The Devil Guy (1981)

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Movie
German title A devil
Original title Race for the Yankee Zephyr
Country of production Australia ,
New Zealand
original language English
Publishing year 1981
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director David Hemmings
script Everett De Roche
production David Hemmings,
John Barnett ,
Antony I. Ginnane
music Brian May
camera Vincent Monton
cut John Laing
occupation

A devil guy (original title: Race for the Yankee Zephyr ) is an Australian - New Zealand action - adventure film from 1981.

action

The film begins with a weekly report-like black and white clip that shows how an American DC-3 cargo plane - called "Yankee Zephyr" in the film - sets off for the South Pacific Fleet stationed in New Zealand during World War II . On board: an approximately 50 million US dollar freight, and a. Consists of gold bars, banknotes, front post and gold medals. With the last pictures it seems that the machine is obviously going deeper with engine failure.

Present: The helicopter pilot and daredevil Barney Whitacker lives in the New Zealand wilderness and hunts and catches wild animals with his hard-drinking partner and friend Gibbie. One day there is a mishap, as a result of which Gibbie falls into a lake while hanging from Barney's helicopter. As night falls, Barney has to abandon the search for Gibbie while he is forced to spend the night outdoors. In doing so, he stumbles over the wreck of the Yankee Zephyr on the bank - without, however, suspecting the extent of the cargo and is only satisfied with the liquor and a handful of gold medals.

After Barney found him and got him out of a precarious position in a bar, Gibbie tells him about the find and finally convinces him to go there for the purpose of recovery. Since the way is long and the place is difficult to access, Barney's helicopter is also ready for scrap and they lack the money, Gibbie suggests contacting his daughter Sally. The city woman, who initially appeared quite conservative, initially had doubts, but then joined the company.

At the same time, the pawnbroker, where Gibbie offered some of the medals for sale, informed the gangster Theo Brown. He appears with a squad of henchmen and plenty of equipment at Barney and tries to elicit the location of the aircraft by threats. Since he mentions Sally and Gibbie, Barney flies off and can get both of them to safety in time before Brown's men get hold of them.

The gangsters manage to follow the trio with their own helicopter (and by means of a transmitter secretly attached to Barney's helicopter), but Barney's aircraft soon gives up the ghost and they have to make an emergency landing. While the pursuers lose contact, Gibbie can round up some old acquaintances who live in the area, with whom they spend the night and receive technical help - and the damaged helicopter is ultimately converted into an all-terrain vehicle.

But on the way, Brown and his men beat them again and match them. Barney and Gibbie are able to escape the predicament powerfully at first, but Gibbie is captured in the further course and the off-road vehicle is destroyed. Barney and Sally, however, can escape on foot.

Brown in turn threatens Gibbie and makes sure that he leads him to the Yankee Zephyr. Gibbie submits to his fate, but leads the henchmen led by the unscrupulous Barker (apparently deliberately) astray several times. So Barney and Sally can stay on their heels. In addition, the two of them get a little closer during a night in a mountain hut.

The next day they both track down the gangsters' camp and use a diversionary maneuver to free Gibbie and flee in one of Brown's motor boats. The henchmen follow them in another motorboat, whereby the trio can decide the subsequent chase for themselves. Brown's helicopter also crashed after Barney sabotaged it.

So the three of them get to the crash site and find the aircraft wreck - which has meanwhile drifted to the middle of the lake and half sunk -, stabilize it with a large air bag and drag it into shallow climes. In doing so, they discover the gold bullion themselves. However, the gangsters match them one more time: on the one hand Brown, who moved up with a rubber dinghy, and on the other hand Barker, who got the second boat afloat again and outsmarted and deceived his colleagues. In the final fight, in which Barker also betrayed Brown, the airbag is shot through, causing the plane to sink. With heavy hearts, Barney cuts the tow rope, while Brown and Barker go down with the sinking wreck.

In the end, Barney and Sally collect some banknotes they have found and ponder over a salvage, while Gibbie empties the snap box left on the beach. In the last shot you can see that a box that Gibbie threw into the water at the beginning is filled with gold bars.

background

  • The hook of the film goes back to a real incident during the Second World War , when an American DC-3 u. a. disappeared with the pay slips of the South Pacific Fleet soldiers.
  • Originally, the Australian Richard Franklin was supposed to take over the direction, but got out of the film dissatisfied beforehand. On the one hand, he took offense at the fact that the script, which was originally set in his home country, was reworked and the plot moved to New Zealand. On the other hand, Franklin was bothered by David Hemmings , who was initially engaged as a producer - who then took his place in his director's chair after Franklin left.
  • The film is dedicated to stunt coordinator Colin Robinson and stuntmen John Rillstone and Bill Clarke, all of whom were killed while filming the motorboat chase.
  • The film has an admittedly speculative ending. There is no indication of a later targeted treasure hunt, nor whether the three find the gold bars in the box they left behind or whether Sally and Barney become a couple (there is no clear love scene in the film). Only the final fade-in suggests tendencies: it is said that Barney and Sally Whitacker run the company "Helijet Tours" in Queenstown and that Gibbie runs a club in Port Said . Accordingly, Barney and Sally got married and the respective ventures indicate that at least the contents of the gold bar box were found by the trio.
  • In the US , the film was released as Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr .
  • A Devil's Guy was broadcast and distributed in Germany in a version shortened to around 83 minutes. It was not until 2013 that the film was released uncut on DVD and Blu-ray in Germany, with the missing scenes in the original with subtitles.
  • At the time, the film was a great cinematic success in the Soviet Union and was also shown successfully in cinemas in the GDR .

reception

The lexicon of international films describes Ein Teufelskerl as “a lively adventure film with parodic approaches”. It goes on to say that he distances himself "beneficially [...] from the modern trend towards violence and blood orgies" and offers "largely relaxing entertainment".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ One devil. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 1, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used