F I L M G H O U L

The Grey Fox (Phillip Borsos, 1982)

Sparse, simple yet compellingly beautiful Western, the rarely seen The Grey Fox tells of the life of soft-spoken, well-mannered American criminal Bill “The Gentleman Bandit” Miner, stagecoach robber jailed in 1868, released at the turn of the century — and who most notably coined the phrase “Hands Up!”. Involved on and off in train robberies in British Columbia, he would be jailed twice after that, only to escape on both occasions. Borsos crafts a sober, if slightly melodramatic account of the man’s life, carried beautifully by Richard Farnsworth, better known for his role in Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999).