Prior to watching German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 87-minute long 1970 film, Pioneers In Ingolstadt, I’d only been subjected to one of his films, the execrable Whity. Okay, at least Whity had some outrageous, unintended perverse sexual humor going for it. Pioneers In Ingolstadt lacks even that. In fact, it’s really not so much a film as a series of extended blackout sketches.
Given the period it was made, and given that many of the scenes take place in a Munich public park, at a bench, at night, in ridiculously poorly lit (or overlit) scenes that cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann should have been shot for committing to celluloid, my mind immediately flashed back to the ABC television sitcom that ran from 1969 to 1974: Love, American Style. I specifically recall similarly set up scenes between recurring characters played by Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi. Now, that show was no great thing, but at least there were occasional sketches that were well acted and, well, funny! Not a one of the sketches in Pioneers In Ingolstadt can claim either mantle.
In fact, in researching the film, I found out that it was originally made for German television, was shot in under two weeks, and was one of 11 films that Fassbinder made in a 12-month period at the start of his filmic career. All of this shows, and in spades. Despite being adapted from a 1928 play of the same name by Marieluise Fleisser, there really is nothing the film offers. The acting is wooden, stiff, and utterly without emotion. The writing is scattered, anomic, and without any point. The characterizations are nonexistent. And not a single scene or characterization yields anything that shows up in a later scene as a payoff. In short, this is one of the worst films ever made. It is pretentious, dull, poorly conceived, executed with even more of a creative dearth, and is, well... here is a summary of what happens.
The film follows three main female characters as they search for love and sex with incompetent soldiers (the titular Pioneers, for some reason) stationed in a town (presumably Ingolstadt) to build a dinky little bridge. Alma (Irm Hermann) is the local tart, spreading her legs for anyone. Berta (Hanna Schygulla) is a sincere maid, and pal to Alma. She falls in love with a soldier who is as dumb and unattractive as he is uninspiring — Karl (Harry Baer, who does a lousy acting job). The last girl is a blond, Frieda (Carla Aulaulu), who wears too much makeup, and gets constantly put down by the uppity Alma. There is also tension between the soldiers and their Sergeant (Klaus Löwitsch), whom they finally kill.
Article comments
1 - Kent Perkins
.....thanks for your mention of the great Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson, and the entertainment they brought America. Too bad nobody can create a variety show anymore...all we get is reality programming and garbage...in my humble opinion...but I've been married to Ruth for 31 years so maybe I'm prejudiced...(lol)