"Die Heiden Von Kummerow Und Ihre Lustigen Streiche" or "The Heathens of Kummerow" (not "heroes") is a German movie from 1967 and it has its 50th anniversary this year. The special thing here is that it is a co-production between East and West Germany and this is something that you really don't see that often overall. It runs for 90 minutes and was written by a whole lot of screen writers. the director is Werner Jacobs and among his most known are the Lümmel movies and you can certainly consider this film here something similar too. With the exception that the heathens listed in the title are actually grown-ups in this movie here as well as even smaller children. And to show you how famous these films (and Jacobs) were back then it is enough to take a look at the cast. There are really quite some familiar names in here and the one I personally found the most appealing is Theo Lingen. I just wished he had more screen time in here. Also Winnetou fans will be delighted to see Ralf Wolter, who actually has a lot of screen time as he plays possibly the most important adult character, the one who makes friends with the kids through his interesting stories, but is not exactly appreciated by the other grown-ups.
In general, I had some problem with the direction this movie was taking. The kids scenes really seemed to aim at a younger audience, but there were many more scenes with the grown-ups and children in the audience would find these really boring I am sure. But I am not sure what adult audiences would think about this film. If they found it entertaining or childish. I personally found little memorable stuff in the story (apart from the scene with the 2 kids naked in the lake searching for crabs and the father who takes them away) and I also think the emotional impact the film is trying to make, especially at the very end was not really successful. Maybe it is because I am just not the biggest Wolter fan. Despite the relatively high rating here on IMDb, I don't think this is better than than Jacobs' Lümmel films. I myself found many scenes dragging during the run-time here and this is even worse as it's far from being a really long films. Thumbs-down from me and I don't recommend the watch. This is another example of how forgettable the 1960s were in terms of German films and the special connection I mentioned earlier with regards to this one sadly did not turn into a quality outcome. Watch something else instead.
In general, I had some problem with the direction this movie was taking. The kids scenes really seemed to aim at a younger audience, but there were many more scenes with the grown-ups and children in the audience would find these really boring I am sure. But I am not sure what adult audiences would think about this film. If they found it entertaining or childish. I personally found little memorable stuff in the story (apart from the scene with the 2 kids naked in the lake searching for crabs and the father who takes them away) and I also think the emotional impact the film is trying to make, especially at the very end was not really successful. Maybe it is because I am just not the biggest Wolter fan. Despite the relatively high rating here on IMDb, I don't think this is better than than Jacobs' Lümmel films. I myself found many scenes dragging during the run-time here and this is even worse as it's far from being a really long films. Thumbs-down from me and I don't recommend the watch. This is another example of how forgettable the 1960s were in terms of German films and the special connection I mentioned earlier with regards to this one sadly did not turn into a quality outcome. Watch something else instead.