Günther Maria Halmer Movies

Newly single schoolteacher Hanna Solinger (Barbara Rudnik) has just relocated with her two children from Greece to the Munich suburb she grew up in order to live with her mother and work within the city's school system. With her work assignment in one of the most notorious ghetto schools in the inner city, Hanna decides on her first day that the environment is too rough for her liking and resigns her position. Meanwhile, two trouble-raising brothers, Christos (Ioannis Tsialas) and Maikis (Toni Osmani), find themselves in serious trouble when the younger Maikis is expelled and Christos is identified as the thief who robbed Hanna only the day before. In a deal made with the principal, Maikis will be readmitted to school only if Christos can convince the now ex-new teacher to remain on staff. Also aiding in the effort to change Hanna's mind is social worker Xaver (Gunther Maria Halmer), who runs a special program for at-risk youth that utilizes a combination of music, dance, and mentoring to help get kids off the streets. Hanna reluctantly agrees to learn about Xaver's creative teaching methods, paving the way for the boys' re-admittance to school. Christos and Maikis begin to actually succeed in their studies, until one of Christos' other previous victims positively identifies him, placing the youth in serious danger of going to jail. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

Dr. Crusius is a dour judge who manages to alienate an entire legal community with his arrogance and ever-smoldering anger. Abel is a freewheeling, hotshot young attorney who uses unconventional methods to win his cases. This German courtroom drama chronicles what happens when the two are thrown together in a difficult situation. Abel is first seen helping a client beat a traffic ticket in Crusius' court. The humorless judge (a sore loser) is less than pleased and gives Abel a stern lecture. The two meet again when the judge is suddenly accused of murdering a young prostitute. All the evidence seems clear cut. More trouble for the old judge comes when all those he has alienated get revenge by refusing to represent him. Unfortunately for young Abel, he is given no choice. Before he can do anything though, the attorney must learn the carefully guarded truth about the judge. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a Solzhenitsyn book, this is the story of a Moscow official in Stalinist Russia whose future freedom depends on a technological break-through. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

In this tragic melodrama, a man who has been hiding his Nazi past has it come back to haunt him when his hippie daughter, whom he disapproves of, comes back to bond with her daughter, whom he's been raising. Meanwhile, he and his drinking buddy, a beer-truck driver, go on a jaunt to Poland to recover some gold fillings he had hidden years ago during the time when he worked in a concentration camp. The truck driver inadvertently leaves a filling lying around at home, and his mother immediately recognizes it for what it is. When she confronts him, he claims that "Jews don't mean anything to me" and she must then reveal his Jewish heritage to him: she was a housekeeper in a Jewish household and he was a child there whom she adopted during the Holocaust in order to save his life. The driver then confronts the wily old Nazi, who conceives a brutal scheme which will save his cozy life at the expense of the reputations of the driver and his granddaughter. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this telemovie installment of the popular British series The Saint, hero Simon Templar (Simon Dutton) agrees to assist an international agency in capturing a much-sought-after terrorist. The targeted individual is planning to obtain control over a cache of deadly missiles. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Lenz (Albert Paulus) is a masseur at a once-popular mountain resort that has fallen on hard times in this slow-moving drama. With his debts mounting far beyond his income, he resorts to stealing furniture and uses what he is not able to sell. Lenz also has an affair with a beautiful young dancer (Mercedes Echerer) when his wife Lisbeth (Daniela Obermeir) becomes affected by his larcenous behavior. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the infamous Berlin Wall, CBS offered the made-for-TV drama Berlin Tunnel 21. Richard Thomas stars as Sandy Mueller, a former US army officer. Shortly after the erection of the Wall, Mueller masterminds a plan to unite five West Germans with their Eastern-sector loved ones. Horst Buchholtz costars as Emerich Weber, a structural engineer who oversees the construction of an underground tunnel. This true story had previously been dramatized in the 1962 TV special The Tunnel. Also starring Jose Ferrer, the location-filmed Berlin Tunnel 21 was first broadcast March 25, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

21 Hours at Munich is a grim reenactment of the darkest days of the 1972 Munich Olympics. A gang of eight Arab terrorists storm the Israeli dormitory, killing two and taking hostage nine athletes. The terrorist's demands include the release of 200 Arabs held in Israeli jails; Israel follows its standard policy in dealing with terrorism and refuses to capitulate. There can be only one way that this film will end, but the tragedy of the occasion is buoyed by isolated moments of inspirational heroism. William Holden and Franco Nero head the cast, while sportscaster Jim McKay, whose emotional coverage of the actual events has since become famous, narrates the film. 21 Hours at Munich first aired on November 7, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi