Wordiezett So much average

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

KobusAdAstra This early Wolfgang Petersen film tackles the controversial theme of inter-generational gay love with distinction.A convict, Martin, was jailed for having a sexual relationship with a fifteen year old boy. Martin is an actor and while in jail produces a play written by one of his fellow inmates. He needs a young actor and the son of the jail warden, Thomas, volunteers. Thomas, who is sixteen but looks about 20 (my only - minor - gripe about this film) clearly has gay tendencies and develops a crush on Martin. A relationship results with Thomas illegally staying over in Martin's cell. One of the inmates spills the beans and Martin's parole gets cancelled. He keeps in contact with Thomas, and when released they continue their relationship. Martin decides to play open cards with Thomas's father and informs him about their relationship. The callous warden subsequently stops the relationship en sends his son to a reformatory. It turns into a nightmare for the young man, and changes him psychologically, resulting in serious depression, and worse.This somber film, suitably filmed in B/W, boasts great performances by the protagonists. Directing and script were excellent, with the viewer made aware that some tragedy was in the making, right from the first few minutes. I score this excellent film 8/10.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Die Konsequenz" is a West German 100-minute film from 1977, which means this one will have its 40th anniversary next year. And even if this is a very long time, it is still somewhat strange to see a film from the late 1970s still in black-and-white. But it did not hurt the movie at all, possibly even helped it. The director here is Wolfgang Petersen and he is also the one who adapted Alexander Ziegler's novel for the screen here. Ziegler was still alive when this one came out. He committed suicide about a decade later. Petersen worked with Jürgen Prochnow on several occasions and most people will immediately think of "Das Boot", but this one here is the much better collaboration between the two, even if it is not very known outside (maybe even inside) Germany. It should be though and I hope my review can make a few people curious about this movie. Prochnow plays a convict in here, who falls in love with one of the warden's sons (played by Ernst Hannawald in a career-defining performance). This is about the first half of the film only though.Everything that follows is about the duo's relationship. The boy's father does not agree with it and has the son sent to a very questionable correctional facility where one of the instructors severely hurts the boys physically if they don't obey his every word. Sadly this gruesome warden (probably the main antagonist of the film) gets lots of support from the institution's director (played by Hans-Michael Rehberg who is known to German film fans for sure), who absolutely has his back despite the unnecessary cruelty. When Prochnow's character finally manages to get his young lover out of his hellhole, more problems arise as friends turn into foes and agreements are broken.All in all, this is a very touching film. I thought it needed a bit to really suck me in and I did not care for the prison scenes early on too much, but everything afterward is a very thrilling and tense watch that had me at the edge of my seat. Prochnow and Schwuchow are outstanding, everybody else (including Hannawald) is really good too. It is very easy to feel for the couple and hope they will find a way to manage their struggles and overcome these obstacles that these dark times back them posed for homosexual couples. It is weird to imagine this film came out almost the very same time like "Taxi zum Klo". It is such a different film, even if the topic is somewhat similar.I was really positively surprised here and very much impressed by this little hidden gem. You already see from the title of my review how much I enjoyed the watch and felt for the characters. The biggest strength, however, apart from the acting is that this film uses homosexuality just as a framework and managed to construct an intriguing story inside that framework. Many many gay-themed (short) films use this subject as the core component of the story and occasionally don't even try to elaborate beyond that or, if they do, they frequently fail completely. But Petersen and Ziegler make all ends meet. You absolutely have to see how they did it exactly. Do not miss out on "The Consequence". This is my favorite 1977 film at this point.

tedg It should never be the case that after watching a film, you sit in the awakening theater and wonder why the thing was made. What did the filmmaker think was the value of the experience, that we would let him borrow our souls for a time?I did ask that at the end of this. Its done well enough I think, at least so far as its bits. Its a story about a love, actually a simple story, about a love thwarted by a society. The reason is that we have two men, and we are supposed to (I guess) take it as a character study of a tortured existence — an injustice whose consequence we see grind these two to bits.Judging from the comments here, there is an audience of gay men for whom this matters. But I think that is less that the film has something worthwhile, than it portrays an injustice they personally know, so they simply welcome the acknowledgment. But this thing has problems. There are matters of prison: two in fact, one for each man. This is so artificial — even by movie terms — that it lets us off the hook emotionally. When we are fed something that doesn't seem situated in our world, we lose it.Also, it isn't just a love between two men, but a man and a boy. The man has a history of exploiting underage boys, and we learn that the boy has a profoundly damaged parental environment. These dynamics are written away.Petersen is a quirky guy. "das Boot" was conceived from a place of genius as a study of space. All else is ordinary and there merely to serve the goal of limited containment. Since then, in Hollywwod, he has turned into a hack. Before "das Boot" we have this, which I think we could see as a similar but failed study in containment/confinement. If so, it is worth existing, but not worth watching, not like, for example "Equus."Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Jay Harris The Consequence is a Black & White,poignant & at times sad movie about the cruel treatment of Homosexuals in Prisons & other institutions in West Germany during the 1970's.This 1977 film, was directed by WOLFGANG PETERSON, this was only his fourth film (4 years later he made DAS BOOT).The screenplay was by Alex Zeigler who adapted his novel to the screen. The star is JURGEN PROCHNOW (before he starred in DAS BOOT & is now one of Germany's leading actors. Here is portrays a convict who happens to care too much for young lads. He is also an actor who is appearing in a prison play, The wardens not yet 18 year old son is also in the play. You guessed it, they fall in love & this is what the rest of the film is about,there lives & affair over the next few years in & out of prisons & other institutions.18 year old Ernest Hannawald (in his first role) plays the young NOT SO INNOCENT young man. He does show some promise & has been on German TV over the years.It is a sad but poignant tale, well acted & well made,This was filmed in Black & White. The English sub-titles are clear & easy to read.For an early film by both director & star,it shows future promise,which we know has born fruition.I liked it BUT did not feel it was that worthwhile a movie to rave about,.It had a very limited release in the US & maybe elsewhere as well. I happen to be only the second person in 8 years to comment on the film. There have been better films on this subject over the years. Some of you may like it better than I did.See it for the star & director & the following reason, It is also very interesting to see how Homosexuals were thought of & treated in Europe back in the seventies.Ratings *** (out of 4) 81 points (out of 100) IMDb 7 out of 10