One of the Twentieth Century’s premiere examples of Krautsploitation, the German-Italian co-production BLOODY FRIDAY (BLUTIGER FREITAG; 1972) is an exuberantly trashy, sordid and exploitive film that revels in violence and sleaze. The writer-director was Rolf Olsen, best known on these shores for the notorious Mondo classic SHOCKING ASIA and its sequel.
A “True” story? The opening credits take plains to make that claim, and BLOODY FRIDAY was indeed based on an actual 1971 hostage incident that occurred at a German bank. I’m guessing, however, that the film’s sordid details were heavily fictionalized.
It begins with the dangerously charismatic Heinz (Raimund Harmstorf) staging a daring escape from prison, during which two guards are brutally beaten. From there Heinz and Luigi (Gianni Macchia), an Italian colleague, hide out in a shack where they plot an elaborate bank heist. Their plan involves stealing guns from an American army detachment stationed in Germany, followed by an intricately detailed escape to Australia.
Luigi’s working stiff girlfriend Heidi (Christine Bohm) doesn’t agree with the plan but meekly goes along with it. It helps that her brother Christian (Amadeus August), who has just deserted the military, is inducted into the crew by Heinz.
The heist, as you might guess, does not go off as planned. The first portion, involving the robbery of the guns, comes to involve a dangerous car chase and an innocent bystander beaten nearly to death. The heist itself is even more calamitous, quickly turning into a DOG DAY AFTERNOON-esque showdown after several hostages are taken during the robbery, a cop is killed and a large crowd forms outside the bank. More madness follows, including a dog killing, a (not-entirely-unwilling) rape and multiple killings.
Everything about this film—music, clothing, hairstyle, zoom-happy photography, etc.—is hopelessly dated, being thoroughly redolent of the time in which it was made. That’s also true of the nihilistic air and overall sordidness of the enterprise, which wouldn’t pass muster today (even in Europe). Examples of the latter tendency include a rape scene telegraphed by a close-up of the perpetrator’s bulging crotch and a shot of the exposed intestines of a policeman after his stomach is blown open by a hand grenade. The ultra-histrionic performances, in particular that of Raimund Harmstorf as the psychotic Heinz, are very much in keeping with the trashy vibe.
Unsurprisingly, the film was shorn of around ten minutes for its English dubbed US release. Obviously the original German language cut is preferable (as is the 2015 restoration, which is said to contain several minutes of footage shorn from the German version). Warm and cuddly it isn’t, but as unadulterated exploitation BLOODY FRIDAY ranks pretty high.
Vital Statistics
BLOODY FRIDAY (BLUTIGER FREITAG)
Cineproduzioni Daunia 70, Divina-Film, Lisa-Film
Director: Rolf Olsen
Producer: Karl Spiehs
Screenplay: Rolf Olsen, Valeria Bonamano
Cinematography: Francis X. Lederle
Editing: Eva Zeyn
Cast: Raimund Harmstorf, Amadeus August, Gianni Macchia, Christine Bohm, Ernst H. Hilbich, Gila von Weitershausen, Daniela Giordano, Walter Buschhoff, Renate Roland, Horst Naumann, Toto Migone