User Reviews

I have to disagree with Thomas Krueger's great review on one point: Luzi Kryn seems to be well aware of the camera, since she permanently stares right into it! This is the ultimate trash movie; I would recommend it only to people with a good sense of humor. If you like Ed Wood or, even more appropriate, the work of William "One-Shot" Beaudine, this is the flick you simply have to see.

Rosa von Praunheim's "masterpiece" features arguably the poorest acting and camera work, the strangest soundtrack (just one piece of music, lasting for about 15 seconds!), the worst props (easily outdoing even Ed Wood's movies) and the weirdest kidnapping scene ever put on celluloid, with possibly the most awkward noises ever heard in a cinema, courtesy, again, by the ultra-non-talented Luzi Kryn. But let's not forget Luzi's love interest Dietmar Kracht's amazing performance, especially in the later stages of the movie, when he arrives to rescue Luzi from his former friends (one of them apparently U.S.-born, whose lines are an odd mix of English and German), fittingly wearing a cape.

Even if you do not speak or understand German, you should be able to enjoy this wonderfully absurd piece of comedy, although Dietmar's over-the-top Mannheim accent delivers a few more highlights only people who are familiar with German idioms (he sounds like a very slow and distraught version of Boris Becker) might comprehend.

"Die Bettwurst" is a West German film from 1971, so this one has its 45th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Rosa von Praunheim (don't be fooled by the name, he's male) and he is mostly known today for his gay-themed films and documentaries. With "Härte", he added another somewhat known entry (at least here in Germany) to his body of work. This is of course a really early work we have here and Mischwitzky (the real name of the Latvian-born filmmaker) was not even 30 back then. Still it is easily among his most famous works. It is about a couple of an older woman and a younger man who fall in love at first sight. The action takes place in North Germany. This fairly short 80-minute movie is today seen by many as a bit of a cult film and I can see why. It is a very simple story of two people who really love each other and keep confessing his love again and again. That makes it somewhat sweet and von Praunheim managed to make this a somewhat authentic looking relationship in this film despite the blatant overacting by the duo of actors, especially Dietmar Kracht who died an untimely death a couple years later. The female lead is Luzi Kryn and she lived a lot longer. The film was so successful that it even received a sequel, even if that one is not half as known as this first film. The story is really unspectacular, yet it's not a bad watch. It's life as it happens, just in a very exaggerated way. The ending with the kidnapping is the weirdest thing though. It comes out of nowhere and it also adds very little. I guess von Praunheim wanted to bring some tension and excitement in here or just get in elements from the American crime films that were popular back then and spoof them a bit. Overall, it's a pretty mediocre film, somewhat memorable for it's approach, but not always in a positive way. I do not recommend checking it out.