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Product Description
The final part of Wim Wenders' loose trilogy of road movies (following on from Alice in the Cities and Wrong Move), KINGS OF THE ROAD (aka IN THE COURSE OF TIME) has been hailed as one of the best films of the 1970s and remains Wenders' most remarkable portrait of his own country. After driving his car at high speed off a road and into a river, losing all his worldly possessions, Robert Lander (Hanns Zischler) hitches a ride with Bruno Winter (Rüdiger Vogler), who travels across Germany's hinterland repairing projectors in run-down cinemas. Along the way, the two men meet people whose lives are as at odds with the modern world as their own. In attempting to reconcile their past, the two men find themselves increasingly at odds with each other. KINGS OF THE ROAD (aka IN THE COURSE OF TIME) is a meditation on the passing of the age of great cinema, an acute study of life in post-war Germany and to this day remains one of Wim Wenders' most accomplished films.
Product Description
Two-disc set. DVD bonus features include a 'Conversations on Kings of the Road' featurette and deleted scenes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
As time goes by, nothing much happens - in wide, leisurely landscapes, from the Elbe flowing broad across its water meadows, to the border with the old DDR, East Germany. In black and white, which feels just right - as much of this movie does. Nothing much, but not nothing, because otherwise it would be dull; there are strong tensions between the two protagonists at times. Two very different people, drifting together, not particularly getting on. "I don't want to hear your story" says the one, "I want to know who you are." "I am my story."
Wenders has his way of getting to the core, and to your heart, in a few spare shots.
The soundtrack is also spare, is only there part of the time, and reminds (pre-minds?) me of the Ry Cooder score of 'Paris, Texas' many years later. The main camera-man is Wenders' long-time collaborator Robbie Muller: long tracking shots, wide landscapes, skyscapes, with a slow pace - and then suddenly some small detail lovingly picked out, a small village scene which is both very much of its time (late sixties in small-town Germany) as well as timeless, wistful and reminiscent of an old painting; an interior shot like a photograph made by Hopper. They are artists, Muller and Wenders, and by some magical means they get under your skin: you slide back in your chair, your timeframe goes on slow-mo, and you become part of it all.
I have seen, on various websites, several deep explanations/interpretations about the relationship between the two main players. I wouldn't worry - go with the flow, sit back and let it all come over you, and your personal interpretation will come to the surface. I reckon that is how Wenders works: slowly, by osmosis between the landscape, the road, and your eyes/mind. Don't analyze - experience it, and enjoy it. Deeply, slowly, it works out in a very satisfactory way.
I first saw this when it came out, in some obscure Dutch cinema, and loved it; saw it many years later on telly, and it didn't quite work - it needs widescreen. And now we have it back, widescreen, music and all - and it is wonderful. I love this movie, but it is hard to pin down exactly why; it is like good blues music, mellow with a strong dash of melancholy - nostalgia, I suppose. It is not by accident that all the records they play, in the cab of the truck they drive around in, are American. Dreaming of other places, while part of your own - and a stranger, a drifter, in your own world as well. The main personage (Vogler) has a touching night with a girl, and has to leave in the morning; he takes a tear from her face, and puts it under his own eye. Sounds corny, looks very touching. That's Wenders for you, and this particular Wenders movie is distilled essence of Wenders. Wonderful.
"Film is the art of seeing."
Wenders has his way of getting to the core, and to your heart, in a few spare shots.
The soundtrack is also spare, is only there part of the time, and reminds (pre-minds?) me of the Ry Cooder score of 'Paris, Texas' many years later. The main camera-man is Wenders' long-time collaborator Robbie Muller: long tracking shots, wide landscapes, skyscapes, with a slow pace - and then suddenly some small detail lovingly picked out, a small village scene which is both very much of its time (late sixties in small-town Germany) as well as timeless, wistful and reminiscent of an old painting; an interior shot like a photograph made by Hopper. They are artists, Muller and Wenders, and by some magical means they get under your skin: you slide back in your chair, your timeframe goes on slow-mo, and you become part of it all.
I have seen, on various websites, several deep explanations/interpretations about the relationship between the two main players. I wouldn't worry - go with the flow, sit back and let it all come over you, and your personal interpretation will come to the surface. I reckon that is how Wenders works: slowly, by osmosis between the landscape, the road, and your eyes/mind. Don't analyze - experience it, and enjoy it. Deeply, slowly, it works out in a very satisfactory way.
