{ "id": "epsrjfbj1y", "slug": "the-fox-1967-film", "title": "The Fox (1967 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1960s", "label": "Drama films 1960s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1960s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1960s.yr-1966-1969", "label": "Released 1966 to 1969", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1960s.yr-1966-1969" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Other (Canada, Oceania, polar regions, oceans) · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.other", "label": "Other (Canada, Oceania, polar regions, oceans)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other" }, { "id": "geo.other.t1946", "label": "Other (Canada, Oceania, polar regions, oceans) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.other.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.other.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.other.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Fox (1967) is a Canadian drama directed by Mark Rydell, adapted from D.H. Lawrence's 1922 novella, starring Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, and Keir Dullea. Released February 1968, it won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination for Lalo Schifrin's score.", "snippet": "The Fox (1967) is a Canadian drama directed by Mark Rydell, adapted from D.H. Lawrence's 1922 novella, starring Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, and Keir Dullea. Released February 1968, it won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination for Lalo Schifrin's score.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1960s.yr-1966-1969", "markdown": "# The Fox (1967 film)\n\n**The Fox** is a 1967 Canadian drama directed by [Mark Rydell](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-rydell), adapted from [D. H. Lawrence](https://www.edgepedia.org/d-h-lawrence)'s 1922 novella of the same name, about two women running an isolated chicken farm in Ontario whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a young man. It stars [Sandy Dennis](https://www.edgepedia.org/sandy-dennis) as Jill Banford, Anne Heywood as Ellen March, and Keir Dullea as Paul, and was released in the United States on 7 February 1968.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) The film drew wide attention for its frank depiction of lesbianism, nudity, and masturbation at a moment when the Motion Picture Association of America was transitioning from the Production Code to its new ratings system, and it became a commercial success despite censorship battles in several jurisdictions.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Source | Based on the short story \"The Fox\" by David Herbert Lawrence, published in *Dial* (May–August 1922); some sources date the story to 1923[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/159648/the-fox) |\n| Cast | Sandy Dennis (Jill Banford), Anne Heywood (Ellen March), Keir Dullea (Paul)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) |\n| Directorial debut | Mark Rydell's first feature film; he replaced Eric Till, who left during pre-production[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) • [3](https://apnews.com/article/c30bfd6e38ed3d224872e6e31673267c) |\n| Release | World premiere in Tokyo on 29 December 1967; U.S. release 7 February 1968; 110 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) |\n| Box office | $16 million in receipts in its first year of release[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) |\n| Awards | Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film; Academy Award nomination for Lalo Schifrin's score[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) |\n| Ratings history | Retroactive R rating in the U.S.; re-edited and re-released in 1973 with a PG rating[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) • [4](https://www.queercinemaarchive.com/the-archive/the-fox) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and adaptation\n\nJill and Ellen are two young women raising chickens on a snowbound, isolated farm in rural Canada. Jill, the more dependent and sensitive of the two, handles the kitchen and bookkeeping, while the stronger, self-sufficient Ellen does the heavy work and stalks the red fox that raids their chicken coops.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) Paul, the grandson of the farm's former owner, arrives unannounced and asks to spend his leave from the Merchant Marines living and working on the farm; Ellen's growing attraction to him destabilizes the household.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-fox1967) Paul kills the fox that has been raiding the henhouse, and the animal functions through the film as a symbol of male sexuality intruding on the women's life together.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/159648/the-fox)\n\nThe screenwriters, Lewis John Carlino and Howard Koch, made the most consequential change in adapting Lawrence: they moved the setting from England in 1918 to present-day Canada, apparently to make the story more relevant to contemporary audiences.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/159648/the-fox) Critics have noted the cost of that choice. [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael), reviewing the film, argued that even an artful adaptation would probably lack the impact Lawrence's writing had when it first appeared, and she complained about the film's heavy-handed symbolism, which distributors tried to clarify in advertisements explaining that the fox is \"the symbol of the male.\"[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/159648/the-fox) The British Film Institute has observed that the film's suggestion that a lesbian needs sex with a man to draw her away from homosexuality offended many viewers, while also noting that all three characters carry flaws that crack the relationships, rather than a simple straight-good, gay-bad scheme.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/hetero-women-denial-psycho-killers)\n\n## Production\n\nThe project was announced in October 1966 by the British producer Raymond Stross and his wife, actress Anne Heywood, for whom the film marked her first appearance in an American motion picture. Filming was scheduled to begin on 5 December 1966 in Toronto. Eric Till, former head of the [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadian-broadcasting-corporation), was set to direct but left during pre-production, and Stross replaced him with Mark Rydell, then a first-time feature director, who recruited his old friend Sandy Dennis as co-star.