Police call 110: dead track

Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title	Dead track
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production company	SFB , ORB
length	86 minutes
classification	Episode 160 ( List )
First broadcast	April 10, 1994 on Das Erste
Rod
Director	Bernd Böhlich
script	Leo P. Ard Michael Illner
production	Dieter Melzer
music	Tomas Kahane
camera	Peter Ziesche
cut	Karola Mittelstädt
occupation
Otto Sander : Richard Lansky Ben Becker : Jobst Dettmann Monika Hansen : Maria Gilles Gavois : Brasseur Joachim Król : Winter Katrin Saß : Tanja Voigt Dirk Schoedon : Jens Hoffmann Meret Becker : singer Ulrike Krumbiegel : Beatrice Alfred Müller : Schorn Karl Kranzkowski : Prokat Peter Mohrdieck : Salesman Wilfried Loll : pimp Detlef Bierstedt : Golz Karl Ernst Horbol : Messerschmidt Hannes Stelzer : bus driver Robert Rober : fashion store owner Günter Rüger : Driving instructor Gundula Petrovska : learner driver Edgar Külow : Conductor Andreas Hanft : Porter Frank Giering : Man on the train

Totes Gleis is a German crime film by Bernd Böhlich from 1994. The television film was released as the 160th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 and is the first part of the Wustermark trilogy .

action

On the way to the court date, the key witness of a trial against organized crime is shot. Inspector Tanja Voigt sees that the shots were fired from a hotel nearby and sees the perpetrator drive away. She follows him to the train station and starts looking for the killer on the train. He throws his suitcase with the murder weapon out of the window and jumps out of the moving train some time later. Voigt's colleagues are already waiting at the next train station and search the wagons without finding anything.

The suitcase fell at the feet of the track keepers Richard Lansky and Jobst Dettmann. They did not discover the precision rifle, but instead found the large sum of French francs in the case. Old Lansky wants to take the suitcase to the police, which outrags the young and rather simple Dettmann, since he already sees himself on vacation in the South Pacific. In Berlin , he was told the exchange rate for francs and eventually disappeared with the money, despite Lansky's protests. He exchanges part of the money, buys an expensive suit and finally books the suite in a luxury hotel.

The killer has meanwhile searched the route for his suitcase in vain. He can be taken to the next village - and ends up in Ostermark, where Lansky and Dettmann are also at home. He moves into a room in Maria's station bar and, as a Frenchman, immediately notices Lansky, who suspects something bad. The investigators now also suspect that the killer is French. Tanja Voigt's case, which is now also being processed by BKA officials from Wiesbaden , is withdrawn because of her unauthorized action at the train station .

Dettmann met young Beatrice in the hotel and took her to his hotel room. She turns out to be a prostitute and Dettmann pays her for the whole night. As a result, she realizes that he has stored a lot of money in the room refrigerator and notifies a crook who is supposed to take the money. Lansky has meanwhile called all of Berlin's luxury hotels and finally found Dettmann. He arrives in the suite when the crook is about to break into the refrigerator. Former boxer Lansky knocks him out, but believes he killed him. With Dettmann's help, they both maneuver him out of the hotel and leave him in the trunk of his car, where he is later found. He refrains from providing information about the course of events.

Lansky and Dettmann return to Ostermark, where Lansky keeps the money safe in a tool cabinet. Both see the Frenchman again and Dettmann talks carefree about the money, which the killer notices. He ambushes Lansky in his apartment, where Dettmann appears first. The killer ties him up and wants to know where he is hiding money, but Dettmann has no idea. In the case of the injured crook, Tanja Voigt and Jens Hoffmann have meanwhile been able to draw a parallel to the case of the witness death. Dettmann is considered a possible killer, as he paid in French currency in the hotel and also paid the seriously injured person on his conscience. Ostermark hardly seems like a killer's home, however. The investigators question Lansky, who pretends not to know anything about Dettmann's whereabouts. Only when Dettmann calls Lansky in the station bar and asks him to be with him within ten minutes with the money, Lansky informs Voigt that Dettmann is at his home. The killer flees when he sees the inspector, and Dettmann sends her back to the train station. Here the killer forces Lansky to give him the money. At the crucial moment Voigt and Hoffmann arrive at the platform, Lansky wants to flee with the suitcase and is shot in the leg by the killer. He falls on the tracks when a train is passing by, but can save himself at the last second. The killer is overwhelmed by the investigators.

