Horst Buchholz plays Mark Kalvin, an ambitious young man sent to manage a bank in a remote town in New England. Once in Pittsville he seduces local matriarch Kit (Ann Wedgeworth) and convinces her to help him rob his own place of employment. Unfortunately, they haven't reckoned on persnicketty bank clerk Alice (Patricia Joyce), whose pedantic eye for detail gums up the works until Kalvin 'takes care' of her in the vault one evening. Kalvin's motivations are less than clear and Buchholz tries to compensate by over-emoting, probably in an effort to portray the character as a psychopath. Quite how this Polish-West German film got made is a mystery; director Krzystof Zanussi is still working today but never returned to the United States and producer Manfred Durniok spent the balance of his career working in the Bundesrepublik. Bizarrely, songwriter Chip 'Angel of the Morning/Wild Thing' Taylor plays bank guard Ken Travers, after which he appeared in Zanussi's next film Biwans Kwartalny and Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard before retiring from film acting!
4 Reviews
An unusual thriller
searchanddestroy-130 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A German thriller, directed by a polish, starring American actors and shot in USA - Vermont state. You won't watch that every day...
It is adapted from a James Hadley Chase novel, and the adjustment is rather faithful, except the character played by Horst Bucholz - as a banker turned robber and killer - is more ruthless and cold blooded murder in the book than in the movie.
The setting of this little country town in Autumn is charming, and gives a contrast with the darkness of this violent story.
I don't think this film is usually aired on cable TV channels, but it deserves to be seen. Bucholz gives here a good performance as a twisted killer.
It is adapted from a James Hadley Chase novel, and the adjustment is rather faithful, except the character played by Horst Bucholz - as a banker turned robber and killer - is more ruthless and cold blooded murder in the book than in the movie.
The setting of this little country town in Autumn is charming, and gives a contrast with the darkness of this violent story.
I don't think this film is usually aired on cable TV channels, but it deserves to be seen. Bucholz gives here a good performance as a twisted killer.
Viewing this video (English) was a painful experience.
Lorenzo_il_Magnifico13 December 2005
A thoroughly amateur production by people I thought would know better.
Filmed entirely in North Bennington and Bennington, Vermont, for no apparent reason in the mid-1970s era of ugly cars and uglier fashions.
Actually, there may be a reason for the location: Bennington College... and this certainly comes off as a senior thesis in terms of production values and script.
As for our star, Mr. Buchholz overacts his way through the unexplainable script in a way that can only be described as "disproportionate affect." As for the rest of the cast...well, the occasional bare breast is all you can look forward to.
This makes watching "Plan 9 from Outer Space" a distinct pleasure. My rating of 4 is only due to the amusement of seeing my local setting 30 years ago.
Filmed entirely in North Bennington and Bennington, Vermont, for no apparent reason in the mid-1970s era of ugly cars and uglier fashions.
Actually, there may be a reason for the location: Bennington College... and this certainly comes off as a senior thesis in terms of production values and script.
As for our star, Mr. Buchholz overacts his way through the unexplainable script in a way that can only be described as "disproportionate affect." As for the rest of the cast...well, the occasional bare breast is all you can look forward to.
This makes watching "Plan 9 from Outer Space" a distinct pleasure. My rating of 4 is only due to the amusement of seeing my local setting 30 years ago.
Has some interest
Wizard-825 May 2013
Obviously, with the Polish director and German actor Horst Bucholz making this movie in the U.S., it's obvious that the German backers were hoping to disguise this movie as American and sucker Americans into seeing it. The fact that this movie is all but forgotten today shows how well their plan went. Actually, this isn't a bad movie as some previous user comments have pictured it. Horst Bucholz gives a pretty good performance, making a lead character who is completely unlikable, yet interesting enough that you are interested in what will happen to him at the end. The actual bank robbery as well as what happens to the robbers in the days afterwards is also pretty interesting - I kept watching because I wanted to know what would happen. The only real flaws the movie has is that some parts of the movie seem to be missing key linking footage, and the very end of the movie is somewhat unsatisfying. But the movie as a whole manages to keep your interest.
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