Whity

Set in the American Southwest in 1878, Whity centres on a mixed-race butler who serves the wealthy Nicholson household, a family dominated by its patriarch, Ben, who has remarried a much younger woman. Also in the house are Ben's two grown sons from his first marriage, one of them erratic and drawn to women's clothing, the other mentally impaired. Whity endures the family's demands and humiliations without complaint, until various members of the household begin asking him to dispose of one another.

The film was directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who also wrote the screenplay, placing it between Katzelmacher and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant in his filmography. Günther Kaufmann takes the title role, with Ulli Lommel and Harry Baer as the Nicholson sons, Hanna Schygulla as Hanna, and Ron Randell as Benjamin Nicholson. The production was a West German one, made with Atlantis-Film and Antiteater-X-Film, and it was produced by Peer Raben and Lommel.

Running 95 minutes, the film blends drama and western elements. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.4 from around 1,300 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 5.4 from 24 votes, indicating a modest audience response. A much smaller group of critics rated it far higher, at 9.5 from five reviews, so the critical sample diverges sharply from the wider viewer scores.