Foxes *** (1980, Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Sally Kellerman, Randy Quaid, Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan, Kandice Stroh, Adam Faith) – Classic Movie Review 8245

Director Adrian Lyne’s 1980 drama Foxes stars Jodie Foster as Jeanie, a teenager from a broken home who plays mother to three other young girls sharing a Los Angeles flat in the San Fernando Valley. Cherie Currie plays Annie, a hooker who takes drugs, Marilyn Kagan plays Madge, a girl who is too plump, and Kandice Stroh plays Deirdre, a girl who lies and flirts.

David Puttnam produces and Lyne directs this comedy drama that swings between the permissive, the soppy and the melodramatic. The British pair are a bit out of their depth negotiating their way in the American shallows, as written in the screenplay by Gerald Ayres. But the situations and characters are fascinating, and the canny, cunning acting keeps Foxes fairly attractive, with notable turns from Sally Kellerman and Adam Faith as Jodie’s parents, and Scott Baio and Randy Quaid as boyfriends Brad and Jay, as well as Lois Smith and Laura Dern.

Buddy Foster, in his last film, was slated as the male lead, till his sister Jodie was cast as the heroine and he was demoted to Boy in Car. Nearly 20 years later he wrote a book spilling the beans on Jodie.

Also in the cast are Wayne Storm, Jim Slogan, Jill Barrie Bogart, Mary Margaret Lewis, Grant Wilson and Fredric Lehne.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8245

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