DIE HALBSTARKEN

Horst Buchholz

DIE HALBSTARKEN (aka Teenage Wolfpack/1956). Director: Georg Tressler. Colorized. 

A youth gang (of sorts) in post-war Germany is led by Freddy (Horst Buchholz), the most attractive and charismatic of the bunch. He has acquired some of his nasty attitude from his father (Paul Wagner), who has been in a foul mood since his brother-in-law borrowed a significant amount of money and can't repay it. Freddy's younger brother, John (Christian Doermer), is dismayed that his father takes it all out on his mother (Viktoria von Ballasko) and hopes to raise the money to repay his father. Meanwhile Freddy has moved or been thrown out of the house, and has his own place, with his 15-going-on-16 girlfriend, Sissy (Karin Baal), just next door. Freddy concocts a robbery scheme that goes horribly wrong, and discovers that the female of the species may just be deadlier than the male. 

Doermer and Baal

If one is hoping for a serious and thoughtful look at life in post-WW2 Germany, Die Halbstarken is not it. Clearly inspired by Hollywood juvenile delinquency films (which were dubbed and shown in Germany), this picture resembles one of them even down to the jazz score. We've got the restless teenage boys, the sluttish females, the attitude and feeling of wasted lives going nowhere, and all the usual tropes. The acting is quite good, however, with Buchholz (billed as "Henry Bookholt" in the dubbed American version of the film, Teenage Wolfpack, which even played drive-ins in the states) taking top honors but getting competition from Doermer as his nicer and more sensitive brother and Baal as the girlfriend, a blonde Lolita who tries to play both ends against the middle. The supporting cast is also on top of things. Buchholz struts around in tight black leather pants through the whole movie, which is somewhat entertaining if minor. NOTE: After I wrote this review I discovered that I'd already seen and reviewed the darn thing some years ago. I hate when that happens! 

Verdict: Buchholz went on to better things. **3/4. 

TEENAGE WOLFPACK

Christian Doermer and Horst Buchholz

TEENAGE WOLFPACK (aka Die Halbstarken/1956). Director: Georg Tressler.

Freddy (Horst Buchholz, herein billed as "Henry Bookholt") is a handsome, callous, criminally-inclined young man with a 15-year-old girlfriend, Sissi (Karin Baal), who may be worse than he is. His brother, John (Christian Doermer), is a much more decent lad who, unfortunately, looks up to his brother, who has left home. Freddy enlists some of his friends in an armed robbery that doesn't quite go as he intended, and disaster strikes when Freddy and Sissi break into a restaurant owner's home and John goes after them. Teenage Wolfpack is a dubbed American version of a German film that was clearly influenced by U.S. juvenile delinquent movies, and is hardly any better than most of those. Buchholz [That Man in Istanbul] struts around in tight leather pants, dances a blue streak in a jukebox sequence (probably influenced by Elvis), and exhibits the charisma that turned him, briefly, into an international star. Baal and Doermer are also effective, but the movie's dramatics are unconvincing, and despite the action the film becomes tedious. Nevertheless, some people see this as a West German classic. Not me.

Verdict: I Was a Teenage Frankenstein is more entertaining. **.