"Hiev up" is a German comedy movie from 1978, so this one is already easily over 40 years old now. The international title (according to imdb) is Heave Up, but I am not sure this is such a good translation because the original title is also not really German, but more a specific term that people use who are working on ship and travelling the sea. This is an East German film by the way, which makes it for me a bit unusual because, even if there is the gigantic Baltic Sea of course, somehow I associate this kind of language and approach rather with people Hamburg or also those living not too far away from the Danish border. Anyway, this one here is not a long movie at all as it is close to the 80-minute mark than to the 90-minute mark, but for GDR standards, it is also not super short because many times they were making films that run for an hour only or 75 minutes, which is a running time for films that is not common at all. Not nowadays and also not really back then in other countries. Okay, if you take a look at the people who made this one here, you will come across the name Joachim Hasler and he is the director and one of no less than four writers, which is really a lot, not only because of the rather short duration. Hasler was as much of a cinematographer as he was a director back then and his writing colleagues here, with the exception of one perhaps, were also pretty prolific and worked on some GDR movies that are still among the more known today. I cannot say a lot about the cast here. There are of course still some people alive today in 2021 as the movie is old, but not ancient and of course it is in color, just like GDR comedies usually were.
Some pretty prolific actors in here, here and there also one who managed the transition when Germany was one country again and kep working like Regina Beyer. I don't know too many of them, however, and the lack of photos is self-explanatory maybe. It is still amazing how it feels like Fred Delmare is in every single GDR movie and Jürgen Heinrich is an actor I will always remember fondly from Wolffs Revier. Not Wolffs Review. Thoese two you can also see on the photo here, Heinrich on the left and Delmare in the middle. Kinda surprised this has a photo on imdb because, as you can see from the rating, it is really not a film seen by many. As for the story, I felt it was all a bit bland and uninteresting and I must say I never really developed any interest in the protagonists and their fates unfortunately. I think this is a common problem for GDR movies as they frequently struggle with getting the audience involved I'd say. That's why in this very case here, I was glad it was not a super lomg movie because I eventually lost interest faster than I hoped I would.
The element of the sea and the fact that we are basically following a bunch of seamen here also could have been used for better content. Still kinda funny to see the young Heinrich here, even if I struggled a bit because there was another key character roughly the same age and he also did not look too different (moustaches were a big thing back then, especially in the GDR), which kept confusing me a bit here and there who we are dealing with right now. And I don't even want to imagine how people that do not known Heinrich might have a much more difficult time than myself even to keep these two apart. As for Delmare's character, it felt a bit strange. He is shown briefly early on, then disappears for a really, really long time here and all of a sudden the film is all about him getting married (what an age difference!) and we know literally nothing about that the moment it is about to happen. That's not what I call quality writing. For the rest of them film then, i.e. basically the entire second half, he is featured way more frequently and seems it finally came to their minds that the man's popularity and recognition value were nothing they could simply waste here. It made the film still slightly better to see a familiar face this often, so I'm not gonna complain.
As for the political message you get so often from GDR films, I don't think it was too prominent in here, at least not in the sense of propaganda, which may be one reason why this film is still on national television here and there the way it was yesterday too. Chances are probably higher this is on MDR here because that's the station with its regional background from all the smaller ARD channels that deals with GDR films nowadays for the most part. And that they are otherwise not shown that often anymore does not mean that there aren't many. The opposite is the case. Most of them are just forgotten. Anyway, you can see maybe some communism/collective message in one of the songs, probably the one that is the easiest to remember because it is fairly catchy about how people are really supposed to work together, so there is a bit of a music component here too, but it does feel slightly stale as well, just like the rest of the movie. Had a touch of music they used in these old West German movies from ten, maybe even twenty years earlier. This also applies to the instrumental music we hear on several occasions and that is very light and playful throughout. I don't think those have aged too well and same applies to this one here. I would not even really blame the actors and cast here because it's more about the script where I would say the issues are. I am not entirely sure what the GDR leaders thought about that, but at least it is a bit of a progressive movie that you also see some nudity in here as it really does not take too long at all for the first pair of female breasts to be visible on the screen. And this is a film that was on around noon last night, pretty unthinkable 20 years ago or so I'd say. But people have gotten more open-minded, which is a good thing, but sadly they are now offended by other stuff for all the wrong reasons.
Another scene I would also like to mention as I am getting closer to the end of my review is the end of the movie. This includes of course the scene when they are about to leave again with their ships and the women (only one of them pretty cute and also only without the glasses) they dealt with in the last few days show up right there to see their men for a final time and this was maybe among the more dramatic and emotional segments of the film, maybe also not among the most realistic as they are all there again in some sort of reunion once again. So I must say that the emotional component there did not have any impact on me in terms of how and if I could feel that they would be missing each other. Still, maybe not the worst thing that these moments are among those parts that I at least still slightly remember. There wasn't a lot where I would say so. Also a bit of a reference to the words you frequently hear that sailor have one woman in every port, even if the ones in here were pretty harmless, even if they are using the idea here that the gang really wants to have some fun while not on the water and want to have a fun time before they return to their ship. An idea that is generally not too much appropriate for the anti-fun approach from the GDR (government), so maybe this film is even a bit anti-establishment, even if a character on one occasions starts a brief monologue to his "dear socialist God". Please the power I assume. Or was anti-establishment back then. But surely not too much because honestly all they do in here is really harmless for the most part and we are not witnessing any wild parties. Which is a bit of a pity too though because otherwise this film may have been more interesting. Or maybe it just would have been more try-hard. On the more positive side, the costumes were okay. I personally don't think it was a terrible watch, but I never really came close to liking it enough to consider handing out a positive recommendation. Watch something else instead.
