Whe was actually so incredibly into Rex Gildo? In the 1960s and 1970s he was known as Uwe Seeler or Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, in whose rate show he also appeared constantly. And he sold 40 million records, acted in 30 films. But who liked him?
The filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim describes the hit star as one of the idols of his childhood. The author of these lines made a small house altar when he was nine. In the right wing he prayed to Rex Gildo, in the left wing he prayed to Thomas Fritsch.
But the middle section was dedicated to Wencke Myhre, who hovered above all bards. After all, she had the bright red rubber boat! She really sang about it with inimitable joy.
In Rosa von Praunheim’s new semi-documentary “The Last Dance” about Rex Gildo, this icon of German television entertainment, there are three old-fashioned robed retired nuns who mutually assure each other of their enthusiasm for their beloved – sitting on folding chairs in front of their final resting place beloved. Such a handsome man! How can you smear his memory like that and accuse him of unnatural tendencies? You no longer understand the world.
Well, that’s probably it: On Rex Gildo stood those who didn’t understand the world – or just didn’t understand it anymore, children and (naive) old people. The classic adult at the time, when people could still sing Gildo’s super hit “Fiesta, Fiesta Mexikana” in their deep sleep, along with the refrain-like yelled “Hossa, Hossa!”, probably took the forever young, forever tanned, forever puffy black-haired man as that what he was – a perfectly functioning entertainment industry fictional character. And consequently not serious.
Incidentally, this entertainment industry was all about harmlessness. The main thing is brightly colored and lively. And that was Rex Gildo. Approved from three years. Recreational fun for the whole family when they gathered in front of the TV on Saturday night.
double life of a homosexual
The drama of Rex Gildo, on the other hand (similar to that of his heterosexual colleague Roy Black), was that he could not build up an existence parallel to that illusory world of dancing and singing. Especially not considering its main feature.
Ever since he was discovered and built up by music producer Fred Miekley in the 1950s, Rex Gildo, whose real name was Ludwig Franz Hirtreiter, led the double life of homosexuals in the Adenauer era. Paragraph 175, which was tightened by the Nazis in 1935, was still in force in Germany until 1969, making any form of male-male sex a punishable offense and often resulting in social death if “it” came out.
Rex Gildo, who, assuming a certain knowledge of human nature, was instantly recognizable (which is also confirmed in the film by old companions such as Conny Froboess or Gitte Haenning), had to put up a façade from the start: living together with his partner Miekley was treated as an intimate uncle Nephew relationship sold.
The cast of “The Last Dance”: Ben Becker, Rosa von Praunheim, Kilian Berger and Kai Schumann (from left)
Source: rbb/Thomas Ernst
When that was no longer convincing, a sham marriage was concluded. Unfortunately, the press caught on to the bride and revealed her to be Rex Gildo’s cousin. So keep playing hide-and-seek and show the Latin lover even more.
It hasn’t been that good since the 80’s. The sparkling clean mother-in-law crush was not only getting on in years. His androgynous charisma suddenly seemed strangely helpless.
He came across as too provincial to really be camp, especially since his hit lyrics were so simple and without any hidden meaning. And then it also bothered him that a new type of homosexual had appeared on the scene, compared to “sexy Rexy” only as a conformist closet queen appeared.
When his partner and manager Miekley finally died, Rex Gildo’s disorientation got the upper hand: he became addicted to alcohol, pumped full of pills and whipped himself onto the stage, which last consisted of hardware stores, for whose inauguration he was booked. There he belted out his hits from the olden days in front of an audience that consisted mostly of senior citizens.
However, the multimillionaire singer didn’t think about quitting, which only made things worse. Even in Praunheim’s more forgiving film, watching this decline is only torturous at the end, because here we see a person who just couldn’t get his life under control anymore. At the age of 63, he (himself?) fell to his death from the window of his Munich apartment under the massive influence of pills.
Falling Titan: Kai Schumann is the late Rex Gildo in Rosa von Praunheim’s film
Source: missingFILMs
“The Last Dance” is nothing particularly close to Rex Gildo. At least you learn something about the tough school he went to with his manager (blatantly wrongly cast: Ben Becker as a cozy fat boy). Kilian Berger as the young Rex Gildo can exude a lot of youthful charm. The aged star, on the other hand, is just a ruin that emits speech bubbles (Kai Schumann).
The best thing about Praunheim’s peakless rippling series of images compared to other biopics are the interviews with artists who worked with Rex Gildo. They provide the kind of reflective work that the humble boy from the Bavarian province apparently never did.