Town Without Pity

I'm not someone who uses lots of superlatives, but "Town without Pity" is a movie, for which I would not mind using some of them (and only positively). I had no idea about this movie, nor I ever knew anything about it; yet I picked it up only because everytime I visited the Exposition Park Branch of the Los angeles Public Library, it was lying there in the shelf, for a long long time. Watching this movie was a very pleasant experience for me. I found this movie very "humane" in that it was able to successfully deal with the sensitive issue of rape. It's devoid of high drama, but rather very realistic. It involves the humane face of a ruthless defense lawyer, who knows his job, and yet is ready to spare the victim the second round of rape that occurs in the court-room during cross examination.

I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch an excellent, serious movie.

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.

This movie has everything, including and above all style. Finally a movie that's every bit as good as the title song! So many movies are inferior to their music. The subject is sleazy, gloriously so. And there is a good dose of compassion too. Great script inspires great acting. The song is quite original and catchy, and the singer, Gene Pitney, is an overlooked and neglected genius, both as a singer and as a songwriter. And let's have a hand of applause for Tiomkin, a Russian who wrote some of the most quintessentially American music!

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".

Town Without Pity (1961)

**** (out of 4)

Incredibly hard hitting, depressing and brutal courtroom drama, which has sadly been forgotten over the decades. I read an interview with Kirk Douglas once and he talked about all the controversy including him getting death threats from some of his fans. United Artists put a warning on the film and asked theater owners not to let anyone under 17 into the film. Several theater owners wouldn't even show the film due to its subject matter. I think all of this controversy hurt the film when it was released but I think it's about time film buffs and film historians go back and take a look at this film and include it with the greatest courtroom films out there. This film still manages to shock and be outrageous nearly forty-five years after being released.

Four American soldiers (one played by Robert Blake) are stationed in a small German town where they rape a 16-year-old girl. It's obvious they are guilty and the town wants the death penalty, which the American government agrees to. A lawyer (Kirk Douglas) is called in and right from the start he hates his clients and agrees they are monsters yet he must do his job and defend them. To do this, he must at least get the death penalty dropped and the only way to do this is by putting the innocent girl on the stand and breaking her apart.

I'm a huge fan of Kirk Douglas and in my opinion this very well could be the greatest performance I've seen from him. He goes through all sorts of emotions from pain to anger to humiliation and there's not one false step along the way. You could break everyone of his scenes down and it's clear there isn't a false move and this is the perfect example of an actor doing everything right. Robert Blake is very haunting in his role and E.G. Marshall is wonderful as the prosecuting attorney. Christine Kaufmann brilliantly plays the young girl. This movie sends the viewer through all sorts of emotions and doesn't hold back on any level. This is the type of film that kicks you in the gut but instead of letting you catch your breath it keeps on kicking you. The interesting thing is that the viewer agrees with Douglas and the director makes sure you hate the soldiers from start to finish. At the same time, we understand Douglas has a job to do and in some ways, we understand him attacking the young girl who did nothing wrong.

The only problem with the film is some unwanted narration but after a while this didn't bother me too much. The music score by Dimitri Tiomkin perfectly captures the mood of the film and the title song by Gene Pitney is very haunting. If you look through review books this film gets rather low ratings so on that level I'd have to call this one of the greatest films I've ever seen that doesn't even get good reviews.