Faustrecht der Freiheit (1975)

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)
Christian Hohoff (writer)

Release Date:

2 February 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime | Romance

Plot:

Franz "Fox" Biberkopf is a working-class guy, at loose ends when his lover is arrested and the police shutter their carnival booth...

Plot Keywords:

Lottery | Friend | Gay | Lover | Carnival

Cast

Peter Chatel	...	Eugen Thiess
Rainer Werner Fassbinder	...	Franz Bieberkopf / 'Fox'
Karlheinz Böhm	...	Max (as Karl-Heinz Böhm)
Adrian Hoven	...	Wolf Thiess, Eugen's father
Christiane Maybach	...	Hedwig
Harry Baer	...	Philip (as Harry Bär)
Hans Zander	...	Barman Springer
Kurt Raab	...	Wodka-Peter
Rudolf Lenz	...	Attorney Dr. Siebenkäss
Karl Scheydt	...	Klaus
Peter Kern	...	Florist 'Fatty' Schmidt
Karl-Heinz Staudenmeyer	...	Krapp
Walter Sedlmayr	...	Car dealer
Bruce Low	...	Doctor
Marquard Bohm	...	American Soldier (as Marquart Bohm)

Also Known As:

Fist-Fight of Freedom (International: English title)
Fox (UK)
Fox and His Friends (USA)

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German | English | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Marrakech, Morocco

Company:

City Film

Trivia:

The normally overweight Rainer Werner Fassbinder dieted strenuously to lose weight in order to play the role of Fox, which included a full-frontal nude scene.

Quotes:

Max: There are drunks lying everywhere! The state should do something. It's the same everywhere. In Helsinki recently, there were so many drunks lying around even though it's hard to get alcohol in Finland.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Die Nacht der Regisseure (1995)

Soundtrack:

Bird On A Wire

Fassbinder's finest performance?

Fox and his Friends caused some controversy when it was first made - it was thought that this story of a gay sideshow worker who wins the lottery, only to be exploited to the hilt by his upper-class lover, was potentially homophobic. Fassbinder himself commented that the story could have been about a heterosexual relationship, but it wouldn't have been as clear.

Fassbinder himself plays Fox - the burly ugly duckling of German cinema miraculously slimmed down, looking almost handsome. Fox's street skills and good humour are undercut by his naivety, as his repellently snobbish boyfriend systematically scams him out of the thousands of marks he's won on the lottery. The story proceeds with ruthless inevitability, as Fox becomes more and more demoralised. Yet the film contains some of Fassbinder's sharpest comedy, particularly in a brilliantly embarrassing dinner party scene. RWF is excellent in the title role; amazing to think that the guy who wrote and directed the film (among so many others) could play a good-natured dimwit with such conviction.