Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins (1969)

St. Pauli, Hamburg: During the night, several bikers break into a pharmacy. When the owner surprises them, they beat him to death in cold blood. One of the burglars delivers the stolen goods to an unknown man at a bar on the Reeperbahn in exchange for cash. The next day, a man named Hannes Teversen is released from prison early, after eight years. A former captain and shareholder in the Transatlanta shipping company, he once had an affair with his business partner’s wife. While drunk, he allegedly strangled her. At least, that is the official version, based on the circumstantial-evidence trial at the time, when a man named Bobowsky, Chief Petty Officer Bruno Schultze, and Teversen’s then-partner Christoph Lauritz testified. Kriminalrat Krause, who investigated the case at the time, has asked Teversen to come to his office to warn him about possible acts of revenge. But Teversen still insists that he is innocent and is determined to expose the real culprit or culprits. On the Große Freiheit, Hannes meets his old friend Pitter. The former sailor runs the legendary Hippodrom with his sister Martha and his daughter Antje. Because of the Schultze gang’s exorbitant protection-racket demands, the club is on the verge of bankruptcy. Teversen arrives just in time to put an abrupt end to a visit from the gang’s brutal thugs. Hannes’s former girlfriend, Doris Mertens, who now works as a prostitute, happens to be involved with Teddy, one of the gangsters’ leaders. Bruno Schultze and Christoph Lauritz have already learned that Teversen is free again. Antje’s acquaintance Karl Seibold is unhappy working in his mother’s bakery. At last, he wants to prove himself to Antje and to the bikers, with whom he sometimes clashes. Hannes Teversen, who is temporarily staying with his friend Pitter, tries unsuccessfully to get a job with his former shipping company. He then visits his former business partner Lauritz, who has since become dependent on the shady businessman Bobowsky. Lauritz denies any responsibility and even offers Teversen money to keep quiet. Teversen politely refuses, since all he wants is justice and to clear his name. Meanwhile, Pitter has to pawn the Hippodrom’s horses, which particularly devastates Antje. Although Karl also looks after her, Antje seeks comfort above all from Hannes, who is considerably older than she is. He, too, is taken with the young woman: he gives her flowers and buys back the pawned horses. Hannes has no idea that Antje is his biological daughter. Despite his sister Martha’s urging, Pitter does not dare tell Hannes the truth. He is too afraid of losing them both. At night, the bikers force Karl to break into a pharmacy. After Karl sets off the alarm, a spectacular escape ensues, during which he is shot by the police. By chance, he ends up at Hannes Teversen’s place. Hannes helps the young man and learns that Bruno Schultze is behind the biker gang’s burglaries. After a night of heavy drinking with Pitter, Hannes and Antje travel to Heligoland, where they nearly become intimate. Only after they return does Pitter tell his friend that he is related to Antje: Hannes is her biological father. Pitter acknowledged her as his daughter after Hannes left her mother. Even after the mother’s death, Pitter let Antje believe that he was her father. Contrary to Pitter’s fears, Hannes remains loyal to him. All the more determined now, he sets out to go after the people who once put him behind bars. To keep his friends out of it, Teversen secretly moves into a boarding house. Doris Mertens manages to track Hannes down in order to warn him. A short time later, Bruno Schultze strangles her. Lauritz and Bobowsky plan to frame Teversen for this murder as well. But, as Kriminalrat Krause soon discovers, they have overlooked an important detail. With Karl Seibold’s help, Hannes lures the now-confessed Schultze, the bikers, and other crooks onto an old barge, then calls the police. Afterward, the actual murderer, Christoph Lauritz, is also apprehended. In the end, Hannes Teversen regains his honor and goes to sea as a captain—with his friend Pitter by his side.