Some pretty prolific actors in here, here and there also one who managed the transition when Germany was one country again and kep working like Regina Beyer. I don't know too many of them, however, and the lack of photos is self-explanatory maybe. It is still amazing how it feels like Fred Delmare is in every single GDR movie and Jürgen Heinrich is an actor I will always remember fondly from Wolffs Revier. Not Wolffs Review. Thoese two you can also see on the photo here, Heinrich on the left and Delmare in the middle. Kinda surprised this has a photo on imdb because, as you can see from the rating, it is really not a film seen by many. As for the story, I felt it was all a bit bland and uninteresting and I must say I never really developed any interest in the protagonists and their fates unfortunately. I think this is a common problem for GDR movies as they frequently struggle with getting the audience involved I'd say. That's why in this very case here, I was glad it was not a super lomg movie because I eventually lost interest faster than I hoped I would.
The element of the sea and the fact that we are basically following a bunch of seamen here also could have been used for better content. Still kinda funny to see the young Heinrich here, even if I struggled a bit because there was another key character roughly the same age and he also did not look too different (moustaches were a big thing back then, especially in the GDR), which kept confusing me a bit here and there who we are dealing with right now. And I don't even want to imagine how people that do not known Heinrich might have a much more difficult time than myself even to keep these two apart. As for Delmare's character, it felt a bit strange. He is shown briefly early on, then disappears for a really, really long time here and all of a sudden the film is all about him getting married (what an age difference!) and we know literally nothing about that the moment it is about to happen. That's not what I call quality writing. For the rest of them film then, i.e. basically the entire second half, he is featured way more frequently and seems it finally came to their minds that the man's popularity and recognition value were nothing they could simply waste here. It made the film still slightly better to see a familiar face this often, so I'm not gonna complain.
As for the political message you get so often from GDR films, I don't think it was too prominent in here, at least not in the sense of propaganda, which may be one reason why this film is still on national television here and there the way it was yesterday too. Chances are probably higher this is on MDR here because that's the station with its regional background from all the smaller ARD channels that deals with GDR films nowadays for the most part. And that they are otherwise not shown that often anymore does not mean that there aren't many. The opposite is the case. Most of them are just forgotten. Anyway, you can see maybe some communism/collective message in one of the songs, probably the one that is the easiest to remember because it is fairly catchy about how people are really supposed to work together, so there is a bit of a music component here too, but it does feel slightly stale as well, just like the rest of the movie. Had a touch of music they used in these old West German movies from ten, maybe even twenty years earlier. This also applies to the instrumental music we hear on several occasions and that is very light and playful throughout. I don't think those have aged too well and same applies to this one here. I would not even really blame the actors and cast here because it's more about the script where I would say the issues are. I am not entirely sure what the GDR leaders thought about that, but at least it is a bit of a progressive movie that you also see some nudity in here as it really does not take too long at all for the first pair of female breasts to be visible on the screen. And this is a film that was on around noon last night, pretty unthinkable 20 years ago or so I'd say. But people have gotten more open-minded, which is a good thing, but sadly they are now offended by other stuff for all the wrong reasons.
Another scene I would also like to mention as I am getting closer to the end of my review is the end of the movie. This includes of course the scene when they are about to leave again with their ships and the women (only one of them pretty cute and also only without the glasses) they dealt with in the last few days show up right there to see their men for a final time and this was maybe among the more dramatic and emotional segments of the film, maybe also not among the most realistic as they are all there again in some sort of reunion once again. So I must say that the emotional component there did not have any impact on me in terms of how and if I could feel that they would be missing each other. Still, maybe not the worst thing that these moments are among those parts that I at least still slightly remember. There wasn't a lot where I would say so. Also a bit of a reference to the words you frequently hear that sailor have one woman in every port, even if the ones in here were pretty harmless, even if they are using the idea here that the gang really wants to have some fun while not on the water and want to have a fun time before they return to their ship. An idea that is generally not too much appropriate for the anti-fun approach from the GDR (government), so maybe this film is even a bit anti-establishment, even if a character on one occasions starts a brief monologue to his "dear socialist God". Please the power I assume. Or was anti-establishment back then. But surely not too much because honestly all they do in here is really harmless for the most part and we are not witnessing any wild parties. Which is a bit of a pity too though because otherwise this film may have been more interesting. Or maybe it just would have been more try-hard. On the more positive side, the costumes were okay. I personally don't think it was a terrible watch, but I never really came close to liking it enough to consider handing out a positive recommendation. Watch something else instead.
