Subject: KILLING CARS
Okay, this now ranks as one of the freakiest movies in my entire collection. Prochnow is Ralph Korda, a gifted mechanical engineer who's developing a supercar - doesn't require gasoline, and all that stuff. He has a deal with a manufacturer, but there are design problems with the prototype and Korda isn't happy with the production schedule. Meanwhile, a whole bunch of companies are after the design, but Korda won't give them the time of day. So you end up with a huge intrigue where everybody's trying to steal the car.
There's also a bunch of street punks harrassing the company because they're messing up the neighborhood with an expanding factory complex; a female reporter who keeps making a pain out of herself; another woman who works for the company and is in love with Korda; a teenage backgammon hustler who can't make up his mind which side he's on; an Arab sheik; a guy who keeps trying to teach another guy how to stand on his head; and a dog that becomes an integral part of the plot. Oh, and William Conrad is in it.
Now, are you ready? You sure? This isn't a tasteless movie. It's not a good movie only because, if you can believe this after reading the last paragraph, it's just not quite interesting enough. It's the kind of thing that, if you happened to catch it on tv, you'd give it no more than 10 minutes before finding something else to do. The people who made this film were trying to make a point: that developing new technology is a waste if it doesn't help save the planet, and big business, which controls new technology, ain't interested in saving the planet. That's the message. They tried to peddle this in the form of a movie that's as much of an action film as they could make it, and still allow it to be taken seriously.
In a further effort to turn the story into entertainment, they did put a little trashy sheen on it, but it doesn't work the way I think they meant it to. The fun part of this film is the beginning - the opening credits totally rock, and then you get several minutes of character development on Korda that make you think you're in for an hour and a half of utter sewage. He's an anti-hero who becomes more sympathetic as things progress, but by the end you still think he could use a good therapist. Prochnow was brilliant in the role - it was a complicated character, and he did an impressive job.
I didn't like him in KILLING CARS. That character didn't suit him. To me, he doesn't do a**hole well.
Ah well, we all have our sides of Jürgen that we love and admire...
What do you mean, "he doesn't do a**hole well"?! I can't believe you're serious! Jürgen's a GREAT a**hole! NO?? You don't like his a**hole? Oh... I'm... I'm... I'm just stunned. DAZED, actually. It never would have occurred to me that anybody could watch KILLING CARS and not think Jürgen's Ralph Korda is one of the finest a**hole performances ever. Oh... oh... now I'm going to have to go home and lie down with a cold cloth on my head. Oh... Jürgen.... *sob* not a... *SOB* not a good a**hole... ohhhhhhhhOHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh
Sheesh, take it easy over there... Maybe I should have said I was uncomfortable with Jürgen as an a**hole...maybe he DOES do it too well and that's why I'm repelled by it... yeah, that's it.
Better?
Okay... yeah... you didn't like him because he was too good at it... yeah... sniiiiiiiiiff. Okay.
[Having anything good to say about this film makes me an easy target for derision, but after several viewings I still agree with everything I said about it the first time. (I believe "bloody but unbowed" is the expression.) I like real characterization; this movie had that; and Prochnow deserves all the credit for it. Although Senta Berger was marvelous as Marie, even Marie would have been a cartoon had Prochnow not given Ms. Berger so much to work with. The miracle is that I didn't come out of this thinking Marie was a complete idiot for being stuck on Korda. For a while she does look like an idiot. Korda is conceited, selfish, rude, bossy, childish, and bad-tempered. What does a great gal like Marie - intelligent, mature, sophisticated, and gorgeous - want HIM for?
Then there's the scene where she throws herself at him...and gets rejected ...and everything falls into place. There is something in him after all. Though he's annoyed about it, he displays a kindness in that scene that you see little of elsewhere in the film. Clearly he wants her, but faced with the prospect of growing up he just can't bring himself to do it. Getting involved with a woman his own age means admitting he's not a kid any more, and he won't admit that. He's wavering, though; she knows it; and that's why she hangs around as long as she does. Give Berger and Prochnow both credit for achieving the best chemistry in any movie between Prochnow and a female costar. It's sad chemistry since they never get together, but the undercurrent of electricity and genuine regard is fabulous. I still wish Korda had grown up and married Marie.
Prochnow's performance also provides what depth you see in Violet and the backgammon kid: the look he gives Violet when he shows up at her door after wrecking his car; telling the kid "I'm not going to cheat you" and making him - and you - believe it. In small moments like that, you not only get a good look into who Korda really is, you also see who he thinks the people around him are. Jürgen Prochnow gives souls to these characters, not just to his own. Without that, this film wouldn't have worked on any level.
So for those of you who snorted at my assertion that this is one of Prochnow's best performances, try again and forget about the story - just pay attention to what Prochnow's actually doing as an actor, and watch how beautifully everything he does works. See? Told you. -ed.]