psychotic police officer-father while partying round the clock; Madge (Marilyn Kagan), an overweight tag-along, who tries desperately to fit in with her wilder friends; and Deirdre (Kandice Stroh); an insecure liar and also-ran. While the performances (particularly the aforementioned) are good, and the direction is solid, the script doesn't seem to go anywhere; maybe that's the point, though, since neither do the characters in their vacuous, instant-gratification-based existences. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
Review
This film, the debut of future hit-making director Adrian Lyne, is long on atmosphere but short on story. Gerald Ayres' script manages to be frank about the desires and social excesses of its young protagonists without becoming exploitative but its episodic approach saps the story of much of its dramatic potential. It also loses track of its characters as it tries to juggle an array of subplots. For instance, Kandace Stroh's character disappears halfway through the film only to abruptly reappear at the finale. The best element of Foxes is the acting: All the female leads give natural, believable performances, the standouts being Foster as the group's den-mother and Currie as the beautiful but doomed problem child of the group. Sally Kellerman also does some memorable work as Foster's caring but neurotic and selfishly immature mother. Sadly, the story gives these interesting characters nowhere to go and gets bogged in soap opera melodramatics as it nears its finish. As a result, Foxes is more successful as a time capsule of early '80s teen culture in Los Angeles than it is as a drama. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Cherie Currie - Annie; Adam Faith - Bryan; Kandice Stroh - Deirdre; Jon Sloan - Loser; Jill Barrie Bogart - Sissie; Wayne Storm - Frank; Mary Margaret Lewis - Gladys; Grant Wilson - Greg; Fredric Lehne - Bobby; Robert Romanus - Scott; Roger Bowen - Counsellor; Buddy Foster; E. Lamont Johnson - Detective; Mary Ellen O'Neill - Mrs. Steiner; Ben Frank - Daryl; Scott Garrett - Jason; Laura Dern - Debbie; Michael Taylor - Terry; Gino Baffa; Charles Shull - Policeman; Tony Termini; Jeff Silverman - Sam; Mae Williams - Supermarket cashier; Ron Lombard - Duke; Jon Benson; Tom Pletts - Security officer; Ken Novick; Punky Meadows; Stephen Jones - Policeman
Credit
Michel Levesque - Art Director, Giorgio Moroder - Conductor, Adrian Lyne - Director, James Coblentz - Editor, Peter Hollywood - Editor, Giorgio Moroder - Composer (Music Score), Paul Ryan - Camera Operator, Ralph Gerling - Camera Operator, Leon Bijou - Cinematographer, David Puttnam - Producer, Gerald Ayres - Producer, Gerald Ayres - Screenwriter, Joel Blasberg - Screenwriter
Although the film was generally ignored at the box office when it was first released in February 1980, it has nonetheless gone on to become something of a cult classic.[citation needed] At the time of its release the film received a positive review from prominent film critic Roger Ebert who stated, "The movie's a rare attempt to provide a portrait of the way teen-agers really do live today in some suburban cultures."[1] It was also one of Jodie Foster's last major roles before taking a four-year period away from acting to attend Yale University. Also it was Lyne's film debut as a director. He would later go on to direct hits such as Flashdance, 9½ Weeks and Fatal Attraction.
A group of four teenage girls in the San Fernando Valley during the late 1970s have the usual problems. Deirdre is a disco queen who is fascinated by her sexuality, likes boys and has many boyfriend troubles. Madge is unhappily overweight and angry that she is a virgin. Her parents are overprotective, and she has an annoying younger sister. Annie is a teenage runaway who drinks and pops pills, and runs away from her abusive father, a policeman. Jeanie has to take care of them, is fighting with her divorced mother (who is having an affair with a married man), and is yearning for a closer relationship with her distant father, a tour manager for the rock band Angel.
The girls believe school is a waste of time, their boyfriends are immature, and that they are alienated from the adults in their lives. All four seem immersed in the decadence of the late '70s. The only way for them to loosen up, and forget all the bad things happening in their lives, is to party and have fun. Annie is the worst of all, while Jeanie is ready to grow up and wants to stop acting like a child. Jeanie is worried about Annie the most and continually takes risks to try and keep Annie clean and safe. Annie's unstable behavior and flair keeps everyone on edge, which finally leads her to her untimely death in a car wreck.
Buddy Foster, Jodie Foster's brother and a child actor in his own right, was up for a part in this film as the love interest to his sister. They eventually recast the role.
Brooke Shields' mother/agent was interested in the part of Jeanie for Brooke. However, the producers felt that she was too young for the role.
According to a musician hired for the project,[who?] the original story concept centered around an all-girl rock band that was being groomed by an established female pop singer. The script was rewritten so much, the band element of the story was dropped. However, the characters' personalities and back stories were kept.[citation needed]
