The Fassbinder Bender, Part 2

A casual observer watches “The American Soldier”

Film noir is one of my favorite genres, so it’s fun to watch Rainer Werner Fassbinder tackle it in The American Soldier (1970) — a film that’s part homage, part satire, and maybe tries to say something. I don’t know.

In Fassbinder’s mind, pulp involves shadows cast by Venetian blinds, crooked cops, and a titular antihero with a terrific American Eagle-beak nose and a trilby hat that he wears indoors and out.

Ricky von Rezzori (Karl Scheydt) return...