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Nicht schummeln, Liebling!

Don’t Cheat, Darling!
Retrospective 2025
© DEFA-Stiftung / Klaus Goldmann
To bolster the fame of the small city of Sonnethal (and his own), the mayor ploughs money into the local football club, which is striving to get into the regional league, decimating the town’s budget in the process. The new director of the vocational school is so indignant about the privileges afforded the male footballers that she forms a competing girls’ team with her own students; after a number of victories, they clamour for a club of their own. Without having any say in the matter, the men are then roped in by the girls to help renovate the ramshackle clubhouse, which turns the delicate marking between team captains Bernd and Brigitte into an enduring tackle …
Featuring in-vogue pop stars Chris Doerk and Frank Schöbel, this film musical celebrates a battle of the sexes waged in shorts and miniskirts. Set against a backdrop of half-timbered houses, a singing competition develops between male posturing (“A Man Turning 40”) and female empowerment (“The Man is Mine”), with the young ladies in cropped minis doing complex choreography – up to and including a sunny umbrella ballet à la Singin’ in the Rain (USA, 1952) – triumphing in the end.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Joachim Hasler (Director, Screenplay), Heinz Kahlow (Screenplay)
with Chris Doerk, Frank Schöbel, Dorit Gäbler, Christel Bodenstein, Karel Fiala, Rolf Herricht, Peter Bause, Heinz Behrens, Stefan Lisewski, Horst Schulze German Democratic Republic 1973 German 92' Colour Rating R 0

With

  • Chris Doerk
  • Frank Schöbel
  • Dorit Gäbler
  • Christel Bodenstein
  • Karel Fiala
  • Rolf Herricht
  • Peter Bause
  • Heinz Behrens
  • Stefan Lisewski
  • Horst Schulze

Crew

Director Joachim Hasler
Screenplay Heinz Kahlow, Joachim Hasler
Cinematography Joachim Hasler, Peter Süring
Editing Barbara Weigel
Music Gerhard Siebholz, Frank Schöbel, Gerd Natschinski
Production Design Alfred Thomalla

Additional information

DCP: DEFA-Filmverleih / Deutsche Kinemathek

Photos