Fünf Finger geben eine Faust (1971)

Fünf Finger geben eine Faust: Directed by Robert Mulligan. With Michael Sarrazin, Barbara Hershey, Arthur Hill, Ruth White. A young college student is sent to prison as much for killing a pedestrian with his car as for not paying his parking tickets. When the opportunity presents itself he escapes and is subsequently on the run with his girlfriend. But how long can this situation last?

“Usually these Young-People-against-The-System films from the late 60u0026#39;s-early 70u0026#39;s are populated with groovy-talking stoners, angry radicals, and even angrier authority figures (cops, parents, etc.) But this one dispenses with those cartoons. Sarrazin and Hershey play idealistic college students, but Sarrazin is realistic enough to understand he needs help from his family connections when he gets into trouble, and Hershey doesnu0026#39;t have a beat-the-system attitude when Sarrazin escapes from custody; in fact, she canu0026#39;t fathom why he was so stupid.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt all revolves around an accident involving Sarrazin hitting a pedestrian with his car. It has nothing to do with campus politics and no attitudes are posed. The filmmakers donu0026#39;t try and truckle to the youth crowd by having the establishment types be played over-the-top. When Sarrazin mildly mocks the justice system, his lawyer played by E.G. Marshall shuts him up fast with a well-written lecture that reasonably explains Marshallsu0026#39; viewpoint. And, noticeably, it is Marshallu0026#39;s law assistant, of the same age as Sarrazin, who is played as far more hard-core establishmentary than Marshall, or Sarrazinu0026#39;s father, played by Arthur Hill. The film also features a young Robert Klein, who is quite good as Sarrazinu0026#39;s buddy. It also features a small but striking performance from William Devane as an airplane pilot hired to help Sarrazin. Devane is on screen no more than thirty seconds before he becomes more interesting than anyone else in the film (although Sarrazinu0026#39;s grandma is quite a kick, even though one note). And yes, Hershey does show off her very nice young figure in a couple of scenes. Unfortunately, the film also features Randy Newman drone-singing one of his boring songs at the opening and closing.”