Dietmar Baer Movies
A battle for gay rights is fought on a small-time football field in this comedy drama from Germany. Ecki (Maximilian Brückner) is a talented soccer goalie who plays with a semi-pro team in a small German town, but he finds himself on the outs with his teammates when he fails to block a kick that costs the team the league championship. Ecki's relationship with the team goes from bad to worse when they discover he's gay, and they give him his walking papers. Furious, Ecki challenges his former team to a special match in which they'll face off against an all-gay team he'll assemble for the occasion. The homophobic team agrees to the match, but Ecki soon discovers finding ten capable gay footballers is no easy task, and making them into a competitive team is even harder. Making matters a bit easier for Ecki is his sister Susanne (Lisa Maria Potthoff), who introduces him to one of her co-workers, Sven (David Rott), a good-looking male nurse who can play soccer...and happens to find Ecki attractive. Männer Wie Wir (aka Guys and Balls) was written for the screen by Benedikt Gollhardt; it was his first theatrical film after establishing himself in television. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maximilian Brückner, Lisa Maria Potthoff, (more)
- 2003
A crew of construction workers simultaneously initiate a young architect into their midst while literally trying to diffuse an explosive situation in German director Peter Thorwarth's 2003 work comedy, Was Nicht Passt, Wird Passend Gemacht (If It Don't Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer). Crew leader Horst (Willi Thomczyk), with his two underlings Kalle (Ralf Richter) and Kummel (Hilmi Sözer), is ordered by their boss, Werner Wiesenkamp (Dietmar Baer), to work with the young architect Philipp (Thorwarth). Horst takes this personally, especially when the architect starts hitting on Horst's daughter Astrid (Alexandra Maria Lara). Playing a number of humbling pranks on Philipp whilst on the scene of their newest work site, the builders discover an unexpected complication: an undetonated bomb from World War II lying where the foundation of the building is to be laid. Based on the student Oscar-nominated short film of the same name -- and by the same director -- If It Don't Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer was selected as an entry for the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi
- 1986
A televised music show could be the opportunity that a female mechanic needs to break into the music world. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1984
In this strangely aloof teen crime drama, three high school buddies share a passion for motorbikes. They work at the same auto repair shop, and when their boss dies and they get shafted with a phony car deal, they decide on a very dangerous way of paying back their debt. Albi (Max Wigger), Franz (Dietmar Bär), and Tayfun (Tayfun Bademosy) live for motorbikes, spending every spare pfennige on their passion, even setting aside very little time or money for women. All three have low-level mechanics jobs at a grimy auto shop, and when their boss dies from a heart attack, they are left with the shop to manage. Cheated in a car-deal scam, they suddenly find themselves burdened with a large debt to a mobster and either they pay it off or lose their kneecaps. Driven by a desire to keep their body parts intact, they begin to fake accidents with unsuspecting motorists and then talk their victims into paying up front, without calling the police or the insurance company. Their scheme is going well until one day they are looking at a major coup that involves a fatal, head-on crash -- a plan that brings their decision about how to continue surviving to a head. Director Dominik Graf has captured the teens' world well, and the action scenes and acting are good, yet the three teens remain distanced as human beings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dietmar Bar, Tayfun Bademsoy, (more)
