Time capsule
The Grey Fox is a beautiful Canadiana tribute
TORONTO — History (OK, Wikipedia) tells us that Miner was an American-born robber whose good manners when holding up stagecoaches earned him the nickname The Gentleman Bandit. He is also credited with inventing the phrase “Hands up!” which is an amazing thing for which to be known. It’s as if someone told you, “You know how people say ‘hello’ when they pick up the phone? Yeah, my great-grandfather came up with that.”
Anyway, Miner started his stagecoach-thieving ways in the 1860s, and spent several stints in prison, including a 20-year stretch in San Quentin that ended in 1901 when he was, as the film poetically puts it, “released into the 20th century.”
There is where we find Bill at the start of The Grey Fox, the debut feature of B.C. filmmaker Phillip Borsos. Played by stuntman-turned-actor Richard Farnsworth with a handlebar moustache and a twinkle in his eye (today it would be Sam Elliott), Bill clearly feels out of place in the new century, with nary a stagecoach to be seen.
But a chance viewing of The Great Train Robbery convinces him that his skills might still have some tangential use. And as he says mildly:
“I’ve got ambitions in me that just won’t quit.” With one successful railroad raid behind him, Bill heads north to Kamloops to lie low for a while.
Turns out small-town western-canadian life suits him. Bill becomes friendly with the local lawman, Corporal Fernie of the British Columbia Provincial Police, played by Newfoundland’s Timothy Webber. And he falls hard for Katherine Flynn (Jackie Burroughs), a trade unionist whom he first notices giving the local newspaper editor what-for over his publication’s stance on equal pay for women.
When they next meet she’s out in the hills golfing and listening to opera on the phonograph. “Isn’t that an aria from Martha?” he hazards. The rest is romantic history.
Borsos was just 27 when he shot this film in British Columbia, using the heritage town of Fort Steele as early Kamloops, and filming in some locations close to where Miner had actually lived and, um, plied his trade. The film shows him unable to resist a bit of horse-rustling and train robbery, even as he tries to settle down with Kate.
Farnsworth died in 2000, though not before delivering one last great role, his Oscarnominated turn in David Lynch’s The Straight Story. He captures the mix of danger and charm in Miner, and once told an interviewer: “He’s a character who can be tough, but only when he has to.” In that same interview he revealed that he’d been loaned Miner’s old gun, a .41 Colt Bisley, for use in closeups. “The action was just perfect,” he said. “It probably hadn’t been used since 1906.”
The Grey Fox isn’t a precise record of history — for one thing, Miner’s story in the film ends on a different note than it did in real life. But it’s a beautiful piece of Canadiana, winning six Genies in the year it was made, including best motion picture and the amusingly named “best performance by a foreign actor,” for the L.a.-born Farnsworth. It placed fifth in a 1984 Toronto Film Festival poll of best Canadian films, and was still in the top 10 a decade later when the festival updated the list.
The newly restored print is also just the latest example of a movie being released online as a way to raise money for independent cinemas that have been shut down during the pandemic. Viewers wanting to watch this time capsule — honestly, you could get lost in the gorgeous B.C. scenery — can buy a virtual ticket, essentially an online rental, with the proceeds going to participating cinemas. Given the charitable nature and low price, it’s a steal. And a couple of train robberies.
The Grey Fox is available to stream through filmswelike.com on April 22.