A Degree of Murder (1967) User Reviews

1967-nostalgia

[wrv-16858 · 7/10 · 9 January 2021]

'Mord und Todschlag' carries you back to the moods of 1967, the year of its production. Although not intended, the cleverly invoked nostalgia makes this film worth watching -- in any case for those around in Germany at the time.

Apart from this: its story is fairly original. Its picturing, acting and music are mediocre, or a little better than that.

The big eye-catcher, however, is Anita Pallenberg, aged 25 at the time. She started as a fashion-model, and got famous for getting involved with three different Rolling Stones. It's quite clear that producer Schloendorff wrapped his film around her, and well ... he could have chosen worse.

"But when you're young you do a lot of things you're not supposed to do."

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 29 April 2024]

Excellent drama from West Germany (in German with subtitles) stars Anita Pallenberg as a waitress who has just accidentally shot her ex-boyfriend dead after a semi-playful scuffle in her apartment. The two had a volatile relationship, but she's still understandably upset--though not enough to call the police and turn herself in. Instead, she walks down to the local pub and finds a man there who needs money; hiring him to help her dispose of the boyfriend's body, she finds herself attracted to him--and also to his friend when they need help moving the body downstairs. Scored with a cacophony of "mod" sounds by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones (who was dating Pallenberg at the time), "Mord und Totschlag" (which translates as "Murder and Homicide") is a fascinating study of how women control men. Our heroine, reckless or childlike one minute and controlling with her feminine wiles the next, is perfectly embodied by Pallenberg who, between a sad smile and a knowing look, is compulsively watchable. Director Volker Schlöndorff was a nominee for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. *** from ****

Beware of cranes !

[dbdumonteil · 19 July 2011]

Scond movie by the famous German director after "Der Junge TÖrless", this one was mostly influenced for better or for worse(depending on whom you ask) by the French Nouvelle Vague.Almost entirely filmed on location,amateurish playing,and a very minimal screenplay:by accident ,a girl kills her lover she wanted to leave and asks for help to get rid of the body:two young "modern" men come to the rescue,but they are not particularly clever when it comes to hiding the dead boy.

The most interesting part is the sequences filmed in the country ,where time seems to have stood still,away from drugs,violence ,woman's lib and sexual revolution.More a wandering through Bayern than a real thriller (the only moment of suspense occurs when a neighbor wants to help the threesome with their problem),it's typically sixties;music by Brian Jones."From the Rolling Stones" the cast and credits claim;towards the end ,the score oddly sounds like country pop.I do not think it's available on CD for the fans of the group

Poorly Made Crime Drama Goes Nowhere

[jfrentzen-942-204211 · 2/10 · 30 January 2020]

This low-grade German movie does not focus on the investigation of a murder but the efforts of the perpetrator to cover up her crime. The story opens as 22-year-old Marie, played by a vacant Anita Pallenberg, is awakened by Hans, her ex-boyfriend who has come to collect her belongings. An argument ensues and she winds up killing him. Unmoved by the moral aspect of what she's done, she concerns herself with the business of disposing of the body, immediately involving another young man who in turn becomes her lover. This banal melodrama is slow, poorly acted and often illogical, and is sporadically interrupted by mechanical lovemaking scenes. Equally illogical: this film won three German Film Awards and was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, where it did not win but elevated director Volker Schlöndorff as the new find of German cinema, which he obliged in his later movies, such as THE TIN DRUM. DEGREE OF MURDER is remembered only for its mediocre soundtrack, which was created by The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones.

i think he dead Anita ....

[anxiousgayhorseonketamine · 8/10 · 21 May 2023]

First of all this film is not a thriller or a murder story it is a counterculture movie replete with Zeitgeist introducing the vibe of the 1960s. Here we have Überbabe Anita Pallenberg playing rough with the boyfriend she is about to leave and who is about to leave her a bit of horsing around and then lo and behold she has a gun in her handbag which he bought her and he's getting a bit rough with her so she shoots him dead tries to revive him but you cannot revive a corpse ... boyfriend is now a dead ex-boyfriend like dare-we-say Brian Jones.

The German title "Mord und Totschlag" is an expression which means literally Murder and Manslaughter; but actually also means mayhem; it is often translated as Blood and Thunder

I came to watch this on the back of watching two documentaries about Brian Jones one made in 2019 titled Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones (2019) and one made in 2023 by very famous documentarian Nick Broomfield titled The Stones and Brian Jones (2023) the earlier piece is probably more interesting as the more recent one as it goes more into what really happened around that swimming pool but hey we are here for Mord und ...

So once she has done that; shot him; she needs to dispose of the body so she hangs around the station trying to rope in some Turks for 500 Deutschmarks to take the body away but they are not interested then she goes to a bar and finds some modern aimless 1960s guy the type who does not like the old order would not follow the rules of yesteryear kind of guy who agrees to do it for 500 but mostly agrees to go with her because she looks like Anita Pallenberg and not many men would turn her down or did in her colourful life.

She has much a touch of the Indian goddess Kali the destroyer it feels as if in the film as in real life men who came within her purview were not really very safe well in this case the boyfriend was not safe at all.

Having said all this really the film is about the 1960s about the change that took place postwar as if the generation that was born at the end of the war or even some of them during the war decided that the old order was kaputt and it is mentioned here when they go round the old-style village in Bavaria seeing the lifestyle of the farmers they do not want to live like this anymore i.e. "fressen, arbeiten, schlaffen" Eat work sleep.

At the end of the film the men fight sort of probably around her a bit the banknotes she had given them fly off in the wind and they laugh about it it is only money money doesn't matter they make plans about escaping to the south maybe Spain or Greece but they do not the final frame is totally hilarious she's back in the nightclub where she works pouring drinks to a Greek guy who asks her if she wants to follow him to the islands and while she smiles and ponders the offer the camera goes to the side of the motorway building site where they badly buried the body of the deceased boyfriend and you can see him being hoisted by his leg by a crane into the air this is where the film stops; he looks like a bird splayed in the sky or mayhaps a falling Spitfire :]

Overall it is a dark comedy about the 1960s about the change of attitude in the new generation they do not want to follow any of the rules that were there before. Honest work and efforts do not appeal to them and they are looking for loopholes and ways to have a life of hedonism without having to make any contribution or effort in society. The main actress Anita Pallenberg ; she was German but spent a lot of her early years and was born in Italy and described herself as German but really Italian; is really good here she embodies all those new values of pleasure-seeking disrespect me me me selfishness playfulness fun it is interesting to mirror her lifestyle here in the film and her lifestyle in real life. I hold a contention that actors never can stray very far from who they are and do not.

Totally enjoyable movie if you want some serious nostalgia about the switch from the old order to the 1960s vibe. The main actor here who I have never seen before Gregor von Rezzori is also very good. We have to thank the director and main scenario master here Volker Schlöndorff together with Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Werner Herzog , Wim Wenders they really defined the New Wave in Germany the new values or lack of them :) embodied in this very amusing and cheeky film here.