User Reviews

"Immer die Radfahrer" is a West German live action movie from 1958. It was directed by Hans Deppe and written by Wolf Neumeister and Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff. Deppe and Neumeister were already very experienced at that point and it is from the latter, but not late stages of their respective careers. Kulenkampff also plays one of the main characters in here. Just like most German-language film from around that era, it does not get past the 90-minute mark. Or only barely does. And it is in color, which is not to be taken for granted for a movie released before the 1960s, but still more likely for a comedy than for a German drama movie from that era. I mentioned Kulenkampff already, but the real lead actor here is Heinz Erhardt, the German comedy legend and that is also why you see him here on the poster. Not necessarily in terms of screen time, but in terms of stardom, even if Kulenkampff (mostly for his showmaster qualities) is also still a very familiar name today. However, the third lead, Wolf Albach-Retty is not a big name at all and a bit surprising to see him next to these two legends here, especially because the introduction at the school is all about him, even if his screen time gets a little less afterwards.

But back to Albers: unfortunately I must say that, here, he does not have the material to really shine. When he has the screen (almmost) for himself, he is still doing fine, but the script overall is just too weak and shallow for him 8or anybody else) to truly make an impact. There is not much of a story, just one scene after the next, in which they were trying to make audiences laugh and maybe they even did back then, but I personally felt that the comedy in here has not aged well at all. It feels like a loud movie, a movie in which the characters (and actors) go way too much over the top way too many times and it hurts the outcome a lot. Giving it 4 out of 10 is still very much on the generous side. I'd say it is closer to being a failure than to being an alright movie. Every time, something actually happens with the story like the trio's partners showing up, it does not get better and it feels as if they even recognized and simply movied the action elsewhere. No clue where the woman are gone again for example after this strange talk between the two about what the men do when they take a break from cycling. It also felt pretty scripted hhere and there. Even the music was a bit of a disappointment all in all, but ptobably not among the film's weakest aspects. However, at the end, they really act as if this music is a big spectacular emotional highlight, but it does not even get close to being such. The romance aspect you always find in these films with the younger characters added very little as well.

This film will soon have its 60th birthday and after having watched a whole bunch of movies from that era, I must say that it was not a particularly good time for films in Germany. Apart from that, I also feel the title is really random here. Yes there are cycling references, but it's just a really minor thingey. Also, not sure if this is objective or subjective, but the age difference between two characters from the lead trio and the third is pretty big. Are we really supposed to believe these three finished school the exact same time? Oh well, maybe I missed something, then my bad, but it feels to me as if they cimply wanted Kulenkampff in here and did not care about this pretty large difference in age. Or if he himself said there will be no movie if he cannot be a part of it as he probably had some impact as he was (partially) in charge of the script. Just one minor thing finally that says nothing about the quality, namely that here we have a comment in the title that actually feels as if it could be a quote from Erhardt's character who always played characters that were a bit of choleric phlegms and maybe he could be complaining about reckless bikers, but no: He is a biker (of course without a motor) and the comment stems from very minor characters at the very end. Oh yeah, also one more side note as I have only talked about the men so far: In here, you will also find the really young Christiane Hörbiger, over 80 now and the not so young Inge Meysel. She is of course no longer with us anymore, just like the mahority of cast members here and Hörbiger is one exception and so is Hansi Kraus. That would be all then Finally, I personally give this movie a thumbs down. Not recommended and even from the not so amazing genre, this is nowhere near the better films, which is pretty self-explanatory. Watch something else instead, unless you are a huge Erhardt fan, but honestly it must be said he has done a lot better on other occasions than with most of his films. Even I like him, but I could not see much quality in here. Skip it.