The American Soldier
Chazen Museum of Art 750 University Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: West Germany | 1970 | 35mm | 80 min. | German with English subtitles
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Karl Scheydt, Elga Sorbas, Ulli Lommel
Ricky (Scheydt) is an American soldier with German roots who, having just served in Vietnam, returns to his hometown of Munich. In Germany, Ricky becomes a contract killer for some renegade cops when he is asked to eliminate some problem criminals. This early feature from Fassbinder is an homage to Hollywood gangster movies and one of the director’s most overtly political statements.
Our Sunday afternoon series at the Chazen Museum of Art this fall will provide an opportunity to view 15 features by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a founder of New German Cinema and one of the most controversial filmmakers of his generation. Fassbinder’s prolific oeuvre includes examples of virtually every genre, and while he drew inspiration from the melodramas of Douglas Sirk and the French Nouvelle Vague, Fassbinder’s own movies have influenced a whole generation of filmmakers including Todd Haynes, Quentin Tarantino and Todd Solondz. All screened on 35mm prints, the selections in this series conclude with Fassbinder’s trilogy of post-War German life (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Lola and Veronika Voss). The series will provide ample evidence of Fassbinder’s genius, reminding us of the miracle of his short career as well as the tragedy of his early demise, in 1982, at the age of 37.
All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.