Ep. 160: Foxtrot

We are continuing #New-woirvember 2 with the noir-adjacent, FOXTROT, from 1976. It's not often you find this much star power in a New World Pictures joint. FOXTROT stars Peter O'Toole (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA), Charlotte Rampling (DUNE) and Max von Sydow (THE EXORCIST). They're just a bunch of fun, outgoing people giving it a go on a desert island as World War 2 looms on the horizon. That isn't true at all, Liviu (O'Toole) and Julia (Rampling) are in a miserable marriage and Larsen (Sydow) is a disgruntled employee wishing his boss would just die already.

As it turns out, living on a desert island is just what the doctor ordered. Literally. They spend the day eating marmalade and drinking Brandy and wine. They race sand crabs, see how long they can hold their breath underwater and watch movies in their tent theater. They even have guests stop by and by "stop by" we mean take a weeks-long journey by boat for a weekend of partying and shooting all the seals on the island. Fun!

We attempt to unpack the many loose ends this movie proposes but never resolves. For example, how do people so unprepared for island living make it so long on a desert island? Marc talks about pooping.... again. We struggle to pronounce Jorge Luke's character name (Eusebio) so we just call him "Sussudio". Ryan's research uncovers how Roger Corman packaged and re-packaged this movie to be something it is not. FOXTROT is part British drama, a bit of noir and a dash of John Carpenter's THE THING. All roads return to THE THING. All. Roads.