I just watched this film again after not seeing for over forty years. I knew it was fabulous but seeing it again makes me realize that Fassbinder had a very unique kind of talent that you don't find in any other directors at all - and that means people like Hitchcock, Goddard or even Chaplin. It's as if he represents the rebirth of Germany itself, born as he was right after the war ended. And while the Allied powers rebuilt Germany and not making the mistake they did after World War I which enabled Hitler to obtain supreme, Fassbinder and his movies represent an examination of the broken culture which, when he was making his films, didn't recover the magic of the old Germany. And it's his portrayals of pathetic characters like Fox that provided the rest of the world into the very first social view of the emptiness that Germany existed in and how it created a mournful civilization even as their economy flourished. It is really a great tragedy that Fassbinder's totally unique talent to present a completely different side of human nature in this and all of his films died with him. There are, of course, other great directors but Fassbinder had an ability to bring to the screen, a portrayal of culture unique to his time and one that can never be repeated.
Review of Fox and His Friends
