{"id":38012,"date":"2024-12-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=38012"},"modified":"2024-12-17T16:47:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T21:47:37","slug":"black-gravel-1961-directed-by-helmut-kautner-z-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=38012","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Black Gravel&#8221; (1961) directed by Helmut K\u00e4utner \/ Z-View"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/stallonezone.com\/zone\/2024\/z121824zview_blackgravel.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"561\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Black Gravel <\/i>(1961)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Director: \u00a0<strong>Helmut K\u00e4utner<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Screenplay: \u00a0<strong>Helmut K\u00e4utner, Walter Ulbrich<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stars: <strong>Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg, Wolfgang B\u00fcttner, Anita H\u00f6fer <\/strong>and <strong>Peter Nestler<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tagline:\u00a0 None.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>The Plot&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Post-World War II West Germany.\u00a0 The population struggles with shortages of jobs, and life&#8217;s necessities such as food, water and housing.\u00a0 The major source of revenue for the small village of Sohnen is the nearby American Air Force base.\u00a0 The soldiers spend their money on booze and broads.\u00a0 The black market flourishes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Robert Neidhardt has always made his way on the outskirts of the law.\u00a0 Now he owns a huge truck and drives for Air Base construction projects.\u00a0 Neidhardt makes extra cash working with a group diverting black gravel from the construction sites to a private buyer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One evening Neidhardt\u00a0 stops to assist (for a price) a couple stranded on the side of the road. The car belongs to American Air Force Major John Gaines.\u00a0 Neidhardt offers to tow the car into town for ten bucks.\u00a0 Major Gaines agrees.\u00a0 He and his wife get into Neidhardt&#8217;s truck.\u00a0 Neidhardt is shocked.\u00a0 The Major&#8217;s wife, Inge, is Neidhardt&#8217;s former lover.\u00a0 She left one day with no explanation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The next morning Neidhardt calls on Inge.\u00a0 Although they are still attracted to each other, Inge wants no part of Neidhardt.\u00a0 She knows they&#8217;re bad for each other.\u00a0 But the attraction is too strong.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Soon Neidhardt&#8217;s affair, his illegal trucking activities, and the death of two young lovers will put his life at risk.\u00a0 Despite his best efforts, the noose is tightening&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Thoughts (beware of spoilers)\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Black Gravel<\/em> is extremely dark.\u00a0 It features adult themes.\u00a0 <em>Black Gravel<\/em> was edited and shown with a more upbeat ending during the initial release.\u00a0 In 2009, the film was restored to the version shown now.\u00a0 It&#8217;s hard hitting and not for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m surprised <em>Black Gravel<\/em> is better known among fans of noir.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: inherit; color: initial;\"><strong><em><i>Black Gravel <\/i>(1961) <\/em><\/strong>rates 4 of 5 stars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/stallonezone.com\/zone\/logo\/zview_b.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"100\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/stallonezone.com\/zone\/2024\/z121824zview_blackgravel2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"327\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black Gravel (1961) Director: \u00a0Helmut K\u00e4utner Screenplay: \u00a0Helmut K\u00e4utner, Walter Ulbrich Stars: Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg, Wolfgang B\u00fcttner, Anita H\u00f6fer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,54,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime","category-movies","category-z-view"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38013,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38012\/revisions\/38013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}