Stroszek [ˈstrɔʃɛk] is a 1977 West German tragicomedy[2][3][4][5][6][7] film directed by Werner Herzog and starring Bruno S., Eva Mattes, and Clemens Scheitz.

Released from prison and warned to stop drinking, he immediately goes to a familiar bar where he meets Eva, a prostitute down on her luck, and lets her stay with him at the apartment his landlord kept for him.

They are then harried and beaten by Eva's former pimps, who insult Bruno, pull his accordion apart and humiliate him by making him kneel on his grand piano with bells balanced on his back.

Holding a large frozen turkey from the store and the shotgun, Bruno returns to the garage where he works, loads the tow truck with beer, and drives along a highway into the mountains.

After believing Klaus Kinski to be more suitable for the part, Herzog specifically wrote the leading role in Stroszek to compensate Schleinstein for his disappointment over Woyzeck.

"[12] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded his top score of four stars[13] and placed it at #10 on his year-end list of the best movies he saw in 1978, calling it a "strange, funny, heartbreaking film.

"[15] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times declared it "a strange and original piece of work ... if in its last third it is overwhelmed by its own symbolisms and is disappointing, it has in its first half some passages of terrific power and brutal believability.

"[17] A less enthusiastic review by Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it a "dogged, obstinately despairing parable" that "is strewn with gauche little appeals for sympathy.

"[18] Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin was also somewhat negative and stated, "On such well-trodden ground, it seems, Herzog has little to say that is not derivative of himself or others; one can only hope that he quickly finds his way back to more unfamiliar regions.