Palmetto - stupid people don't die out

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Palmetto - stupid people don't die out
Original title palmetto
Country of production USA , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 1998
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Volker Schlöndorff
script E. Max Frye
production Matthias Wendlandt
music Klaus Doldinger
camera Thomas Kloss
cut Peter Przygodda
occupation

Palmetto - Dumbs don't die out (Original title: Palmetto ) is an American - German thriller from 1998 . Directed by Volker Schlöndorff , the screenplay was written by E. Max Frye based on the novel Palmetto - Dumme die nicht aus ( Just Another Sucker ) by James Hadley Chase .

action

Palmetto, Florida. It's midsummer. Former local reporter Harry Barber returns to live with his friend Nina, a metal sculptor. He had been sentenced to prison on charges of covering up corruption in Palmetto City Hall. Rehabilitated after a change of government, he is now, after two years, released as innocent. However, he cannot resume his job as a local reporter; he's looking for work. In a pub he happened to meet Rhea Malroux, the wife of the terminally ill multimillionaire Felix Malroux. She flirts with him and hires him to assist in a fake kidnapping of her stepdaughter Odette. Harry is supposed to deliver the ransom note and take the ransom, half a million dollars. $ 50,000 is his share; he agrees and sleeps with Rhea.

The ransom delivery seems to be working. Harry returns to his rented beach bungalow to share the money with Rhea and Odette. However, he finds Odette dead on the bed of the bungalow. He brings the dead woman home in the trunk of his friend Nina's car. But Nina suspects that Harry is involved in the sensational kidnapping. She discovers the dead woman and the suitcase with the ransom, only to discover that the money is in fact largely bundled up newspaper. Obviously, Harry wanted to be accused of murder from the start. Nina wants to help him. Harry made a tape recording of the interview that proves that Malroux's bodyguard Donnelly has a relationship with Rhea Malroux. Nina is now blackmailing Donnelly: He is supposed to get rid of Odette's body and get the tape back. Donnelly then dissolves the dead girl in phosphoric acid.

Nina is related by marriage to Inspector Rennick of the local police through her sister. Rennick wants to help Harry, his future brother-in-law, financially and appoints him as spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in the case of Malroux kidnapping. In this role, Harry has to attend the reconnaissance work of the police. He is asked to go to the beach bungalow where the body of Felix Malroux's daughter was found. To Harry's great surprise, there is actually another dead girl lying on the same bed, and Felix Malroux identifies the dead girl as Odette, his daughter.

So the girl Harry had introduced herself to as Odette was obviously a cheat. Harry is identified as the tenant of the bungalow, so he is suspected of murder and flees. He is shot and hides in the Everglades. At night he is almost run over by a truck. The driver recognizes the gunshot wound and still offers Harry to take him to a location of his choice. But Harry lets himself be driven to the police.

Shortly afterwards, it is still night, he is seen entering Malroux's villa through the patio door. Rhea is waiting for him there and says she wants to flee with him and the money. Harry rejects her, gains access to Malroux's bedroom, warns him about his wife and asks Malroux for protection and help. Malroux doesn't believe Harry, however. He thinks he's his daughter's murderer.

Malroux asks his wife into the room via the house phone. A careworn elderly lady appears: the person who introduced himself to Harry as Rhea and hired him to assist in the kidnapping was a fraud. She is not Felix Malroux's wife but the housekeeper. Donnelly appears and overwhelms Harry.

Malroux assigns Donnelly to kill Harry in revenge for Malroux's murdered daughter Odette. Donnelly brings Harry to the Malroux boat hangar and prepares the killing with a phosphoric acid bath. Rhea is there too. As it turns out, she is Donnelly's wife. The two of them had orchestrated the kidnapping together, hired a runaway to play the role of Odette, and then killed her to incriminate Harry Barber. Harry hovers over the acid bath when the police storm the hangar. Donnelly, irritated, turns to the gate, loses her balance and dies in the acid bath. Rhea Malroux, aka Mrs. Donnelly, is arrested.

Harry is sentenced to prison again. Because of planning and aiding and abetting a crime: stupid people don't die out.

Reminiscences

The film contains several reminiscences of films by Billy Wilder , Volker Schlöndorff's mentor, teacher and friend, see above. z. B. the final scene:

Palmetto: In the final scene, the blonde murderess Rhea steps out into the gallery with a black wig and walks slowly down the stairs, posing like a film diva, apparently only fixated on her attractiveness for Harry Barber, apparently without any knowing connection to her crime. Even when she is taken away, she continues to flirt with Harry Barber.

This scene is a clear reminder of a masterpiece of Billy Wilder : Sunset Boulevard ( Sunset Boulevard ). In the final scene, the murderess, dark-haired Gloria Swanson , completely intoxicated by her expressiveness as an actress, slowly walks down the stairs from the gallery to the policemen who are leading her away. Unaware of her murderous act, she is still fixated on her teenage lover inside.

background

In the early 1960s, Rialto secured the rights to the novels by James Hadley Chase, published by Ullstein Verlag , number or die and stupid do not die out . After numerous revisions, the first adaptation appeared in 1964 under the title Waiting Room for the Beyond , but it did not have the desired success. The film adaptation of the second novel was therefore initially dropped. From 1986 the Rialto, still in possession of the rights, took up the project again and was finally able to bring it to a conclusion in 1998 in co-production with American companies.

The film was shot in Palmetto and a few other locations in Florida . The world premiere took place in Germany on April 2, 1998. It grossed about 5.8 million US dollars in cinemas in the USA . Over 30,000 cinema viewers were counted in Germany. Palmetto ranks 10th among the most successful German films in the USA with grossing results of 5,878,911 US dollars (as of 2014).

Reviews

“Trimmed in American style, with two or three good names in the line-up, the modernized title“ Palmetto ”is definitely enough for decent craftsmanship. The flair is also easily established: Florida with its sunsets, battleship-like cars and magnificent estates. (...) Schlöndorff has studied the favorite thrillers of his youth well and is now trying to keep the difficult balance as effortlessly as possible between a somewhat simple-minded crook and a genre-typical film noir that doesn't take itself too seriously. "

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that he had the disturbing feeling of déjà-vu while watching. There is nothing original in the entire film. The representations are ineffective and humorless; the main characters would take the weak script as seriously as if it were by Dostoevsky . Only Chloë Sevigny does a good job.

The Lexicon of International Films wrote that the film was kept in the tradition of film noir . However, it does not captivate “despite well-known Hollywood actors” and “neither does justice to the question of seducibility” nor can he “justify its irritating timelessness in terms of content”.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Kramp: Hello - Here speaks Edgar Wallace , 2nd ed., Pp. 271–272
  2. ↑ Filming locations for Palmetto, accessed March 5, 2008
  3. ↑ Box office results for Palmetto, accessed on March 5, 2008
  4. ↑ Inge Rauh on April 9, 1998 for Nürnberger Nachrichten  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 12, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.nordbayern.de  
  5. ↑ Film review by James Berardinelli, accessed March 5, 2008
  6. ↑ Palmetto - Stupid Don't Die Out in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed March 5, 2008