Klaus Löwitsch Movies

What to Do in Case of Fire is a stylish German comedy from director Gregor Schnitzler. A 20-year-old bomb goes off in an abandoned mansion in present day Berlin, and all the evidence implicates a a group of anarchists that planted the explosives in the late 1980s . By this time, however, most of the original group have become hip urban professionals who don't want to be associated with revolutionary activity. With the police hot on their trail, they reunite for the first time in 12 years to plot a scheme to avoid jail. Starring Til Schweiger, Martin Feifel, and Sebastian Blomberg. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Producer/director/star Clint Eastwood takes his sweet time getting Firefox started. Eastwood plays Mitchell Gant, a past-his-prime U.S. pilot, smuggled into the Soviet Union to steal a new Russian supersonic fighting plane. Fortunately the KGB men are as burnt out as Gant, enabling him to abscond with the plane with the greatest of ease. The rest of the film is a protracted chase, pitting Gant against scores of impersonal MIG pilots. Based on a novel by Craig Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two friends chart a daring path to freedom in this drama from Walt Disney Pictures. Peter Strelzyk (John Hurt) and Guenter Wetzel (Beau Bridges) are two men living in East Germany who can no longer tolerate the petty tyrannies of Communist rule. Together, they formulate a daring plan to escape to democratic West Germany in a hot air balloon, but Peter and Guenter realize that they have to build a very special lighter-than-air craft to carry both themselves and their families to safety. Night Crossing also features Jane Alexander, Doug McKeon, and Keith McKeon as members of the Strelzyk Family, and Glynnis O'Connor, Michael Liesik, and Geoffrey Liesik as the Wetzels. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The film that elevated German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder from domestic approbation to international acclaim, The Marriage of Maria Braun stars the director's on-and-off favorite actress Hanna Schygulla in the title role. During the allied siege of Germany in the last year of the war, Maria's new husband (Klaus Löwitsch) is shipped off to the Russian front before the marriage is consummated. As she struggles to survive wartime deprivations, Maria haunts the local train station, seeking out information concerning her husband. When it appears that she's a widow, Maria takes a job as a barmaid and befriends a black soldier (George Byrd) from the occupying allied troops, who sees to it that Maria's family receives vital food and supplies. The opportunistic Maria eventually takes a job with a wealthy importer (Ivan Desny), building herself up to a position of power and indispensability. Though she sleeps with her employer, Maria still carries a torch for her husband. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Also released as Sergeant Steiner, Breakthrough is a German war flick helmed by western specialist Andrew McLaglen. Richard Burton stars as Sgt. Steiner, a German who doesn't subscribe to the Nazi party line. When the plot to kill Hitler is hatched, Steiner is persuaded to join the conspiracy by General Hoffman (Curt Jurgens). Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger costar as American officers peripherally involved in the storyline. Intended as a sequel to the successful Cross of Iron, Breakthrough failed to match the box-office performance of the earlier film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A quote from Bertolt Brecht ends this bitter and angry war film by Sam Peckinpah: "Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again." Peckinpah's intense and belligerently non-commercial work, (based on the book by Willi Heinrich), is a World War II tale told from the German perspective, following a platoon of German soldiers in the Russia of 1943, when the German Wehrmacht forces had been decimated and the Germans were retreating along the Russian front. James Coburn is Steiner, a German corporal and recipient of the Iron Cross who feels that he owes his loyalty to his family and fellow soldiers and not to Hitler and the German war machine. But when a new commander, Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), takes over the platoon, Steiner and Stransky come into immediate conflict. Stransky is a career soldier, the complete opposite of Steiner, and a man who pledges himself heart and soul to Hitler and the war. But he envies Steiner for having been awarded an Iron Cross and deeply desires one himself. The problem is Stransky is a complete coward and recognizes that the only way he can be awarded an Iron Cross would be to get the bitter Steiner on his side. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The anguish and suffering of a trio of outcasts is shown in this movie, based on Schatten der Engel Rainer Werner Fassbinder's controversial and possibly anti-Semitic stage play. A prostitute (Ingrid Craven) with a gift for eliciting confidences from her clients, her pimp (Fassbinder), and one of those clients, a Jewish real-estate speculator (Klaus Lowitsch), are caught up in an emotional hurricane which results in the deaths of the prostitute and her pimp. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The Odessa File is set in Hamburg in the winter of 1963. Jon Voight plays Peter Miller, a German reporter who is investigating the whereabouts of missing Nazi war criminals. After reading the diary of a Holocaust survivor who has recently committed suicide, Miller goes on the trail of in-hiding SS officer Eduard Roschmann (Maximilian Schell). The reporter finds his investigation blocked by members of a secretive group called Odessa. With the help of Israeli activists, Miller persists in his search. Schell's sister Maria also appears in The Odessa File as Miller's mother, the widow of a German soldier. Based on a nailbiting novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Odessa File is highlighted by the exquisitely Teutonic score of Andrew Lloyd Webber. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A scientist in charge of a project that could usher in a bold new era of technology begins experiencing signs of mental illness that may indicate the onset of schizophrenia, but could be the bold first step in merging man and machine in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's mind-bending sci-fi classic. The "Simulacron 1" project was designed by The Institute for Cybernetics and Futurology to predict the events of the future with uncanny accuracy. Though the benevolent scientists in charge of the project envision the "Simulacron 1" being used to improve living conditions for all the people of planet Earth, other, less altruistic people see it as a source of unparalleled power. The future of the project comes into question, however, when its mastermind, Professor Vollmer, dies unexpectedly. Attributing his death to suicide due to his strange behavior in recent weeks, institute head Herbert Siskins quickly places the capable Dr. Fred Stiller in charge of the project. But it isn't long before Dr. Stiller, too, begins to display signs of mental instability that seem to indicate the early stages of schizophrenia. Now, the deeper Dr. Stiller immerses himself in the project, the more he begins to see signs of life in the electronic 'identity units' of the "Simulacron 1." As the "identity units" begin to take on the appearance of someone he knows, the line between technology and humanity becomes indistinguishable. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Based on Franz Xaver Kroetz's play, which is in turn based on a true story, this film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder tells the story of a very young girl who, after persuading a local boy to become her lover, induces the lad to kill her father, whose incestuous sexual attentions to her have grown unbearable. The site they choose for this deed, which gives its name to the film, is a wild-game crossing. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Der Händler der vier Jahreszeiten (The Merchant of Four Seasons) is about the deterioration of a man's soul. Fruit vendor Hans (Hans Hirschmüller) cannot please his family. His mother harps on his failures. His wife is openly discontent. He must peddle produce to his beloved ex-girlfriend, and he is mocked by his customers for being shorter and fatter than his wife. He is withdrawn, crushed, and humiliated. He turns to drinking and violence, but his rage causes his wife and daughter to leave him. While desperately begging for their return, Hans suffers a debilitating heart attack. His family comes back, but Hans is unable to work and must hire help for his fruit stand. Hans' first employee is his wife's ex-lover, whom he fires for embezzling. He then hires a friend and hero from his legionnaire days, Harry (Klaus Löwitsch), out of pity. Harry is hardworking, diligent, and clever. He turns Hans' business around and enlivens his home life. Harry's success also begins to displace Hans -- with his fruit stand, with his wife, and even with his child. Hans becomes useless, a nothing -- exactly what his mother, his wife, and those around him set him up to be. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi