Town Without Pity (1961)Four American soldiers stationed near a German village face death in the rape of a local girl and are defended by outside counsel Major Steve Garrett. Director:Gottfried Reinhardt |
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Town Without Pity (1961)Four American soldiers stationed near a German village face death in the rape of a local girl and are defended by outside counsel Major Steve Garrett. Director:Gottfried Reinhardt |
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Kirk Douglas | ... |
Maj. Steve Garrett
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Barbara Rütting | ... |
Inge Koerner
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| Christine Kaufmann | ... |
Karin Steinhof
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| E.G. Marshall | ... |
Col. Jerome Pakenham
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Hans Nielsen | ... |
Karl Steinhof
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Ingrid van Bergen | ... |
Trude
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| Robert Blake | ... |
Cpl. Jim Larkin
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| Richard Jaeckel | ... |
Cpl. Birdwell "Birdie" Scott
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| Frank Sutton | ... |
Sgt. Chuck Snyder
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Karin Hardt | ... |
Frau Steinhof
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Gerhart Lippert | ... |
Frank Borgmann
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Mal Sondock | ... |
Pvt. Joey Haines
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Alan Gifford | ... |
Gen. Stafford
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Max Haufler | ... |
Dr. Urban
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Rose Renée Roth | ... |
Frau Kulig
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When four young American soldiers are accused of raping a girl from a German village near their camp, Major Steve Garrett is assigned the distasteful task of defending them. It soon becomes clear that the Army, the villagers, and even the girl's family are more interested in revenge than in the welfare of the distraught victim. Garrett is faced with the dilemma of destroying the girl on the witness stand in order to save the lives of his clients. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
When this film was released in 1961, I remember the ads saying this film was for "Adults Only". (The MPAA rating system didn't exist then.) A film about four soldiers stationed in Germany who gang rape a 16 year old girl and the trial that followed was pretty heavy stuff for audiences back then. I recently saw the film on Turner Classic Movies, and it still holds up very well. It is still startling and powerful, even without nudity and foul language, which should show Hollywood it can be done. You can be "adult" without being unnecessarily vulgar or obscene. As it stands, I would still give this film an "R" rating today.
And, of course, there is the memorable title song, sung by Gene Pitney, which accounted for the film's only (surprisingly) Oscar nomination. Even that lost out to the syrupy "Moon River" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
My one complaint about Turner's presentation was with the film's aspect ratio. Instead of showing a widescreen version, they showed a full-frame version with the framing "squeezed" so that faces were somewhat elongated and cars appeared "stubby" and compacted. This became very annoying. Even a pan & scan version would be better than this.
Nonetheless, for sheer power, as well as excellent acting by Kirk Douglas, E.G. Marshall, Christine Kaufmann, and a very young Robert Blake, I highly recommend "Town Without Pity".