Entlassen auf Bewährung (1965)

The young motorcyclist Konrad Schenk, known as Conny, fled the scene after colliding with a cyclist. The badly injured man, whom Conny thought was dead, died because he received no medical attention. Conny was sentenced to two years in prison. While in prison, he trained as a printer and earned a skilled-worker qualification. He shared a cell with Hugo Borke, who was released before him and offered to help him out when Conny got out in six months, since Conny had even stopped writing to his girlfriend, Ute, at some point. For good behavior, Conny was released on parole six months before the end of his sentence. He was assigned to VEB Graphische Werkstätten Berlin, where he was required to work as a printer for two years. Forewoman Helga Reichenbach is far from pleased when her boss assigns her the ex-prisoner Conny. Her team needs a good printer, but to give the trained Conny his own machine, she would have to reassign Kalle, a longtime laborer without a skilled-worker qualification who has so far operated a printing press on a temporary basis, to sheet-catching. This, along with her prejudice against Conny, leads her to insist that he first have a one-week familiarization period. At Conny’s request, only Helga and her boss, Katja Drechsler, know about his past. Conny keeps his distance from his coworkers. At first they are curious about him, but later begin to avoid him because of his guarded manner. Conny cannot move in with his father because his father’s new wife rejects him. Instead, Conny meets Ute again, and the two become a couple once more. Their happy days together are interrupted when Borke visits Conny. He invites him to drop by his regular haunt, the Traube, sometime. At work, Conny makes no headway because of Helga’s dismissive attitude. He does his job well, but is blamed for mistakes made by Kalle, the laborer. Helga uses this to delay Conny’s already scheduled move to the machine. One day, when worker Rudi Stamann discovers that his wallet, containing a lot of cash, is missing, Helga immediately suspects Conny. She tells all the employees that Conny has been in prison. Everyone now distrusts him, even though Rudi takes Conny’s side. Conny gets drunk in a bar and arrives home intoxicated. Ute is waiting there, along with her mother. Mrs. Lockhoff does not approve of a worker as her future son-in-law, since her daughter, as a university graduate, deserves someone better. She questions Conny about his background until he has had enough. He tells her he was in prison. Reacting to her response, he angrily shouts both her and Ute out of his apartment. The next morning, he wants to make up with Ute, but she accuses him of having become a wimp. Later, Ute breaks down in tears over what she said and begins looking for Conny. On Katja Drechsler’s orders, Helga must let Conny operate the printing press from now on, since he is qualified for the job. Kalle is furious and tries to turn the other coworkers against Conny. When almost no one is interested in the change, Kalle attacks Conny personally and threatens to finish him off. Conny grabs a wrench, ready to strike, but comes to his senses when Kalle sneers that it would not be the first time Conny had killed someone. Resigned, Conny leaves the factory. He goes to Borke, who offers him a job: he is to pick up two packages of contraband for him from the railway station. Conny hesitates at first because he has no driving licence, but then gets behind the wheel anyway. Ute finds him at that moment and gets into the car with him. She wants to stay with him and also tells him that there has been a discussion at his workplace. Everyone is waiting for him, especially since Rudi Stamann has firmly stood up for him. Conny drives Ute to her workplace. After she leaves, memories of the past few days come flooding back: the humiliations, suspicions, and insults. As he did shortly after the accident, he now thinks of suicide and begins racing through Berlin in the car. Suddenly, a traffic policeman stops him. A boy has fallen while climbing over a fence and needs to be taken to the hospital urgently. Conny takes him there. At the hospital, he finally comes to his senses and leaves the car there.