The American Soldier (1970)

THE AMERICAN SOLDIER is Fassbinder's odd, stylized homage to American gangster films. Made during the Vietnam War, the story focuses on a soldier who returns to Germany from the conflict abroad and promptly embarks on a lucrative career as a contract killer. He soon sinks into a murky, noirish world populated by porn, prostitution and lowlife hangers-on. But this hired gun doesn't work for the mafia; he's been hired to kill by the State. Hiding behind his policeman's badge, he enjoys the same government-sanctioned right to kill that he exercised as a soldier in Vietnam. In the midst of this squalid tale, Fassbinder takes the opportunity to give a nod to several of his heroes -- some of the movie's minor characters are named Fuller, Walsh, and even Rosa von Praunheim. A strange, but excellent film.