Wolfgang Petersen

  • Wolfgang Petersen – Schwarz und weiß wie Tage und Nächte (1978)

    1971-1980ArthouseDramaGermanyWolfgang Petersen

    Originally made for German television, this film chronicles obsessions of a man who will do almost anything to avoid losing a chess game. Thomas Rosenmund (Bruno Ganz) learns how to play chess by watching his father in a friendly game with a neighbor. His competitiveness is keyed to such a high pitch that a series of close calls in matches precipitates a nervous breakdown and he swears off the game. Instead, he turns his skills to computers. When his company calls on him to be part of a team which is pitting a computer’s chess skills against the world champion of chess, he takes it personally when the computer loses. Fired by “his” humiliation, he vows to earn the right to take on the champion himself — and does.Read More »

  • Wolfgang Petersen – Vier Gegen die Bank (1976)

    1971-1980ComedyCrimeGermanyWolfgang Petersen

    One evening, the once successful architect Helmut is tired of the recession giving no jobs, he gets the idea of robbing a bank. He recruits members of his golf club that are not paying their fees.Read More »

  • Wolfgang Petersen – Einer von uns beiden AKA One or the Other (1974)

    1971-1980GermanyPoliticsThrillerWolfgang Petersen

    Synopsis: Based on a crime novel by Horst Bosetzky (-ky) this is one of Wolfgang Petersen’s first cinema productions. The student Bernd Ziegenhals discovers that one of the professors at university has faked his doctoral thesis and blackmails him. The plot is thrilling because the professor does not stay passive, he tries to get rid of Ziegenhals. Who of them will survive at the end?Read More »

  • Wolfgang Petersen – Die Konsequenz AKA The Consequence (1977)

    Wolfgang Petersen1971-1980DramaGermanyQueer Cinema(s)

    Quote:
    Thomas, the son of a prison warden, falls for and seduces inmate Martin. When Martin is released from jail, they try to build a relationship and a life together but no one will let them alone.Read More »

  • Wolfgang Petersen – Das Boot [The Director’s Cut] (1981)

    1981-1990DramaGermanyWarWolfgang Petersen

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    Plot synopsis by Don Kaye from allmovieguide:

    Das Boot is one of the most gripping and authentic war movies ever made. Based on an autobiographical novel by German World War II photographer Lothar-Guenther Buchheim, the film follows the lives of a fearless U-Boat captain (Jurgen Prochnow) and his inexperienced crew as they patrol the Atlantic and Mediterranean in search of Allied vessels, taking turns as hunter and prey. There’s very little plot, so the movie’s power comes from both its riveting, epic battle scenes and its details of the boring hours spent waiting for orders or signs of the enemy. With the exception of one staunch Hitler Youth lieutenant, none of the crew is particularly loyal to the Nazis, and some are openly hostile toward their Fuhrer; this allows viewer sympathy with the men as they perform their laborious, monotonous duties in cramped, filthy quarters, or await death as depth charges explode all around the sub. Prochnow is excellent as the nerves-of-steel commander, and many of the supporting actors — all German — are solid as well, although the characterizations border on war movie clichés (the young crewman who has left behind his pregnant girlfriend, the Chief Engineer whose wife is seriously ill). Read More »

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