"Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe" or "Tenderness of the Wolves" is a West German German-language film from the year 1973, so this one has its 45th anniversary soon. Of course it is in color and has sound. The director here is Ulli Lommel and he is seen by many only as the make of a whole lot of trash movies. So this one here is possibly his most acclaimed work by critics. This may have a lot to do with the fact that he has not written the script for this one, maybe because it was very early in his career still. Lommel was still under 30 back then. The writer is Kurt Raab, who also plays the main character. One of the producers is Rainer Werner Fassbinder, which should not be too surprising as he worked with Raab on many occasions.
This is the story of Fritz Haarmann, a German mass murderer from the early 20th century. There are more films about him. Fritz Lang's "M" is also partially based on Haarmann and the recently deceased Götz George plays Haarmann in the critically acclaimed "Der Totmacher", a more recent version. But back to this one here. It is a fairly short film, closer to 80 than to 90 minutes. And the tender wolf here is Kurt Raab's character, a sensitive man who ends up abusing and murdering several boys in order to satisfy his desires. He is working undercover for the police, which makes it especially interesting as they really take a whole lot until they finally find out. This is also a reference to the real Haarmann. All in all, it is Kurt Raab's stunning performance that carries the film nicely from start to finish without dragging. I thought for the entire film Raab looked like a vampire in here, so the final scene was very appropriate. What a shame Raab did not end up playing Nosferatu or so in another movie. At least I think he did not. As for this one here, it is a pretty decent watch. The lead performance and the parallel to real events certainly elevate the material. Go check it out.
This is the story of Fritz Haarmann, a German mass murderer from the early 20th century. There are more films about him. Fritz Lang's "M" is also partially based on Haarmann and the recently deceased Götz George plays Haarmann in the critically acclaimed "Der Totmacher", a more recent version. But back to this one here. It is a fairly short film, closer to 80 than to 90 minutes. And the tender wolf here is Kurt Raab's character, a sensitive man who ends up abusing and murdering several boys in order to satisfy his desires. He is working undercover for the police, which makes it especially interesting as they really take a whole lot until they finally find out. This is also a reference to the real Haarmann. All in all, it is Kurt Raab's stunning performance that carries the film nicely from start to finish without dragging. I thought for the entire film Raab looked like a vampire in here, so the final scene was very appropriate. What a shame Raab did not end up playing Nosferatu or so in another movie. At least I think he did not. As for this one here, it is a pretty decent watch. The lead performance and the parallel to real events certainly elevate the material. Go check it out.