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Whity
West Germany 1971
produced by Ulli Lommel, Wilhelm Rabenbauer (= Peer Raben), Peter Berling (executive) for Antiteater-X-Film, Atlantis Film/Omnia-Film
directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
starring Günther Kaufmann, Ron Randell, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Harry Baer, Ulli Lommel, Tomás Martín Blanco, Stefano Capriati, Elaine Baker, Mark Salvage, Helga Ballhaus, Peter Berling, Kurt Raab
written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, music by Peer Raben, cinematography by Michael Ballhaus
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The Old West: Whity (Günther Kaufmann), illegitimate son of rich
landowner Benjamin Nicholson (Ron Randell) and his black cook Marpessa
(Elaine Baker), is the loyal to a fault butler of the totally
dysfunctional Nicholson family - Ben, his young, pretty and nymphomaniac
wife Katherine (Katrin Schaake), and his sons from a previous marriage,
closet gay Frank (Ulli Lommel) and mentally challenged Davy (Harry Baer).
He tries to follow all of their orders, no matter how contradictory, and
pretty much gives up himself in the process. And even though none of the
Nicholson seems to really appreciate him or what he does, he insists on
liking his occupation and turns down his girlfriend, prostitiute and bar
singer Hanna (Hanna Schygulla), repeatedly when she suggests to leave for
the East. Things take a turn for the worse when Ben announces he doesn't
have long to live - even if that claim is only supported by a fake doctor
(Tomás Martín Blanco) he later shoots dead - and makes up a bogus will,
only to then ask Whity to shoot all of his family dead. As it is, other
family members also ask Whity to do some killing in their name - to the
effect that Whity eventually snaps and kills them all, to then try to make
it through the desert towards East with Hanna after all ... Rainer
Werner Fassbinder's only attempt to shoot a Euro Western - and bear in
mind, the Italians shot and released Western a dime a dozen in the early
70s - was not one of his more successful films, as after a brief festival
run it disappeared into the vaults without a proper cinema release, and premiered
on TV only in 1989. One reason might be that it was just too different
from then popular Western fare, emphasizing on melodrama rather than
shoot-outs and fistfights and asking questions about race and sexuality,
while for the arthouse crowd the Western settings might have been a
turn-off. And while it's true that for the Western genre Whity is a
footnote at best, it's at the same time a very ambitious attempt to create
something new within an admittedly very formulaic genre with an
intelligent script that hides contemporary issues in a period piece, while
a measured pace, an assured directorial effort and rather impressive
imagery, give the film a proper feel of grandeur. All that said, maybe not
the best film Fassbinder has ever made, but a very interesting one for
sure.
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