Town Without Pity (1961)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Gottfried Reinhardt

Writers:

Manfred Gregor (novel)
George Hurdalek (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1961 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Story of What Four Men Did To a Girl... And What the Town Did To Them!

Plot:

Four American soldiers stationed near a German village face death in the rape of a local girl and are defended by outside counsel Major Steve Grant.

Plot Keywords:

Girl | Village | Soldier | Adolescence | Provincialism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Maj. Steve Garrett
Barbara Rütting	...	Inge Koerner
Christine Kaufmann	...	Karin Steinhof
E.G. Marshall	...	Col. Jerome Pakenham
Hans Nielsen	...	Karl Steinhof
Ingrid van Bergen	...	Trude
Robert Blake	...	Cpl. Jim Larkin
Richard Jaeckel	...	Cpl. Birdwell "Birdie" Scott
Frank Sutton	...	Sgt. Chuck Snyder
Karin Hardt	...	Frau Steinhof
Gerhart Lippert	...	Frank Borgmann
Mal Sondock	...	Pvt. Joey Haines
Alan Gifford	...	Gen. Stafford
Max Haufler	...	Dr. Urban
Rose Renée Roth	...	Frau Kulig

Also Known As:

Stadt ohne Mitleid (West Germany)
Ville sans pitié (Switzerland: French title) (literal title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA | West Germany | Switzerland

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Atelier Sievering, Vienna, Austria

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Christine Kaufmann's American film debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Karin is trying to draw Frank's attention, we see her unhook her bra (while obscured by bushes), remove half of her two-piece bikini suit, followed shortly by a shot of her bare back. When Jim Larkin covers her up with his shirt, we can see she is wearing the bikini top again. In the context of the plot, she would not have been able to put it back on, and the soldiers certainly would not have. (Though we never see her dropping the bottom, we can assume she did remove it at the same time, without that being presented.)

Quotes:

Cpl. Jim Larkin: [to bartender] Give me a coke, okay?
Sgt. Chuck Snyder: Look, kid, if you want to have any fun at all in this town, you're gonna have to buy something stronger than Coca-Cola.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Skipped Parts (2000)

Soundtrack:

Town Without Pity

Douglas and Kaufmann are simply fantastic in this movie

Surprisingly this convincing drama is almost ignored by German TV stations nowadays though it features a very touching and impressive performance by Christine Kaufmann who won a Golden Globe for this one (as the first German actress ever). Kirk Douglas is very strong in the male lead having to deal with the awful job to defend four US soldiers who've gang raped a 16-years-old German beauty. Though Reinhardt's style has dated badly the movie's still worth watching. He definitely has done a good job capturing the heartless atmosphere needed for a story like this. There are some haunting moments.....and the sad realization that also more than 40 years after "Town Without Pity" most rape victims still are devastated twice.

By the way, I've seen the German version which is half-dubbed, half-original so that you have several characters speaking with two different voices. I'd prefer a complete English or German version respectively the use of subtitles.