Nostalgia Kinky

By the end of 1978, Wim Verstappen was very much exhausted both creatively and personally. He had just seen his greatest film, the magnificent anti-war drama PASTORALE 1943, fail to connect with the public or critical community at large and the glory years of $corpio Films were gone. The Dutch resistance drama PASTORALE 1943 found Verstappen at his most serious and for his follow up project he needed something lighter in tone. A good opportunity for this much needed change of pace came when the film rights to a popular novel called Het lijk in de Haarlemmer Houttuinen (The Corpse in the Haarlemmer Houttuinen) by popular Dutch author Jan-Willem van de Wetering became available. The book proved popular enough to start an ongoing series of novels and short stories all concerning the adventures of Amsterdam policemen Adjutant-Detective Henk Grijpstra and Detective-Sergeant Rinus de Gier.

After gaining the rights to the first book of the series Verstappen joined forced with van de Wetering to draft up a screenplay. Retitled GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER, the pair fashioned a fun if convoluted script that provided Verstappen with one of his biggest Dutch popular hits of the seventies. Much of this was due to the fact that GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER is a packed film talent wise featuring some of the leading figures in Dutch film both in front of and behind the camera.

Celebrated cinematographer Marc Felperlaan provides the film with its colorful photography that perfectly captures Amsterdam in the late seventies. Brilliant frequent $corpio Films editor Jutta Brandstaedter provides her typically innovative and perfectly realized cutting skills that manages to keep the film moving while giving each scene room to breathe. Providing the film’s breezy and memorable score is award winning composer Rogier van Otterloo, who delivers yet another unforgettable soundtrack for Producer Rob Houwer. The iconic Producer behind so many Dutch classics also called upon a young actor he had helped discover about ten years earlier who owed him a favor. The actor was Rutger Hauer, who at the bequest of his friend joined what turned out to be one of the best cast Dutch films of the seventies.

Hauer playing Detective de Gier is joined by fellow Dutch legend, Rijk de Gooyer playing his older partner Grijpstra. The two greats make a terrific pair, and their chemistry drives the production even when the script falters at times. The supporting cast is just as strong featuring legendary Netherland film figures Willeke van Ammelrooy, Frederik de Groot, composer Ruud Bos and young Marina de Graaf, captured her less than two years after her startling turn in van Brakel’s THE DEBUT (1977). Stealing damn near the whole film though is the much-missed New York born actor Donald Jones, who is brilliant in the film bleeding charisma throughout.

Despite everything going for it, GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER doesn’t reach the heights of previous Verstappen films like BLUE MOVIE (1971), DAKOTA (1974) or PASTORALE 1943. The script is the main culprit as ultimately GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER succeeds as just a film of memorable scenes with the plot becoming more and more confused as the film progresses. If nothing else, GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER foreshadows the many buddy-cop films of the next couple of decades and it’s a hell of a lot more entertaining than many of those. Despite the narrative inconsistencies, GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER is still a real winner and is never less than hugely entertaining. Verstappen directs his incredible cast with great care, while never losing his freewheeling independent spirit. It’s a great minor film.
Critics were mixed regarding GRIJPSTRA & DE GIER but it performed well enough with the public that Verstappen returned for a semi-sequel nearly a decade later, sans Hauer, called DE RATELRAT, although it failed to match the success of the original. Verstappen’s film and the book it was based on also provided the inspiration for a Dutch television series in the 2000s. Verstappen’s original is the one to seek out though, providing yet another example of his distinctive and stylish low-budget filmmaking skills.

-Jeremy Richey January 2025-