Whity
(DVD) 

Originally released as a German motion picture in 1970.

Special features: Commentary [optional audio feature with cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and actor/producer Ulli Lommel]; insert contains essay by Chuck Stephens.

Restoration and subtitling by Taurusfilm-Munich in cooperation with the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation-Berlin ; kamera, Michael Ballhaus ; musik, Peer Raben ; schnitt [editor] Franz Walsh, Thea Eymèsz ; production designer, Kurt Raab.

Ron Randell, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Harry Bär, Ulli Lommel, Tomas Blanco, Stefano Capriati, Elaine Baker, Mark Salvage, Helga Ballhaus, Günter Kaufmann.

Fassbinder's sole western is set in the late 1800s in the perverse household of Ben Nicholson, his blonde trophy wife Katherine, and two sons, the sadistic Frank and brain-damaged Davy. Whity's mother Marpessa is the family cook, singing freedom songs in the kitchen, but Whity adores the family and puts up with enslavement to please them--until he falls in love with saloon-singer Hanna. Filmed in Spain on the same sets where Sergio Leone staged Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, Fassbinder opts for engulfing décor, a lush, vibrant mise-en-scène, and wizard cinematographer Michael Ballhaus to help infuse the film with his distinct brand of melodramatic intensity.

DVD format; Dolby digital mono; new digital widescreen transfer, aspect ratio 2.35:1; enhanced for 16x9 televisions.

In German with optional subtitles in English.