"Die Halbstarken" or "The Hooligans" is a German 90-minute movie from 1956, so this one has its 60th anniversary this year. It scored a win for director and writer Georg Tressler at the German Film Awards and his two lead actors also received some nice attention with their nominations. Tressler was not as young anymore at this point as one may think judging from the award he won as he had already made a whole lot of short films before that, but it was his feature film debut and for that it was really impressive. Also for lead actors Horst Buchholz and Karin Baal, this film was easily among their most career-defining performances. For almost the entire film, we think Buchholz' is the main antagonist, but at the very end we find out the truth, something that was occasionally indicated throughout the movie. As for the reference in my review's title, it is very much obvious how there are many parallels to the very successful "Rebel Without a Cause". Buchholz is clearly channeling Dean (and Brando as well) in terms of his brute role here and the scenario with two young men (one strong, one rather weak) and a woman who has a major impact on both their lives is obvious. But that's not a bad thing as the film still offers enough in terms of originality to be wort seeing in his own right. I also liked that it felt extremely realistic from start to finish despite being pretty showy on some occasions. The atmosphere is interesting and this can certainly seen as what wild new film looked like in Germany, maybe even as an epitome, when it comes to the 1950s. I recommend the watch. Thumbs up for one of the better works from what is generally considered not exactly a strong decade for German film.
Review of Teenage Wolfpack