Some time later, Lansky, Dettmann and Maria are on the train. You want to go to the South Seas via Magdeburg, Hanover, Paris and Lisbon. After all, the train has already reached Alt-Globsow.

production

Dead Track was shot in autumn 1993 in Berlin, Potsdam and Bredow , among other places . The costumes of the film created Folker Ansorge , the Filmbauten submitted by Manfred ringer . The film had its television premiere on April 10, 1994 on ARD . The audience participation was 25.2 percent. With The Miracle of Wustermark was dead track in 1998 continued.

It was the 160th episode of the Polizeiruf 110 film series . Tanja Voigt and Jens Hoffmann are investigating their second case. In addition to Otto Sander and his wife Monika Hansen, the film also features Hansen's children from his first marriage, Ben Becker and Meret Becker. Meret Becker has a guest appearance: She sings the Platters song The Great Pretender in a hotel bar , which can also be heard in the version of Freddie Mercury in the film .

criticism

"[W] as Bernd Böhlich staged on behalf of SFB and ORB in the following 90 minutes [after the death of the key witness] was so 'top notch' that the weaknesses in the plot [...] were completely forgotten," wrote Die Tageszeitung . Father Otto Sander and stepson Ben Becker would have "had the unique opportunity to rub together their very different acting talents in all solidarity"; the courage to “bundle the few great theater talents that this country currently has in store in a long-term television film has paid off”. "Original drama with cinema quality", wrote TV Spielfilm , and described the episode as "a first-class highlight of the series".

The plot offers "plenty of opportunity to laugh," wrote Der Tagesspiegel . However, the investigators lacked “the ultimate power of persuasion”, which, in addition to the conception of the police call, placed the focus on the perpetrator-victim relationships, and was also due to actors like Otto Sander and Monika Hansen, who “played their colleagues against the wall”. Director Böhlich staged the police call "with a mixture of malice and philanthropy", found the Stuttgarter Zeitung , and this is how the crime thriller develops into a "charmingly cunning comedy".

The Süddeutsche Zeitung criticized that the film had "stolen from the plot fundus" and that it therefore "contained a hundred stories", none of which got beyond the "sketch stage". "Every Magnum script is technically a class better," said the critic.

Awards

Totes Gleis was awarded a Gold Adolf Grimme Prize in March 1995 . The award went to the scriptwriters Leo P. Ard and Michael Illner, director Bernd Böhlich and the actors Otto Sander and Ben Becker (on behalf of the cast).

Web links

• Police 110: Dead track in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Police call 110: Dead track at filmportal.de
• Police call 110: Dead track on Das Erste.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Simone Leinkauf: Investigations by SFB and ORB. First joint “Police Call 110” about illegal arms deals . In: Der Tagesspiegel , October 17, 1993.
2. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 169.
3. ↑ klab: Slow Sander cycle . In: Die Tageszeitung , April 12, 1994, p. 14.
4. ↑ Police Call 110: Dead Track on tvspielfilm.de
5. ^ Simone Leinkauf: Thriller from Germany. Pro7 and ARD are competing for crime thrillers tonight . In: Der Tagesspiegel , April 10, 1994.
6. ↑ tkl: viewed critically - police call 110: dead track . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , April 12, 1994, p. 0 / FIFU.
7. ^ Karl Forster: Versatzstückwerk. Police call 110 (ARD / SFB) . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 13, 1994, p. F17.
8. ↑ dpa: Grimme prices: ARD clears . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , March 18, 1995, p. 0 / FIFU.

previous episode March 13, 1994: Poor Pigs

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next episode August 7, 1994: Kiwi and Rat