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098)\n\nThe main location was a 150-acre plot at Studio City in Kleinburg, Ontario, a thirty-five-minute drive from downtown Toronto, with two soundstages, abandoned pioneer huts from Canadian television productions, a river, a man-made lake, and rolling woodlands. [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began in January 1967, with temperatures dropping as low as twenty degrees below zero [Fahrenheit](https://www.edgepedia.org/fahrenheit). Stross said he chose Canada both for the snowy exteriors and for creative freedom that close studio supervision would not have allowed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) The film was produced by Rayann Productions for Motion Pictures International, with Claridge Pictures, the specialty distribution arm of [Warner Bros.-Seven Arts](https://www.edgepedia.org/warner-bros-seven-arts), handling distribution.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098)\n\nA late 1967 release was originally planned, but Warner Bros.-Seven Arts already had four to five pictures in contention for the upcoming Academy Awards and did not want to compete against itself, so the release moved to early February 1968.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098)\n\n## Reception and censorship\n\nThe film was well received by critics at the *Los Angeles Times* and *The New York Times*, though a mixed *Daily Variety* review called Heywood's masturbation scene \"gratuitously sensational\" and \"overlong.\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) Roger Ebert gave it four stars, calling it a \"quiet, powerful masterpiece,\" and it broke new ground with its depiction of nudity, masturbation, and lesbianism.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/hetero-women-denial-psycho-killers) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 60% Tomatometer from 10 reviews and a 40% audience score from more than 100 ratings.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-fox1967)\n\nCensorship followed the film across several jurisdictions. Although it reached theaters months before the November 1968 launch of the MPAA ratings system, it received a retroactive R rating, restricting admission for those under 16 unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. The Chicago Motion Picture Censor Board declared it \"obscene for children\"; the decision was upheld in circuit court, and Claridge Pictures, allied with other major studios, planned legal action to halt the board's ruling. In Poplar Bluff, Missouri, the picture was ruled obscene, while in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, a judge who viewed the film privately determined it was not obscene. France admitted only moviegoers eighteen and older; [West Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-germany), by contrast, awarded the film a certificate of high artistic merit that reduced or eliminated admission taxes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098) In Australia, the masturbation and sex scenes were trimmed for a adults-only rating, though the lesbian kiss between Ellen and Jill was left uncut.[7](https://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/film-2/canadian/) According to the *New York Times*, the film was later re-edited and re-released in 1973 with a PG rating.[4](https://www.queercinemaarchive.com/the-archive/the-fox)\n\n## Awards and legacy\n\nThe Fox won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, English Language, qualifying as a Canadian production. Golden Globe nominations also went to Lewis John Carlino for Best Screenplay, Mark Rydell for Best Director, and Anne Heywood for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama. [Lalo Schifrin](https://www.edgepedia.org/lalo-schifrin), who composed the score, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098)\n\nThe film's standing has rested largely on its place in queer film history. The Queer Cinema Archive describes it as an important film for pushing boundaries, one that does not shy away from on-screen lesbian intimacy and in which the two women ultimately choose each other over the man, though the ending separates them by death, a fate the archive compares to *The Children's Hour* (1961).[4](https://www.queercinemaarchive.com/the-archive/the-fox) The BFI notes that the film is seldom discussed today despite its strong cast, awards, and groundbreaking content.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/hetero-women-denial-psycho-killers) For Rydell, the hit film launched a directing career that later produced Oscar-nominated films including *The Reivers* (1969), *The Rose* (1979), and *On Golden Pond* (1981).[3](https://apnews.com/article/c30bfd6e38ed3d224872e6e31673267c)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Fox (1968), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23098)\n2. [The Fox, review by David Sterritt, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/159648/the-fox)\n3. [Mark Rydell, Oscar-nominated director of 'On Golden Pond,' dies at 97, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/c30bfd6e38ed3d224872e6e31673267c)\n4. [The Fox (1967), Queer Cinema Archive](https://www.queercinemaarchive.com/the-archive/the-fox)\n5. [The Fox, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-fox1967)\n6. [Hetero women in denial and psycho killers, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/hetero-women-denial-psycho-killers)\n7. [Censored Canadian Films: The Fox, Refused-Classification.com](https://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/film-2/canadian/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1960s › Released 1966 to 1969*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Fox (1967 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Fox (1967 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Fox (1967 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fox-1967-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Fox is a Canadian drama directed by Mark Rydell, adapted from D.H. Lawrence's 1922 novella, starring Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, and Keir Dullea." }