Taxichauffeur Bänz (1957)

The widower Oskar Bänz (Schaggi Streuli) is a thoroughly decent, middle-class taxi driver whose daughter Irma means everything to him. He has not remarried so he can look after her, and, to pay for her medical studies, he rents a room to Toni (Maximilian Schell), a promising young footballer from the countryside who is in love with Irma. But Toni cannot cope with the temptations of the big city. He falls in with bad company and neglects his training and evening classes. When his football club drops him for poor performance, and he then also loses his job selling cars, Bänz, at Irma’s request, finds him a place at the taxi company where he works. But Toni fails at this too. He keeps running up debts and eventually goes to Konstanz to try to win money through gambling. He loses everything. Finally, he is also suspected of theft. A difficult period of rethinking begins for both Bänz and Toni. Irma plays a decisive role in it.