Double Feature: THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, 1970, LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH, 1969, June 7, 2012

Thursday, June 7 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, 1970, Janus Films, 80 min. Professional hitman Ricky (Karl Scheydt) has returned to his German hometown after living in the U.S. and fighting as an American soldier in the Vietnam War. A group of three detectives, acting without the permission of their chief and humiliated that they haven't yet busted a local crime ring, hires Ricky to go after the ring and kill each member off systematically. But all is not what it seems in Fassbinder's alternately light and deeply disturbing revisionist noir, which looks at the nature of crime and jealousy through the lens of bruised masculinity. With Fassbinder in a cameo role as Franz Walsch, a recurring character throughout his early gangster pictures and his own pseudonym for his work as an editor. In German with English subtitles. [35mm]
LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH, 1969, Janus Films, 88 min. In Fassbinder's stark, sardonic debut feature, small-time Munich pimp Franz Walsch (played by an uncredited Fassbinder) relishes his entrepreneurial independence and refuses to join the local mob, despite its allure of greater cash flow and stability. When Franz is befriended by mysterious crook Bruno (Ulli Lommel), the two go on a small but frenzied crime spree of theft and murder, along with Franz's prostitute girlfriend Joanna (Hanna Schygulla). But as Franz plans another robbery, this time a more elaborate heist, the allegiances of the trio begin to break down. Why did Bruno seek out Franz in the first place? And is Joanna's jealous distrust leading her to make other plans? In German with English subtitles. [35mm]
Trailer

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