Town Without Pity

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".

This movie has everything, including and above all style. Finally a movie that's every bit as good as the title song! So many movies are inferior to their music. The subject is sleazy, gloriously so. And there is a good dose of compassion too. Great script inspires great acting. The song is quite original and catchy, and the singer, Gene Pitney, is an overlooked and neglected genius, both as a singer and as a songwriter. And let's have a hand of applause for Tiomkin, a Russian who wrote some of the most quintessentially American music!

I'm not someone who uses lots of superlatives, but "Town without Pity" is a movie, for which I would not mind using some of them (and only positively). I had no idea about this movie, nor I ever knew anything about it; yet I picked it up only because everytime I visited the Exposition Park Branch of the Los angeles Public Library, it was lying there in the shelf, for a long long time. Watching this movie was a very pleasant experience for me. I found this movie very "humane" in that it was able to successfully deal with the sensitive issue of rape. It's devoid of high drama, but rather very realistic. It involves the humane face of a ruthless defense lawyer, who knows his job, and yet is ready to spare the victim the second round of rape that occurs in the court-room during cross examination.

I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch an excellent, serious movie.

Surprisingly this convincing drama is almost ignored by German TV stations nowadays though it features a very touching and impressive performance by Christine Kaufmann who won a Golden Globe for this one (as the first German actress ever). Kirk Douglas is very strong in the male lead having to deal with the awful job to defend four US soldiers who've gang raped a 16-years-old German beauty. Though Reinhardt's style has dated badly the movie's still worth watching. He definitely has done a good job capturing the heartless atmosphere needed for a story like this. There are some haunting moments.....and the sad realization that also more than 40 years after "Town Without Pity" most rape victims still are devastated twice.

By the way, I've seen the German version which is half-dubbed, half-original so that you have several characters speaking with two different voices. I'd prefer a complete English or German version respectively the use of subtitles.

Parts of Town Without Pity are really good, but there are two elements that nearly ruin the film: the ridiculous Oscar-nominated title song and subsequent repetitive theme, and the frequent, superfluous narration by Barbara Rutting. She plays a reporter in the film, so I can only imagine the screenwriters wanted to make the audience think she was writing an article that turned into the film, but it was extremely distracting. The opening scene shows Christine Kauffman and her boyfriend Gerhart Lippert swimming, talking, and sunbathing. Town Without Pity is a German film, and when the German cast speaks in their native tongue, the cold, unexpressive narration translates what they're saying for the English speakers in the audience. Why didn't they substitute narration for subtitles? Every time Barbara's irritating voice cut in, I was taken out of the extremely dramatic, emotional situation.

As tastefully as it can be shown, while still showing exactly what happened, the film shows four American soldiers rape Christine in the beginning scene. The rest of the film involves the trial and the emotional damages Christine and her family suffer throughout the process. She gives a fantastic performance, and were it not for the narration, my heart would have absolutely broken for her.

Kirk Douglas plays the soldiers' attorney, and he also gives a wonderful performance. He's disgusted by his clients but can't refuse his assignment, and he tries to be as sympathetic to Christine as possible. There's a scene in which Kirk is interviewing Christine, with a physical translator present, and he learns more information about the case. He and Christine only communicate with their eyes because they don't want a record of what they're trying to say, and it's incredibly powerful. The majority of Kirk's performance is dual-focused: he's forced to say one thing, but his heart makes his eyes say something different.

Obviously, because of the heavy subject matter, this movie won't be for everyone. However, since the film was made in 1961, you can rest assured the opening scene isn't graphic. If you like watching very dramatic, non-feel-good movies just to appreciate the acting-I do, too-then you'll want to rent this one. You'll also want to pop in something lighter afterwards, like Pillow Talk.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, since there's a rape scene and some heavy subject matter, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.