Town Without Pity (1961)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Gottfried Reinhardt

Writers:

Manfred Gregor (novel)
George Hurdalek (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1961 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Story of What Four Men Did To a Girl... And What the Town Did To Them!

Plot:

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 Grant.

Plot Keywords:

Girl | Village | Soldier | Adolescence | Provincialism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Maj. Steve Garrett
Barbara Rütting	...	Inge Koerner
Christine Kaufmann	...	Karin Steinhof
E.G. Marshall	...	Col. Jerome Pakenham
Hans Nielsen	...	Karl Steinhof
Ingrid van Bergen	...	Trude
Robert Blake	...	Cpl. Jim Larkin
Richard Jaeckel	...	Cpl. Birdwell "Birdie" Scott
Frank Sutton	...	Sgt. Chuck Snyder
Karin Hardt	...	Frau Steinhof
Gerhart Lippert	...	Frank Borgmann
Mal Sondock	...	Pvt. Joey Haines
Alan Gifford	...	Gen. Stafford
Max Haufler	...	Dr. Urban
Rose Renée Roth	...	Frau Kulig

Also Known As:

Stadt ohne Mitleid (West Germany)
Ville sans pitié (Switzerland: French title) (literal title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA | West Germany | Switzerland

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Atelier Sievering, Vienna, Austria

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Christine Kaufmann's American film debut.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The U. S. flag in the courtroom scenes is displayed incorrectly. The union or blue field should be on the observer's left.

Quotes:

Sgt. Chuck Snyder: I guess I'm a little nervous about how this will look on my record.
Maj. Steve Garrett: [Slams coffee pot down on table] Record! I've seen it. It's enough to gag a hyena. Personally I hate your guts, but I have to defend you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Skipped Parts (2000)

Soundtrack:

Town Without Pity

In View of the Singular Brutality of this Movie…

… I have no alternative but to ask that you watch it as soon as possible.

This is undoubtedly Kirk Douglas' finest performance, probably because he's playing a character somewhat like himself. But rookie actress Christine Kaufmann completely steals the show in what must have been a very difficult performance. She deserved an Oscar, not just a second-rate Golden Globe.

Director Gottfried Reinhard is the son of impresario Max Reinhard, the guy who put Frank Wedekind on the stage. Although you may not have heard of him, Wedekind wrote such famous plays as Lulu and Springtime Awakening (which resembles Town Without Pity in some ways). That line "the law is like a great wide river" is a paraphrase of a famous line from Springtime Awakening… in fact, the movie has a ton of great quotable lines e.g. "such a small town, and so much hate and meanness".

Besides the portrait of a small town where everyone hates everyone hates everyone else, added tension is given by this being a proud and ancient place humiliated by foreign conquest and occupation (West Germany, 1960). The many tensions reach boiling point and explode. This Swiss-American co-production goes places Hollywood would never dare, it more resembles German movies like The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum.

The theme song was a smash hit in 1961, and even got an Oscar nomination; the music was written by the legendary Dimitri Tiomkin, a classically trained composer.

"No, it isn't very pretty what a town without pity can do-oo".