The American Soldier - December 10, 2002

The American Soldier - December 10, 2002. Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1970, black and white, 80 minutes. This film is a complete and thorough tribute to the world of Humphrey Bogart and great action film directors like Raoul Walsh and Sam Fuller. The story follows a gunslinger named 'Ricky' who returns to Germany after a short time in America. The police hire him to assassinate criminals who cannot be apprehended through legal means. Ricky, who has not heard from his mother and family for a long time, visits his childhood neighborhood in one scene and tries to reconcile with his mother and brother, but beneath all this loneliness and depression, he is a ruthless and cold-hearted killer dressed in a white suit, carrying out his assigned tasks with complete calm. To keep Ricky's movements under control, the police chief places a telephone prostitute in his path, and from this point on, the story becomes complicated as Ricky falls in love with her, unaware that his girlfriend is actually the police chief's informant. This film, shot in black and white with clean and clear contrast, is essentially a gangster film, and it features a memorable shooting scene at the end that, through the interplay of shadows and light, recalls the old gangster films made in Hollywood.