This movie is hard to find. I haven't seen it in years but remember the overall thing. 'Katzelmacher'is the best RWF ever threw at us. I read a review here earlier, a long synopsis...very interesting. I recall certain scenes. My fav, the walking pairs, threesomes, etc. all shown walking down the same alley gossiping, at various points in the film. A beautiful piano waltz accompanies each group as they walk. It struck me that RWF filmed all of these scenes one after the other in keeping with the motto of their clan of actors, "Cheaper, Faster, Better.", or something like that. If you notice, there's the same car parked in the background, and it appears the scenes were all shot about the same time of day. "Next!" The Peer Raben waltz is so beautiful. I played it on guitar at my father's funeral. I believe Peer called it 'Valse Katzelmacher'. I could be wrong on that, too. No matter, it's a heartfelt piece of music! I fell in love with this group of actors. It was always, "I wonder who's gonna be in this one?" and then..."Oh, Wow, Great! So, 'Katzelmacher', an absolute must for Kine buffs.

And with that description, I also include myself. "Katzelmacher" is an early career work by German writer and director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He was in his early 20s still when he made this one and you see by the fact that it is in black-and-white that it's from early in his career, one of his first two full feature films. The cast includes a handful of actors that he worked with on a regular basis, most of all the really young Hanna Schygulla. It's a West German production and of course in German language. Here we have a film that will have its 50th anniversary soon. It runs for approximately 90 minutes and thus is among Fassbinder's shorter works. But I also feel it is among his more difficult to access. I struggled with caring for the characters at all, possibly because the focus is entirely on the dialogues here and very rarely only on what the characters are doing. It's all about the talk. One major plot point is how they deal with a Greek immigrant (which makes it a pretty current issue too), how they talk without respect about him on some occasions, but try to get together with him when they are alone with him. I am talking about the women of course. The Greek guy is played by Fassbinder himself and he is once again a scene stealer. His scenes were the best of the entire film. This movie received a great deal of awards recognition and it was a major success for Fassbinder, especially with the German Film Awards almost half a century later. But like I said, it's a very bleak sterile movie that is certainly not for everybody, possibly not the best choice to start getting into Fassbinder.

Until recently "La Guerre du Feu" rated as the worst movie I ever saw. Then I saw "Katzelmacher". A completely useless, empty meaningless piece of utter boredom. The mercifully short scenes are filled with utterly meaningless conversation, delivered without the slightest form of emotion by actors who seem to be to stoned to care anyway (but hey, it's 1969, so I guess that's allowed...) The little action there is, is pointless and boring. Do not look for a story, because what is supposed to be the story has no end whatsoever. I have always been taught that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end. That is definitely not the case here. I guess what irritates me most, is the fact that it's supposed to be that way. Everyone involved goes out of his way to make the experience of watching as taxing as possible. The movie is profoundly un-understandable and it is probably exactly that which has led to its' success. Pretending to understand something that others don't, was and is still the ideal way of setting oneself apart from the others.

Katzelmacher changed many people's lives when it came out. One has to wonder how exponential the effects were, but the waves that films like this make are usually much greater than most viewers can fathom. (For example, although very few people are familiar with John Cassavetes' Shadows, that film affected Martin Scorsese profoundly.)In the interesting documentary, I Don't Just Want You To Love Me, Fassbinder claims that he didn't move the camera much during this time for aesthetic reasons. His cinematographer (Dietrich Lohmann), however, says that aesthetics had little to do with it; they simply couldn't easily move the bulky camera and dolly, and they had no budget to rent better equipment.This film is part of an experimental avalanche, and it is amazing. The particular art house feel is a result of the times, and as Fassbinder moves on it is fascinating to contemplate how he gets his message across, using different styles. He was truly fearless, and all of his stuff is worth serious consideration.Katzelmacher becomes even more interesting after viewing his later work.