Roland Klick (born 4 July 1939) is a German film director and screenwriter.

Biography

Klick was born in

Hof, Bavaria Hof () is a town on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconian region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtel Mountains and Franconian Forest upland regions. The town has 47,296 in ...

and grew up in Nennslingen after the war. Klick studied theater and German in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, worked as a cameraman on a film by Rolf Schünzel in 1962 and made his first short film, ''Christmas'', in 1963. After two other short films, ''Ludwig'' (1964) and ''Zwei'' (1965), the TV film '' Jimmy Orpheus'' was made in 1966. ''Bübchen'', his first feature film from 1968, was a success and Klick was hailed as the hope of German cinema. In 1970, under the protection of the Israeli military, Klick shot the Neowestern ''

Deadlock Deadlock commonly refers to: * Deadlock (computer science), a situation where two processes are each waiting for the other to finish * Deadlock (locksmithing) or deadbolt, a physical door locking mechanism * Political deadlock or gridlock, a si ...

'' in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, starring

Mario Adorf Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...

. The film, for which Klick was heavily in debt, became his greatest success, both at the box office and with critics: the director received his first federal film award and the film was awarded the title "particularly valuable". ''Deadlock'' was shown in a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. As a result, Klick received a number of offers for spaghetti westerns and from Hollywood, including from

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, all of which he turned down. In 1973 he shot ''

Supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

'' with

Eva Mattes __NOTOC__ Eva Mattes (; born 14 December 1954) is a German-Austrian actress. She has appeared in four films directed by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder ('' The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'', ', '' Effi Briest'' and '' In a Year of 13 Moons ...

, a big city film to which

Marius Müller-Westernhagen Marius Hubertus Hans Müller-Westernhagen (born 6 December 1948) is a German musician and actor. He has been a feature in German rock music since the mid-1970s. Müller-Westernhagen is known for his energetic public concerts, and his fans know h ...

contributed the title song as Marius West. In 1975, he staged ', an adaptation of a novel by Johannes Mario Simmel. Klick received his third federal film prize for the feature-length documentary film ''Derby Fever USA'' about horse racing in the USA. In 1979 he created the German dubbed version of George A. Romero's apocalyptic horror shocker ''Dawn of the Dead'' for Bernd Eichinger's Neue Constantin Film as dialogue author and director. Two weeks before shooting of the commissioned work ''Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo'' the producer

Bernd Eichinger Bernd Eichinger (; 11 April 194924 January 2011) was a German film producer, screenwriter, and director. Life and career Eichinger was born in Neuburg an der Donau. He attended the University of Television and Film Munich in the 1970s and b ...

released Klick after disagreements. Between 1981 and 1983 he made ''White Star'' with

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

, whose cocaine addiction caused major problems during shooting and contributed to the fact that the film could only be realized as a fragment. ''White Star'', which won the Bundesfilmpreis, was a flop at the box office.

Filmography

* ''Christmas'' (1963, short film) * ''Ludwig'' (1964, short film) * ''Zwei'' (1965, short film) * '' Jimmy Orpheus'' (1966) * '' Bübchen'' (1968) * ''

'' (1970) * ''

'' (1974) * ' (1976) * '' Derby Fever USA'' (1979, documentary) * ' (1983) * '' Schluckauf (1989)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Klick, Roland 1939 births Living people German male film actors German film directors German television directors People from Hof, Bavaria Male actors from Bavaria