In his most prolific period, Rainer Warner Fassbinder (1946-1982) turned out an astronomical ten films during a two year span between 1969 and 1971. Most of which had a frenetic, improvisatory feel to them, a quality which Fassbinder would never completely shake off, for when he tried to, he seemed in danger of falling into that other trap - utter pretentiousness. The products of this period visually cited Jean-Luc Godard as their chief influence, both in their rough-and-ready shooting style and in their overarching commitment, an unrelenting critique of bourgeois society. Fassbinder held a lifelong passion for the charged melodrama, especially those with Douglas Sirk's stamp on them. And it should have come as little surprise to find him amidst his tributes to Godard, suddenly veering towards Samuel Fuller in 1970's Der amerikanische Soldat (The American Soldier).
In the decidedly more bizarre and controversial entry Whity (1971) the director is to be found pastiching the range of American Westerns and sordid tales of the Old South, with the mulatto hero darkly brooding on vengeance against the white master-race represented here by a slew of sadists and incoherent half-wits. By 1971, Fassbinder embarked on a series of films which would ensue international recognition, producing tailored for television fare as well. Eight Hours Are Not A Day and Berlin Alexanderplatz being the most extensive.