O.K. (1970)

Director:

Michael Verhoeven

Writer:

Michael Verhoeven (writer)

Release Date:

16 July 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Controversial | Parable | Rape | Soldier

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Gustl Bayrhammer	...	Captain Vorst
Hartmut Becker	...	Ralph Clarke
Senta Berger	...	Herself
Hanna Burgwitz	...	Josefine
Rolf Castell	...	Reilly
Wolfgang Fischer	...	Rafe
Eva Mattes	...	Phan Ti Mao
Ewald Precht	...	Soldier Diaz
Vera Rheingold
Peter van Anft
Michael Verhoeven	...	Sven
Friedrich von Thun	...	Sergeant Tony Meserve
Rolf Zacher	...	Rowan

Directed by
Michael Verhoeven

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Verhoeven		writer

Produced by
Rob Houwer	....	producer

Original Music by
Axel Linstädt

Cinematography by
Igor Luther
Claus Neumann

Film Editing by
Monika Pfefferle
Michael Verhoeven

Production Management
Jürgen Dohme	....	production manager
Walter Saxer	....	unit production manager

Sound Department
Haymo Heyder	....	sound re-recording mixer

Production Companies

• Houwer-Film

Distributors

• R.C.S. Filmverleih (1970) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Runtime:

Germany:80 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (w)

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Houwer-Film

Trivia:

Due to its controversial plot and its nomination in the competition at the 1970 Berlin International Film Festival, the jury president that year, the American director George Stevens, demanded that the film be removed from the festival. This caused such controversy that the festival directors offered their resignation and the festival broke down before it ended.

Movie Connections:

Version of Casualties of War (1989)

German predecessor to Brian de Palma´s "Casualties of War" (1989)

Michael Verhoeven´s "O.K." is a Vietnam war drama that takes place in the forests of Bavaria and all actors permanently speak with a Bavarian accent, although they play US-soldiers... Sounds funny, but it isn´t: the story is based on a true incident, when four American G.I.s brutally raped a 16 year old Vietnamese girl and murdered her afterwards. Only on member of the group, who didn´t take part at the crime tried to bring his companions to court-martial...

Sounds familiar? Brian de Palma later filmed the same story under the title "Casualties of War" that starred Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn. But in comparison to de Palma´s stereotype Hollywood-pathos, Verhoeven´s movie is a legendary cult flick, which caused an immense scandal on the greatest German film festival in Berlin what even led to the break-off of the event.

The film itself is shot in muddy black&white-pictures, it contains no score and this idea was later used in "I spit on your grave" again. However, "O.K." is not as loud as the US-movie! It is another hidden gem, notorious for its reputation and one of the most interesting cinematic experiments I´ve ever seen!!