This movie is not bad for what it is, but a lot more should be expected from a movie that is titled 'The Desert Fox'. The film covers the last few months of Rommel's life, and we see almost nothing of why Rommel was referred to as The Desert Fox...
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This movie is not bad for what it is, but a lot more should be expected from a movie that is titled 'The Desert Fox'. The film covers the last few months of Rommel's life, and we see almost nothing of why Rommel was referred to as The Desert Fox at all. The film begins with the historical raid by Scottish commandos at Beda Littoria in 1941. But nothing is explained about this attempt on Rommel's life, and it seems to be just an excuse for some pre-credit sequence over-dramatized action. The raid would make a fine film in itself, but here the sequence seems out of place.
The film jumps almost a year to late 1942, with a sick Rommel being called back to lead his troops at El Alemein. Just as quickly, the desert war is over, with no mention of the later fighting in Tunisia. Then, it is 1944, Rommel is improving coatal defences in France, and the Allies launch Operation Overlord. Rommel struggles to get more units to fight the invaders and gets a visit from a representative of a group of Germans looking to overthrow Hitler Rommel reluctantly considers joining their cause; a strafing attack leaves Rommel wounded, and while he recovers, an attempt is made on Hitler's life. Rommel is implicated in the plot, and chooses suicide as an honorable way to end the matter.
That's pretty much the complete movie. How they managed to stretch that out to just under 90 minutes is amazing. The movie focuses on Rommel's last days, and doesn't quite get it right...most biographical accounts of Rommel indicates that he had no interest at all in overthrowing Hitler...he was just a soldier and politics was irrelevant to him. This film somehow leaves the impression that Rommel was eager to join the plot until he was incapacitated by the strafing attack...a blatant attempt to make Rommel some sort of hero in that regard.

Mason is excellent in the role, but his supporting cast varies. The actors all seem to keep their native accents while playing Germans. It strange seeing Richard Boone as Rommel's aide, but even stranger is the characterization of Hitler Hitler seems anything but sinister; he's portrayed as a chummy fellow whom one could get along with just fine.
Most action in the movie utilizes stock combat footage, and it comes off seeming low-budgeted. Without seeing his earlier battles, the viewer just has to take the narrator's word that Rommel was a military genius. A movie like this needs to be twice as long, and show his rise to the top, in order for the later events in Rommel's life to be in context. But instead we're left with a flawed, but well-meant, movie based upon an equally flawed book written right after the war.