Der Mann mit dem goldenen Pinsel (1969)

Munich, late 1960s. Archie, a young painter of only modest talent, has just returned from Paris to try his luck in Schwabing, Munich’s artists’ and bohemian quarter. But painting is mostly a way of making no living for him, too, and his numerous sex adventures with his girlfriend Hong-Kong, who regularly poses nude in front of his canvas, are not enough to keep him fed in the long run. It seems almost like a miracle, then, when Archie’s old buddy Egon puts him in touch with an art dealer and gallery owner who promises him a decent living if Archie will take his maddening girlfriend Luisa off his hands. Luisa is demanding and expects a lot of attention; in return, the gallery owner is willing to show Archie’s artistic outpourings in his exhibitions. To make the deal more enticing, the art dealer also promises Archie a fixed monthly salary. The painter thus kills two birds with one stone: from then on, he no longer has to worry about a regular income, and he has two pretty young women to have sex with. Because Archie paints his works as God made him, and sometimes puts his finest asset—his “golden brush,” as the film’s title has it—to meaningful use, an exhibition scandal involving naked facts promptly erupts, and the press nicknames him “The Man with the Golden Brush.” Suddenly he is in demand like never before; customers clamor for his paintings, and he throws parties as if in a frenzy, at which he also picks up a third woman, the pretty cellist Brunhilde.