I first saw this when it came out, in some obscure Dutch cinema, and loved it; saw it many years later on telly, and it didn't quite work - it needs widescreen. And now we have it back, widescreen, music and all - and it is wonderful. I love this movie, but it is hard to pin down exactly why; it is like good blues music, mellow with a strong dash of melancholy - nostalgia, I suppose. It is not by accident that all the records they play, in the cab of the truck they drive around in, are American. Dreaming of other places, while part of your own - and a stranger, a drifter, in your own world as well. The main personage (Vogler) has a touching night with a girl, and has to leave in the morning; he takes a tear from her face, and puts it under his own eye. Sounds corny, looks very touching. That's Wenders for you, and this particular Wenders movie is distilled essence of Wenders. Wonderful.
"Film is the art of seeing."
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
This is Wenders' best and definitely one of my favorite films of all time, if not my favorite of them all. Many films have been built on nothing really happening, but none has had the impact of this one, not even Antonioni who definitely stands at the top. This is a true and magical adventure, touching and thrilling and absolutely personal. Wenders only matched it with An American friend before he gets too obvious with Wings of desire or, even worse, loses his magic touch and transforms into a replica of himself with no real meaning. But Kings of the road is here for ever;and it will stay!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
I remember when I first saw this film: it was, I think, 1982, and there was a Wim Wenders film festival in downtown NYC. I had seen many of his other films, but what was interesting about this festival was that Wenders himself programmed his movies together with other films that influenced him. One day, I think it was a Saturday, was Kings of the Road (In the Course of Time), together with Tarkovsky's Stalker and the classic western The Searchers. Together, it was something like eight hours of film, but when Kings of the Road came on, I was enthralled by what happened and how beautifully it was shown. As others have said, nothing much happens, but it happens so well.
Over the years, this is the movie I've seen the most. At times, I'd spot it in little theaters in Paris, and go to see it again. Once I saw part of it in a theater in Bordeaux, where the film broke after an hour and they had to refund the three people who were there. I've probably seen it a dozen times, but haven't seen it in quite some years (since I bought it on VHS, sometime in the 90s).
Few movies have so much power with so little in the way of plot. This movie was more or less improvised, and it is so much more like life than many other movies that it stands out as one of the true classics of the cinema, and definitely Wenders' best movie. A must see, especially at this price.
Over the years, this is the movie I've seen the most. At times, I'd spot it in little theaters in Paris, and go to see it again. Once I saw part of it in a theater in Bordeaux, where the film broke after an hour and they had to refund the three people who were there. I've probably seen it a dozen times, but haven't seen it in quite some years (since I bought it on VHS, sometime in the 90s).
Few movies have so much power with so little in the way of plot. This movie was more or less improvised, and it is so much more like life than many other movies that it stands out as one of the true classics of the cinema, and definitely Wenders' best movie. A must see, especially at this price.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
I can still see you Kamikaze.
Projection engineer Bruno Winter is pulled up alongside the River Elbe, as he sets about giving himself a shave a Volkswagen drives straight into the river in what seems to be a... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Spike Owen
Slow paced, classic road movie
This was the first Wim Wender's movie I had seen and had me hooked from the opening credits.
The slow pace of life, the open road, the characters one would encounter on such a... Read more
The slow pace of life, the open road, the characters one would encounter on such a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Eco Traveller
Proctoscopy and auteur theory.
If you can find profundity in the mundane, and insight in incoherence, you may enjoy three hours of Wim Wender's musings on his relationship difficulties. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Brummy D
Wonderful road movie, with a study of postwar Germany thrown in
Kings of the Road is a really wonderful road movie, following two protagonists - a child psychologist and a cinema projector mechanic - who thrown together by chance travel across... Read more
Published 10 months ago by AK
his masterpiece
This is probably the very best of the early Wim Wenders films.
I don't think they had much of a story to start with, apparently driving along the East German border,... Read more
I don't think they had much of a story to start with, apparently driving along the East German border,... Read more
Published 17 months ago by tallmanbaby
A Bleak but Beautiful Portrayal of Germany
This film is daunting, let me be clear. With a running time of nearly 3 hours, being shot entirely in black and white, and a lot of, well, silence... Read more
Published 22 months ago by A.S.
Road Movie in Germany
You have to take time to watch Kings of the Road, because the film takes almost three hours. Perhaps you should divide your viewing in three parts en take a break after each hour. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2009 by N. Rozemond
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