MovieChat Forums > Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (1973) Discussion > Rainer Werner Fassbinder ... Director?

Rainer Werner Fassbinder ... Director?

posted 15 years ago by Doctor_Mabuse1
5 replies | jump to latest

I've seen and admired Tenderness of the Wolves several times and don't believe for an instant that it was directed by Ulli Lommel. I think Rainer Werner Fassbinder is entirely responsible this masterful film, which has Fassbinder's personal stamp all over it.

Not only is Fassbinder in the cast, but the film was made with his crew. And compare the film's style with that of Querelle.

Why Fassbinder would credit another director is a mystery, but these things do happen: think Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby (The Thing from Another World), Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist), etc.

It would be a crime if Tenderness of the Wolves were to foster the illusion that Lommel is or ever was any kind of an artist -- even an anti-artist. I can't speak for his other German films, but Lommel has never shown the remotest sign of this kind of talent in any of his American films. Early on in the U.S. he made a couple of mediocre horror films with a modicum of visual style (The Boogeyman and The Devonsville Terror), then participated in one of the authentically worst sequels ever (Boogeyman II). Subsequently Lommel has crapped out any number of worthless direct-to-video which exist solely by means of their crassly sensational subject matter and fail even to deliver on the level of Z-exploitation trash.

Lord help us all when the Lommel Cult inevitably develops.

[–] lothd 15 years ago

It certainly has Fassbinder's personal stamp all over it because he produced it. The DVD booklet has an interview with Lommel. He explains that Fassbinder felt the subject matter was too tricky and risky. Also at the time Fassbinder was in the middle of making 'Effie Briest'. That's why he agreed to produce it but not to direct it. Furthermore: "He didn't want to do it and it didn't fit into his carreer, really, and he thought it was too controversial. He knew that he would have to answer the kinds of questions brought up in this type of interview, for example, and he didn't want to do that. What I got from Fassbinder was everyone who ever worked for Fassbinder... except for Hanna Schygulla."

[–] cynema 14 years ago

Fassbinder thought this was too controversial?

I mean, maybe I can agree that it wasn't controversial in a way that fit him, but this is someone who was into fisting, sniffing lots of coke and pimping his best friends. Certainly the F-BOMB liked being controversial.

Watching this thing I can't help but feel like this IS a FASSBINDER film. Its like someone else said, it is similar to SPEILBERG and POLTERGEIST or GOONIES. His stamp is all over the thing.

F-BOMB was infamous for giving hs crew minimal direction and expecting them to be prepared. His cast worked with him for years, especially KURT RAAB who ran the ACTION THEATER with him.
Would it be a stretch to say FASSBINDER had directed these people so much that they just knew what he would want?

Perhaps F-BOMB wast sure if this movie would be bad for his career and chose LOMMELL so he would be hands-on AND off at once.

"The more real things get, the more like myths they become. " R.W. Fassbinder

[–] The_Coma-Man 13 years ago

From everything I have seen, this reminds me of Pasolini's/Citti's OSTIA, which was produced and written by Pasolini, but "directed" by Citti.

Both films have the cast and crew of the "producer", and the style is the same.
So let me voice it this way: I guess even thought Lommel may have "called the shots", everybody did it the Fassbinder way. BTW, it has the same cinematographer as Effi Briest, so I doubt Fassbinder was "busy" with that film if the cinematographer was available. ;)
Also, if Fassbinder was on set, you can imagine him taking some of the crew over. If you read about Fassbinder, he was very... vocal, so him telling the crew or Lommel how a shot would get better would be synonymous to him directing.
I also think I should point out that Fassbinder wasn't Kubrick - he shot some of his films in a week, so while he certainly had a crew and put thought into his films, he was far from a perfectionist and worked very quickly.
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[–] prodigiousone 8 years ago

Indeed, that is a very good comparison. I mean between the way Fassbinder/Lommel were to this film being the way that Pasolini/Citti were to "Ostia" (and "Bawdy Tales",too, for that matter).

It also reminds me, as well, of Spielberg/Hooper on "Poltergeist".

And, also, it is perhaps most similar to Tarantino/Rodriguez on "From Dusk till Dawn".
Tarantino had just made a big splash with "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction", and quickly became Gen-X's new-big-splash filmmaker. He has written "Dawn" way earlier, and was distancing himself from it. When it became apparent that it was going to get made regardless, he became involved. However, he did NOT want "From Dusk till Dawn" to be his personal directorial follow-up to the cultural phenomenon that was "Pulp Fiction". So, with the same studio (Miramax), same execs. (the Weinsteins), same producer (Lawrence Bender), and with Tarantino writing (and even re-writing) the script, co-exec. producing, co-producing, casting the four principle leads, acting a key role himself, and even using many crew members from his own films, the film was in production. Then, late in the game, Tarantino "hand-picked" his friend Robert Rodriguez to "direct". Tarantino was on set the entire shoot, even when he wasn't acting in the film, and by all accounts, he was AT LEAST a co-director of sorts. But he was very wise to NOT put his name as director, so that this film wouldn't be considered officially part of his directing filmography.

[–] spt-28206 7 years ago

It's a bit of a misconception to call Lommel an untalented director. His shlock is schlock because it's made with as little effort and money as possible, not because it's outright incompetent; there was a time when Lommel was a pretty solid horror director, and this and The Boogeyman stand as a testament to that.