der Händler der 4 jahreszeiten (The Merchant of Four Seasons)

Faßbinder's bleak film examines the tragic life of Hans Epp, a man with too much courage, too few brains, and a serious luck shortage. This was the first of Faßbinder's films to win general critical acclaim and a wider audience. It is alternately comic and heart-wrenching. Hans starts out in the police force, but doesn't have the sense to keep his pants up. Fired from the force, he goes into the Foreign Legion and has a series of adventures, some of them quite funny. When he returns to Germany, the only work he can get is as a street peddler, and his life goes into a drunken downward spiral from there. His depression fuels a self destructive desire and the film ends as Hans purposefully drinks himself to death in a local bar.