Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

moonspinner55 In the early 1900s, former stagecoach robber Bill Miner is released from San Quentin prison after 33 years and goes to live with his sister in Washington state; having no interest in manual labor, the now-elderly Miner turns to robbing the Northern Pacific Railroad. Critically-lauded historical drama from Zoetrope and United Artists Classics played the art-house circuit in 1983 and has slowly garnered a sterling reputation. Documentary filmmaker Phillip Borsos has directed the picture intelligently but not fluidly--or perhaps it's the editing or John Hunter's screenplay that leaves the narrative seeming like a connect-the-dots job. The film doesn't sweep the audience up or give it a rush; the train robbery sequences themselves are the weakest sections of the movie. Many of the supporting actors are ill-cast, not looking or sounding like boom town residents of the period, while a relationship between Miner and a lady suffragette doesn't have the blooming quality needed to flesh out the central character (why is he drawn specifically to her as opposed to the other women in town?). Borsos' work is careful and sensitive without being plodding (a plus); yet, aside from the handsome cinematography, the only reason to see the film is Richard Farnsworth as Miner. Farnsworth, who worked for years in Hollywood as a stuntman and supporting actor, finally got a starring role here, and he doesn't disappoint. Farnsworth doesn't turn Miner into a wily eccentric, as some might expect, with high-flown talk or eyes ablaze; instead, he's a confident and deep-thinking gentleman bandit who speaks in polite, even tones, his measured responses precise (when he talks--you listen, because you know he doesn't waste his words). Farnsworth also manages to show heart and depth in his wordless close-ups, so full-bodied is his performance, and it's a pleasure reading the thoughts in his weathered face. ** from ****

rorybiggadike It's hard to add to the praise of this film others have already stated. A beautifully paced mix of poignancy and action plus a belated realization of reality by a hero from 'another age'. The 'Western' genre the actors and direction and the entire movie production shows film goers is so different and so compelling it shows up the Sergio Leone 'blockbusters' as merely comic book fantasy stories. Maybe because of the films Canadian connection it was never widely accepted as a genuine' western' in the US and consequently received little publicity. Don't be misled.... if you can get a copy you will find an absolute treasure. Why it was never released on DVD is quite astonishing.

tavm When Richard Farnsworth died a few years ago, among the films cited were his Oscar-nominated roles in Comes a Horseman and The Straight Story, and his supporting roles in hits like The Natural and Misery. The Grey Fox rarely got a mention which is a shame because it's one of Mr. Farnsworth's most compelling as we follow his portrayal of the real-life stagecoach robber Bill Miner after being freed from jail and his attempts in living a straight life with his sister and her husband. But times have changed the last 33 years and so in the early 20th century, Miner goes back to his old habits and robs trains (he got the inspiration watching The Great Train Robbery), then poses as George Edwards in a British Columbia town with his cohorts in tow. He also later falls for a feminist who takes pictures...I'll stop there and say while Miner does bad things, he gets some admiration for the gentlemanly way he does them, hence his "gentleman bandit" moniker. If you're interested in western rarities and are a fan of Farnsworth, I highly recommend The Grey Fox.

eltroll This really is a masterpiece of film - and, unfortunately, largely unknown to the greater film-watching public in the United States. It is beautiful to watch, to listen to (with its soundtrack including both original work by award-winning composer Michael Conway Baker, of Canada, and the Chieftains), and to examine as a chronicle of the period that concluded the Wild West's grasp on the 19th Century and its reach for the 20th.Bill Miner, the "Gentleman Bandit," was a historical figure whose long prison term for stagecoach robbery left him entirely unprepared (vocationally) for his release back into society - a society that was now devoid of stagecoaches, and beginning to discover the wonders of motorcars and moving pictures.The 29-year-old director, Phillip Borsos (1953-1995), made this film tribute to the last outlaw of the Wild West and to the region that he lived in. While others might have gone heavy-handed and clichéd in such a production, Borsos' eye and ear both figure significantly in the film's direction, and its numerous examples of originality:a senior citizen star (the late Richard Farnsworth - whose Hollywood career had started as a stuntman, in Westerns - playing Bill Miner as a thoughtful and kind gentleman) who even gets to look hunky;a respectful treatment of an early 20th Century feminist (played by Jackie Burroughs);cinematography that highlights the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, rather than some anonymous California desert;a soundtrack that ISN'T Coplandesque (or Morriconesque);a 'cowboy picture' where the hero gets the girl, but doesn't get vulgar or trite or even testosterone-driven; ANDan accurate look at the turn-of-the-century a hundred years ago in a landscape that hasn't entirely disappeared. Yet.I have hummed the music from its tuneful soundtrack since the first time I saw it in its initial U.S. theatrical release, and have wanted to visit Kamloops, BC, ever since. If you can stand movies without gratuitous pyrotechnics or violence, don't let another day go by without checking out this film classic.