Nat Banks, a gentleman farmer, loses his family seat to a pair of real estate operators from Washington, D.C. But when the time comes for Nat to leave his ancestral home and move to a rental house in town, the pride of possession from so many generations on the same soil makes it impossible for him to go. He moves into a cave by the creek that runs through the back of his former property instead. Nat won't go down without a fight! He spends the summer there in a kind of Robinson Crusoe splendor
in the wilds of Virginia, until the cold rains of November make the folly of his situation overwhelming. But when new owners leave Greenwood empty to spend the winter in Palm Springs, Nat and his family just move back in, to reclaim their family home until the spring thaw brings about a final confrontation between the dubious forces of progress and the old guard of Virginia.
Writer-director Richard Squires sets us up for a feisty farce with a touch of the florid, with "crazy" Nat and the locals finding clever ways to foil the folks with the bulldozers. But Squires doesn't deliver.
Winning performances by Roger Rees and Mary McDonnell, as well as colorful Virginia locations, lift Crazy Like a Fox slightly above the TV-caliber script by its director, regional theater director Richard Squires.
It leans toward the obvious whenever it can, but the overall peaceful yearn of the picture is welcoming, along with its superior, expressive thespian efforts.
The rich characters are more the attraction than the plot. The main character is nor really in the right and that point is more controversial than intended.
Richard Squires' uneven filmmaking debut sets the hounds of progress on the heels of an old-fashioned Southern gentleman in the form of modern-day carpetbaggers.
Writer/director Richard Squires has an interesting story ... but he waters that story down with attempts to make Crazy Like A Fox into a slapstick, wacky comedy
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