Since this Blog-A-Thon is not about trashy movies in the sense of „so bad they're good“ (which is, in my opinion, a quite dull way of looking at movies) but about movies that are generally considered „bad“, but nevertheless do have their qualities, I decided to write about one of my favorite „bad movie“ to ever come out of my homeland, (West-)Germany. Blutiger Freitag is an Italian-German co-production, but it was shot in Germany with mainly German cast and crew. When in the States, you might find a copy of this underrated gem of German exploitation by looking out for „Violent offender“ which is its international title.

Let me start with one single note: Blutiger Freitag is, first of all, a movie that-rocks - period! Oh boy, does it rock! Now, that I made this clear, I will leave aicn-mode and try to establish some context, 'cause Blutiger Freitag is a movie that gets only better if you know its historical context.

When Quentin Tarantino introduced his Kill Bill to the German audience, press quoted him leaving the press conference: „Alfred Vohrer rocks!“ - Alfred Vohrer is one of the most notorious directors of the infamous Edgar Wallace franchise by Rialto which might be considered the closest thing to b-movie or trash movie culture in West-Germany back in the heydays. When it comes to genre, West-Germany didn't all so well – there was a whole lot of Heimatfilme (which are, basically, movies about dumb assholes) or, even worse, Musikfilme (which you really – really – shouldn't look out for). Then, of course, were the Reportfilme - basically soft porn in some weird report disguise – which were, strange enough, super-hyper-blockbusters in the early 70s. People were standing for hours in front of cinemas to see some strange (and pretty frigide) soft porn and no us-american prestige movie was able to kick those porn flicks from the box office throne. And there was the Kraut Western which really can't be compared to their Spaghetti pendants – can't get much redeeming value out of some Winnetou flick. When it comes to horror or straight action thrillers (in the vein of the Italien poliziotti, f.e.), you really can't get much out of Germany, however. Sure, there were the Wallace krimis and Alfred Vohrer – you remember him from some lines above, do you? - put out one or two each year. However, when compared to classic exploitation craziness, the Wallace movies were quite tame, for sure with a spooky touch and some wit to it and with some nostalgic value when you grew up on them via German television (as I did), but the nice German term altbacken (meaning something like „like bread from yesterday“) fits them quite well. So, coming back to exploitation guru Tarantino, when he made his gesture of appreciation to the German exploitation flick, he also made a testimony that he obviously didn't see the apotheosis of German exploitation.

Which is, basically, Blutiger Freitag. Rolf Olsen is its director's name – and if Tarantino knew this hilarious flick, it would have been his name in the above mentioned quote. Not that Olsen is anyting close to an auteur. He was just an old guy doing what had to be done. So he did some Kraut Western, some Horror, even some strange Mondo movie. And Blutiger Freitag.

Blutiger Freitag is a wild ride. It begins with a a scene at Munich court house. Two cops are on their way to the judge to bring him some pretty wild looking dude - played by Raimund Harmstorf, who you might know when you know your Italien soldier flicks. However, we see there are some other dudes round there, behaving strange. When Harmstorf says he has to use the bathroom (his words are, for sure, no that discrete), it turns out he's trying to flee and the other guys were preparing the whole thing. After some chaos in the court house and some seriously damaged cop faces later, we get to know that Harmstorf is planning a great bank robbery with both guys who managed his escape. One of the guys, Luigi, an Italian gastarbeiter (a worker from a foreign country), brings his girl friend into the whole thing which leads to some serious trouble when her brother – who just left the army illegaly – happens to get to know what the four people are planning. However, you need to know that Harmstorf really is a bad-ass: He is an absolute asshole when it comes to terms, and he for sure doesn't try to hide this aspect of his persona. One might even wonder, why all the guys are trying to work with that guy, but as you know, you never know...

However, one day the robbery takes place. They take hostages. Media arrives at the crime scene. And Harmstorf drinks a lot of booze, terrorizing the hostages and his fellows just as he pleases. It turns out one of the hostages is the daughter of one the local Bonzen („rich upper class“), so Harmstorf tries to get one extra million out of it. However, the deserting brother somehow falls in love with the bourgeoise lady – ot at least feels way too much compassion for her – so he somehow subverts the whole plan. Of course, Harmstorf ain't amused. Tension's getting stronger among the robbers. And Harmstorf continues drinking booze.

