Film producer Rob Houwer (87) passed away, man of cash registers and flops

This article was last updated on July 7, 2025

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Film producer Rob Houwer (87) passed away, man of cash registers and flops

Rob Houwer, film producer of Turkish Fruit (1973) and Soldaat van Oranje (1977), among others, died on Friday at the age of 87.

Houwer was one of the most famous film producers in the Netherlands. In the 70s, together with director Paul Verhoeven (86), he produced the films what do I see!?, Turkish fruit, Keetje Tippel and Soldaat van Oranje, who are counted among the canon of the Dutch film.

In particular Turkish Fruit, after the novel by Jan Wolkers, grew into a classic. The film in a scenario by Gerard Soeteman, was controversial, partly due to the explicit sex scenes and the infectious, natural acting by Monique van de Ven and Rutger Hauer. With over 3.3 million visitors, Turkish Fruit is still the most visited Dutch film of all time. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and was the Dutch entry for the Oscar for best non-English-language film.

Also flops

But Houwer also produced flops, such as the mermaid (1996). This romantic comedy is seen as the worst Dutch film of all time because of the incoherent story and the weak acting. The film attracted just over 20,000 visitors. On the Moviemeter film platform, the film was even named the worst film in the world.

The generous lover (1990) also flopped. The film was taken out of circulation after just one week because of the disappointing visitor numbers.

Houwer started his career in the early 60s in Germany, where he initially directed and later switched to production. He achieved his greatest successes in the Netherlands with director Paul Verhoeven. Their collaboration did not always go smoothly, “because Verhoeven had the habit of having already completely stood up the budgets halfway,” Houwer said in an interview with De Volkskrant.

Initially, Houwer would also produce Verhoevens Kashraker Zwartboek, but the collaboration broke when Houwer said he needed three years to get the financing, around 12 million euros. “Paul had little patience,” said Houwer. “Then you have to go to someone else with this.” The film Soldaat van Oranje 2 never came about due to a dragging fight between Houwer and the lenders, who wanted to work with another producer.

Houwer also sticks stories about tough contracts and authoritarian authority on the set. For example, he would have demanded his actors that they could be called on 24 hours a day. Houwer himself calls this nonsense. “With Verhoeven we once played 37 hours in a row,” said his former assistant Ineke van Wezel in an interview with NRC.

Houwer’s last productions were the films the rags of the entire world (2006) and if you fall in love (2012).