Johnny West (1977)

Nineteen-year-old Hans-Michael Westerfeld is a slight, withdrawn young man who has left his life back home behind and dreams of nothing but making it big as a rock musician one day. In his view, that requires an American-sounding name, so from then on he calls himself Johnny West. West joins the band “The Manhattans” as a roadie and tours Germany with them, always hoping that one day he will be able to work as a rock musician himself. But life on the road turns out to be far less glamorous than he had hoped, and the job of a roadie is hard and full of hardships. Even so, what matters to him is the feeling that he has now become part of the world of rock music. One day Johnny meets Monika, the beautiful daughter of a doctor, and falls in love with her. As a result, he begins to neglect his job as a roadie and gets into trouble with the manager of his idols. Johnny then breaks up with Monika with a heavy heart, but is nevertheless fired after an argument with the tour manager. Together with his pal Max, Johnny now tries to make it as a musician in Frankfurt am Main. He starts his career as the guitarist in the group “Missus Beastly” and gives his first performance at a small U.S. officers’ club in Hanau. He immediately claims for himself one of the “trappings” of being a rock musician: sex with a groupie, in this case a waitress. Johnny soon realizes, however, how much Monika means to him, and returns to her repentant.