The Toilers and the Wayfarers

This movie was done very poorly where the actual storyline is concerned. By simply expounding on the characters lives, adding a little more dramatic fill and by filming this dram in color, this film could have been a wonderful must see work. It is still a suggested viewing work that will hit home for a lot of people young, old, strait and gay alike.

It has been my experience that most gay dramas have sad or violent endings. Although this movie has no such ending it does however leave everything hanging with nothing coming to a complete end. It leaves the audience longing for much more. Movie should have been at least 80min. more with at least some character and/or story line conclusions.

I loved this film. It was different, unique, and held my interest for all 75 minutes. Filming in black and white always adds that independent touch. I may be a bit bias (since I live in St Paul MN), as the film was set in New Ulm Minnesota, and is filmed on location in Minneapolis - scenes on and around Hennepin Avenue, including one outside the Gay 90's, once but no longer an institution in the gay clubs of the Twin Cities.

The Story: We follow the plight of 3 young (and likely gay) teens coming of age in a small rural Minnesota town. Dieter, Phillip and Udo (who arrives from Ulm Germany to live with his Aunt, who soon dies) become pals in the most unusual of ways. Eventually, Phillips ends up on the streets of Minneapolis, and Dieter and Udo are left to contend with family conflict in New Ulm. Suffice to say, I'll need to visit New Ulm one day. The film eventually leads us to Minneapolis where Dieter and Phillip reunite, and passions flare as the two deal with lust, love, hustling and survival. Udo is pretty much out of the storyline at this point. I can't say much more without leading you towards the ending.

What I Liked: I don't think the film ever developed a "time period", so one must judge based on cars, and other factors. I would say the film, originally released in Theaters in 1997, is set in the early to mid 80's. Though the word AIDS is never uttered, we are left to wonder what will become of our boys from New Ulm, outcast from their families. Hustling for sex in the 80's was not a good thing (is it ever actually). The film is mostly serious, with some humor (mostly thanks to Udo) and is primarily in English, though several scenes, especially early, are in German with English subtitles, which for me, just adds to the film. A nice collection of DVD extras too.

What I Didn't Like: Nothing really, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and will keep it on my collection. It is a solid 9 and since I cannot think of any negatives, I am going to give it a 10.

Final Word: I loved the West St Paul tow truck, the Minneapolis night street scenes at dusk in black and white - and the German humor of Udo. The storyline is tender and heartfelt, and the young actors are stunning in all regards. A great film, go see it.

This film is about 3 young men of German descent growing up in the mid West of America.

The striking feature about this film is that it is in black and white. It gives the film more of a "lonely" and "despair" feeling. The prominent use of the German language reminds viewers their heritage, which is a fact that is highlighted many times in the film. It must have been very difficult for these youngsters to live in a village, as they are minority in both their heritage and their sexual orientation. It is also interesting to see the transition of Dieter from a homophobic figure (in denial of himself) to a rentboy for gay men. How his morality spirals down is thought provoking. It is worth a watch if you have nothing to do, but don't expect it to be too entertaining.

As has been stated repeatedly, we all really like the lead actor, Matt Klemp, as it was very obvious that this was his first real project and he gave it his best...which was actually very good. But his "very good" was surrounded by mediocre to bad, ranging from the acting from the supporting cast, to the overall script, which had holes wide enough to drive a Semi-truck through. Also, the writer and/or director really capitalized on Matt's good looks and body to the point of becoming cliché and just gratuitously creepy (would a normal geriatric father REALLY need to pull his teen-age son's pants down to spank him? If the answer is yes, that says something pretty unsettling about the father). While the film is OK, especially for an indie in the 90s, it really just had one good thing going for it...and I really hope he was rewarded (at least monetarily) for his efforts.

The narrator chose a good topic and starts the story with an attractive theme, but it couldn't be developed properly. It seems far from the reality because a juvenile which has had a rigorous upbringing may not easily become a prostitute.