Understanding Rainer Werner Fassbinder introduces scholars and students to the controversial and prolific but brief career of a filmmaker hailed as one of the New German Cinema's most talented exponents. Combining a chronological survey with a thematic exploration, Wallace Steadman Watson reviews the entirety of Fassbinder's artistic output, focusing specifically on fifteen of the filmmaker's thirty-eight feature-length works. Watson's interpretations of these films, all of which he studied in Germany, scrutinize the financial constraints, material conditions, and script development involved in their production. In addition, Watson's analyses draw on a wide assortment of Fassbinder interviews - many of which are not available in English - and on theoretical and critical approaches employed in the Frankfurt School, gay and lesbian film theory, and studies of melodrama and camp. A comprehensive, balanced study, Understanding Rainer Werner Fassbinder also features an annotated bibliography, extensive notes, a filmography of Fassbinder's works, and a listing of films and television programs that examine Fassbinder and his achievements.