Der amerikanische Soldat (1970)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writer:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)

Release Date:

9 October 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ricky is a cold-blooded German-American contract killer. After serving in Vietnam he returns to his...

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Hired Killer | Female Nudity | Nudity

Cast

Karl Scheydt	...	Ricky
Elga Sorbas	...	Rosa von Praunheim
Jan George	...	Jan
Hark Bohm	...	Doc
Marius Aicher	...	Polizist
Margarethe von Trotta	...	Zimmermädchen
Ulli Lommel	...	Zigeuner
Katrin Schaake	...	Magdalena Fuller
Ingrid Caven	...	Sängerin
Eva Ingeborg Scholz	...	Rickys Mutter
Kurt Raab	...	Rickys Bruder
Irm Hermann	...	Hure
Gustl Datz	...	Polizeipräsident

Also Known As:

The American Soldier (USA)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:R21 (cut) | UK:15 (original rating) | UK:18 (re-rating) (2007) | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Antiteater

Quotes:

Ricky: W as in war, A as in Alamo, L as in Lenin, S as in science fiction, C as in crime, and H as in Hell.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fassbinder in Hollywood (2002)

Soundtrack:

With My Tears

They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Haa!

American SOLDIER is certainly not among Fassbinder's greatest works. Fassbinder's oeuvre demands that his actors 'pose' rather than 'act'. Ordinarily, a successful dramatic performance allows the viewer to forget that an actor is 'pretending', but that one is witnessing a real depiction of emotions and reactions. However, Fassbinder strives for the converse of this process. He seems to aim for an almost militant lack of affectation, and his actors strike stylized poses which only represent authentic emotions. It's almost like German Kabuki Theater. It would seem that this form of acting technique would lend itself very well to the genre of Gangster Noir, but this film definitely missed the mark. The tale of three rogue police detectives who employ the skills of a heartless American Vietnam veteran is bogged down in an untidy avalanche of wacky details. Odd monologues, pointless car trips, enigmatic phone calls, and arguably the weirdest final scene ever brought to film, do not advance the storyline, but only confuse and perplex the viewer. Fassbinder's more successful films created surreal hyper-realities, but American SOLDIER only conveyed a feeling of disconnected opaqueness. Only for Die Hard Fassbinder Fans.