Town Without Pity

When this film was released in 1961, I remember the ads saying this film was for "Adults Only". (The MPAA rating system didn't exist then.) A film about four soldiers stationed in Germany who gang rape a 16 year old girl and the trial that followed was pretty heavy stuff for audiences back then. I recently saw the film on Turner Classic Movies, and it still holds up very well. It is still startling and powerful, even without nudity and foul language, which should show Hollywood it can be done. You can be "adult" without being unnecessarily vulgar or obscene. As it stands, I would still give this film an "R" rating today.

And, of course, there is the memorable title song, sung by Gene Pitney, which accounted for the film's only (surprisingly) Oscar nomination. Even that lost out to the syrupy "Moon River" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

My one complaint about Turner's presentation was with the film's aspect ratio. Instead of showing a widescreen version, they showed a full-frame version with the framing "squeezed" so that faces were somewhat elongated and cars appeared "stubby" and compacted. This became very annoying. Even a pan & scan version would be better than this.

Nonetheless, for sheer power, as well as excellent acting by Kirk Douglas, E.G. Marshall, Christine Kaufmann, and a very young Robert Blake, I highly recommend "Town Without Pity".

Four U.S soldiers at an army base in Germany are charged with a gang rape and the prosecutor is asking for the death penalty as demanded by public outrage and the girl's father, a leading citizen of the town. Although sure of their guilt, the defending lawyer is also sure that they do not deserve the death penalty. He wants to plea bargain, but he'll dig up dirt and tear the girl apart on the witness stand if that's what it takes to save the men. No person or event in the story is as innocent as it seems at first - not the girl, the town, the judicial process, or even the simple brutality of the four men.

The movie's weaknesses, unfortunately, are in the actual realization of this excellent story. The screenplay is very uneven, over-developing some of the complexities while short-changing others. The use of a voice-over is a clever way to avoid having to subtitle the German speaking scenes, but as implemented it is a clumsy shortcut to giving us information which should have been written into the action. Most unfortunate is the poor choice of music. It blatantly attempts to force its particular mood on the viewer in total discordance with the more subtle manner in which the story is presented. On the bright side, the acting is good and the main point of the story - the brutal treatment of the girl on the witness stand and by the town - is not diluted by any of these problems, making this a movie well worth watching.

Town Without Pity, an American-German co-production, involves the crime, trial, and aftermath of four American GIs in occupied Germany raping a teenage girl.

Christine Kaufman who shortly after this film became the second Mrs. Tony Curtis, is attacked and raped by four American soldiers. The four, Frank Sutton, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Blake, and Mal Sondock, are in danger of capital punishment as prescribed by the American Code of Military Justice.

As another reviewer pointed out this was taking place while Germany was still an occupied country. Allied occupation of Germany didn't officially end until 1955 when our High Commissioner to Germany, James B. Conant, became our first ambassador to the German Federal Republic. After that these four would have taken their chances in a German criminal court.

The fact though that they were soldiers also meant that there was no chance for acquittal. What had to be determined was how guilty they were, even to the extent of the ultimate punishment.

Kirk Douglas for the defense and E.G. Marshall for the prosecution make a good pair of adversaries. Marshall would very shortly see how the other half lived as after this film was done, he would star in the long running TV series, The Defenders.

Kirk Douglas is a tiger in the courtroom as he ruthlessly puts Kaufman's own character on trial. It's his job, it's done down to the present day with victims of rape. But he's also a person with conscience, he knows exactly the character of the four men he's charged with the defense of, the character of each of them individually.

Anyway there isn't a player alive who doesn't relish a good courtroom scene and Douglas made the most of his opportunity here. I don't believe Kirk got back in a courtroom until a made for TV remake of Inherit the Wind.

Of the German cast and I note that several including Kaufman have had substantial careers in the German cinema, Barbara Rueting as the German reporter who narrates the film and Gerhard Lippert as Kaufman's boyfriend also stand out.

Of course no discussion of Town Without Pity is complete without the title song which I remember so well blaring from the jukeboxes of 1961. This jazz/rock and roll song was very typical of what was happening in German and other foreign culture, an overwhelming Americanization of same. Gene Pitney sold a lot of records of Town Without Pity back in the day. If you've never seen the film you'll remember the song after seeing it once.

And you'll also remember in terms of attitudes they really are the same. Those little minds will indeed tear you in two.

It's what a Town Without Pity does.

Surprisingly this convincing drama is almost ignored by German TV stations nowadays though it features a very touching and impressive performance by Christine Kaufmann who won a Golden Globe for this one (as the first German actress ever). Kirk Douglas is very strong in the male lead having to deal with the awful job to defend four US soldiers who've gang raped a 16-years-old German beauty. Though Reinhardt's style has dated badly the movie's still worth watching. He definitely has done a good job capturing the heartless atmosphere needed for a story like this. There are some haunting moments.....and the sad realization that also more than 40 years after "Town Without Pity" most rape victims still are devastated twice.

By the way, I've seen the German version which is half-dubbed, half-original so that you have several characters speaking with two different voices. I'd prefer a complete English or German version respectively the use of subtitles.

This is a very serious movie. A local teenage girl is raped by four US soldiers on a hot summer day in a little German town. Her father wants the criminals to be killed. The soldiers' lawyer (Kirk Douglas) knows he must devastate the girl's seemingly innocent image to free his clients from the death sentence. It looks like this movie never really was produced to be a huge success at the box offices at all. It treats its story with honesty and no compromises. The acting is excellent. Douglas and Marshall give very impressive performances supported by a flawless German/ American cast. Christine Kaufmann is absolutely convincing as the victim which is raped a second, this time by the legal system. Reinhardt almost tends to a documentary style, something that probably doesn't appeal to all viewers. It's exciting, well written and very depressive. A perfect movie which leaves you speechless in the end.