Laß jucken, Kumpel 3: Maloche, Bier und Bett (1974)

The story picks up where the second installment of the “Kumpel” series left off and begins with the engagement party of Lucky, an Italian, and his German girlfriend, Erika. Gisela, who has temporarily returned to prostitution and is now widowed, seems to have found a new love—or at least a source of support—in Heiner’s old friend Jupp Kaltofen. Jupp is the exact opposite of Heiner and, moreover, around twenty years older than his late pal. While Heiner at least recognized his dissatisfaction with his life, old Jupp has no self-awareness at all. He drowns his miserable existence in prodigious amounts of alcohol and papers over his wretched life by bragging about affairs with women that never actually happened. He is entirely unsuited to being a substitute father to little Thomas, and yet the people around Gisela in the mine are glad she is marrying this loser, since it will at least bring some security for the widow and her son. But fate intervenes at the last moment to thwart the impending wedding between Gisela and Jupp, which threatens to become a mésalliance: on their wedding day, Jupp is lying in bed dead drunk and has to be practically carted off to the registry office by his pals. Completely plastered, he collapses at the crucial moment, before he can say the decisive “I do!” loudly and clearly. Gisela’s fate seems sealed as well (see Part 5 of the series).