Later in the evening, they manage to escape after one cop got killed. However, the situation escalates out in the woods where the robbers try to hide in a shag. Luigi got shot on the way and Harmstorf, now completely drunk, raped one of the hostages. It seems he's on his way to kill everyone, but the cops come in first. Now it's everybody on his own. The shooting starts and we learn that this movie isn't titled Blutiger Freitag (bloody Friday) for nothing ...

Not only being awesomely entertaining – one of the great things being Harmstorf the asshole you love to hate, always dropping a catchy line or two -, Blutiger Freitag also is a great example for dynamic and most efficient film making. No scene which isn't dynamized by camera position or movement. Olsen even experiments with handheld camera which adds a terrific drive to all the action scenes (there are a lot). And then there is a certain sense of „there's nothing we won't do“: When Harmstorf threatens one of the female hostages to rape her, the camera goes all the way to his crotch to show his male dominance in close-up: We learn to know that Harmstorf must have elephant testicles and a monster cock – or he always has some extra socks with him. Then there's the actual rape scene – which is experimental film making in the most classic sense of the word: Leave diegetic film world and experiment with different layers and motivs (we see dead meat, the whole screen turns ghoulishly red) and points of view. Quite surrealistic moment, if you ask me.

So, Blutiger Freitag goes all the ways only exploitation movies were able to go. But has it also the classic weakness of most exploitation movies – the dragging story? No. Blutiger Freitag is a great example of telling your story fast, to the point and without any holes of length in it (holes of logic? Well....). People are established fast and have their functions within the narrative, goals are being notified and people try to reach them. Conflicts show up and lead to turmoil the quick way. When Jess Franco is the master of lengthening any movie so hard it actually hurts, Rolf Olsen must be considered his opponent: He doesn't lose any time and there are no unnecessary inserts in his movie to gain length. Blutiger Freitag is bad ass film making at its best.

But what really puts this movie on top of Euro exploitation is its overall sense of zeitgeist and socio-political and socio-cultural issues. When Blutiger Freitag was shot (in 1972), Germany had to deal with a lot of similar cases: It was the time when the student protest led to terrorist militance and the early RAF guys (RAF = Red Army Fraction, a communist revolutionary organisation) were financing their fight with bank robberies all over the country which, back then, were quite easy, since surveillance technology wasn't established well and especially rural police wasn't prepared for such ferocious attacks. So, Blutiger Freitag deals with quite a hot topic: People were afraid and there was a lot of talk going on. Also, among young people notions of revolution and breaking-out were quite common: Luigi and his girl friend, for example, don't talk like your average marxist student – however they have it up to here working shit jobs (both are shown in their job environments for quite a time) for shit money for rich bosses getting richer every day. And Harmstorf himself is always good for some punch lines against „capitalist pigs“. However, he doesn't struggle in the name of some class against the other. He's only in it for the money and the less he needs to share the better.

Also note a great sequence, when people outside the bank are asked by some journalist dude who seems to work for radio or television. He asks people what they think of crimes like this. In this scene you get a great idea of what was going on in Germany in those days: You have your average narrow-minded alt-nazis who can't think of anything but „Die gehörn ins Gas“ („Put them in the gas chamber!“) and you have some beard wearing hippie kinda guys claiming, „they“ only take back what some capitalist took of them. This sequence is quite long and there are a lot of statements like these. The camera simulates some tv kinda looking aesthetic and the people have some authentic feelto them. You get a great idea of how tight this cheap movie was to every day discourse among the German population back then.

Blutiger Freitag really is a movie of its own. You won't find quite similar movies coming out of Germany in those days. It's a great example for potential of exploitation movies and overall one of the best genre movies coming out of Germany in the early 70s. When German cinema split up into soft porn on the one hand and quite sollipsistic auteur cinema on the other - Blutiger Freitag went some third way and managed to do a movie which is absolutely tight to current affairs – and is entertaining just as well. It's one bastard of a movie – and when you have the chance to watch it: Take it!