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Foxfire (1955)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 6/24

FFire
6/24: Many times, it's hard to watch an old movie, and afterwards, I'll be like, "That's it?"

That's Foxfire in a nutshell despite the occasional nice photography of Arizona which was done in Kingman and Oatman. In fact, it's the final film to be shot in three-strip Technicolor. Most of my '4' rating is due to Jane Russell. She sure can dominate the screen, but the swarthy-looking, silver-haired Jeff Chandler is a loser.

Of course, Jane Russell didn't do it on her own as she had a team of a makeup artist, a hairstylist, a gown designer, and so on which are listed extensively in the opening screen credits. I don't mind, but it's weird to see Jane Russell looking so glamorous in a shanty town like Lodestone where the poverty level has to be in the 99th percentile.

The tagline on the movie poster is misleading despite the stars embracing each other: "Jane's Got Jeff." Nothing like that occurs in Foxfire. It's mostly Jonathan Dartland pushing Amanda away, making me wonder if he's the biggest idiot in the state. Most guys would be lucky to have her for a wife if it only took one day of courtship, and she did all of the work. Who cares about the mine? She already has money. It's Jonathan's golden ticket out of the town.

As for the story, well...there isn't any. Dan Duryea plays a useless character after teasing so much as a potential plot device down the road. Nothing of this sort happens. Since his female assistant is half Indian, won't it make sense for her and Jonathan to be together since they have a lot in common? Anyway, seeing nearly all of the white thespians to be Indian-faced is extremely disappointing. Amanda's visit to Jonathan's mother is pointless. So is learning about his Indian ancestry.

All in all, Jane Russell is the only reason to check out Foxfire because of how she looks and the various dresses she puts on.