Beautiful, moving film.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Der Amerikanische Soldat" (1970) is R.W. Fassbinder's least understood movie. Most people think - and this conviction can be found also in textbooks about Fassbinders as well as in reference works of film - that he just wanted to create a German Film Noir as a kind of reverence for his love for the respective American movies of the 50ies. Nothing can be less adequate! The American Soldier, asked by a prostitute, if he is a real Yank, answers: "First, there was Germany ... . Once there was a little boy ... He flew over the Pond ... . Scheisse!". I think the main problem with the story is that Fassbinder purposely does not portray The American Soldier as an American who has been called by the German police to abolish a bunch of criminals. Richard Murphy alias Richard Von Rezzori is a German. When Franz Walsch alias Fassbinder asks him during their car trip: "And how was it in Vietnam?" - Richard's astonishing answer is: "Loud". In this little dialog, there is all you need to understand this outstanding movie. Another crucial scene is when Richard visits his paternal house. As one sees, not only he, but also his mother and his brother are drinkers. When he rings the bell, he tries to kiss his mother, but she disgustedly turns away her head. His brother smashes a wine-glass in his hand until he bleeds. After Richard has left, he starts to cry and says: "Mama, I still love him!". So, who is the American Soldier? A German noble-man who became an American citizen in order to be legitimated to clean-up what had destroyed his soul in Germany? Vietnam as a legitimation to get rid of the burdens of his soul? But about such things one does not speak, and so it was just "loud" down there. But is there not an additional point of criticism in Fassbinder's movie? Fact is: It is the German police (represented by three moronic officers and an antique president) who hire the American Soldier in order to kill all those against which the police has too little evidence in order to arrest them. But in the end, the killer also gets killed, because otherwise the incapability of the police would become public! Can one not see in this other aspect of the story also the function of the real Americans who "liberated" Germany after World War II. and, at the same time, have been accused of intrusion and interference for what they have done? So, Fassbinders's movie is far from being mono-linear. What he copied is a little bit the Ambiente of some early gangster movies, but even the structural main feature, the play with light and shadow and the dark screens which have been so typical for Films Noirs, are completely lacking in "The American Soldier". One has rather the impression, that three clowns of police-men just have watched a bit too many gangster movies, that is all. With that, it goes together that the most unimportant persons in the movie carry the names of famous real persons, a stylistic effect that Fassbinder loved: So, the porter of the shabby hotel is "Murnau", the little girl-friend of one of the police-rowdies is "Rosa Von Praunheim". The porn-sales-girl is Magdalena "Fuller". Last but not least: Richard Von Rezzori bears the name of the German writer Gregor Von Rezzori whose wife Hanna Axmann-Rezzori was one of Fassbinder's early Maecenas and acted in "Warum Läuft Herr R. Amok" and "Rio Das Mortes". The score of this movie, by Fassbinder and Peer Raben, probably belongs to the best film music of all times.

The München police cannot cope anymore with some of their underworld elements, so they hire Ricky Murphy alias Richard von Rezzori, a German who served for the US in Vietnam, to kill first a gypsy, then a porno-merchant (and by the way also her lover), and last the girlfriend of one of the police detectives. It happens to be exactly this girl who is sent to Ricky when he stays in a hotel and orders a girl. In the scene in the hotel we hear also the story of the house-keeper Emmy who married a much younger man from Northern Africa who killed her. This story has been filmed by Fassbinder with a different end a few years later under the title "Ali: Fear eats the soul". Just at the time of his arrival, Ricky meets his old buddy Franz, and they visit places where they had been together. Ricky also meets his mother and brother, and in this scene we have on the one side a coldness between Ricky and his mother that cannot be increased and a latent homosexual love between Ricky a his slightly retarded brother on the other side.However, after Ricky has done his duty for the detectives that engaged him, they must get rid of him because otherwise they would have to admit their incapability to solve their problems on their own in front of their boss, an ancient police-chief who seems to be in the hand of his officers. The end scene, in which Ricky and his buddy Franz lose their lives because of a simple "accident", I do not want to spoil here, because the end of "The American Soldier" is an end of such a magnitude of splendor that you will hardly find in any other movie. However, what I want to add is that the message of this movie goes way beyond that of Fassbinder's inclination towards American gangster movies from the 40ies: People who know Fassbinder's work also know that he gave his movies strong political and sociological messages on their ways. "I want my movies to go on in the heads of the audience after they have left the cinema", Fassbinder once said. In this movie, Germans engage an American-German with Vietnam-experience to do the dirty work in Europe, and after he succeeds, instead of paying him the promised sum, they kill him. It seems that Fassbinder just used the decor of Film noir to characterize the years after World II in Germany, since, for a man like Fassbinder, the liberation of Germany by the Allies was not an act of terrorism against the Nazi regime, but a deed for which the American soldiers who cleaned the mess up in Germany have never been adequately rewarded.

I have really liked some of Fassbinder's films, so I cannot be accused of being "anti-Fassbinder". BUT, I really hated this film. It was amateurish throughout--with a lousy score, indifferent acting and dopey direction. It was VERY obvious that this was one of Fassbinder's first films because it has so many obvious flaws and looks more like a home movie. Let me give a few examples:1. When the lead shoots one lady and the man with her to death, she is very obviously breathing as he leaves the room. I could easily see this while watching it on a DVD on TV, so I'm sure on a large screen it was even more apparent. Normally, this flaw would have been spotted and the scene re-shot. 2. The end of the movie is choreographed poorly and comes off very sloppily.3. The actors, at times, have trouble with their lines. Once again, a director would NORMALLY re-shoot the scenes.4. The suicide scene is, perhaps, one of the most poorly acted and pointless scenes I have ever witnesses. Most high school plays have greater realism.The film appears heavily influenced by Jean-Luc Godard and in some ways looks like a knock-off of the movie, Alphaville. This is a real shame, as Alphaville is another terrible film that has been seen, by some, as great art--while the average person would probably find the films amateurish and choppy.FYI--this is a VERY explicit film in places, so parents beware.Also, during one scene in the film, one of the actresses tells a story. Apart from a few changes, the story she told later was made by Fassbinder into ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL. A very interesting touch indeed, but not enough to save this film.

Not one of Fassbinder's best, but certainly worth a look for those interested in the man's work. In mood and style, it's reminiscent of Godard's Alphaville, and my reactions to both films are similar: I am intrigued, but a bit bored. And I don't think either succeed in the end. The American Soldier concerns a haughty German-American soldier, fresh from Vietnam, who struts around killing people for reasons which are kept mostly obscure (he's some kind of gangster or hitman). The police are after him, though the police seem just as wicked. I didn't care much about what was going on – no compelling reason was ever given for me to care. However, many elements of the film impressed me. Fassbinder's idiosyncratic sense of pace and mood pervades. The performances are pretty good. Fassbinder himself appears in a small role and, as usual, he delivers a remarkable performance. He has to be the best actor/director of all time. Peer Raben never seems to write a lot of music for Fassbinder's films. Instead, he just writes one theme that is used several times throughout the given picture. They are always exceptional, and his theme (and also theme song, which is the same tune with lyrics added) is excellent here. And then there's this ending. Fassbinder has a talent for unique and notable endings, and the end of this film is one of the weirdest and most remarkable I've ever seen. 7/10.