SAS Malko - On behalf of the Pentagon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | SAS Malko - On behalf of the Pentagon |
| Original title | SAS - Terreur à San Salvador |
| Country of production | France , Germany |
| original language | German , French |
| Publishing year | 1983 |
| length | 95 (Gek. 82) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Raoul Coutard |
| script | Gérard de Villiers |
| production |
Artur Brauner Raymond Danon Gérard de Villiers |
| music | Michel Magne |
| camera | Georges Liron |
| occupation | |
| |
SAS Malko - On behalf of the Pentagon (original title SAS - Terreur à San Salvador ) is a Franco-German fiction by Raoul Coutard from 1983. It is based on the novel by Gérard de Villiers Terror in San Salvador ( Terreur à San Salvador ) the Paperback series Malko . The background to this is the civil war in El Salvador in the early 1980s and the activities of the death squads there .
action
In the fictional Latin American state of Santo Domingo, Bishop Oscar Romero is murdered in a church . The culprit is obviously Enrico Chacon.
At his Lietzen Castle in Austria , Prince Malko Linge and his caretaker are faced with new financial problems. Malko is having difficulties financing the extensive repairs to its parent company. Because of the family honor, Malko strictly refuses to sell the castle, which his friend, Baroness Alexandra Vogel, suggests.
Malko is called by the CIA department head David Wise and asked to visit him in Langley . Here Malko is hired for a job. Chacon had been sent by Wise to Santo Domingo to “get a grip” on the subversives there . Chacon got out of control and broke off contact with the local CIA resident . Behind Chacon are parts of the army and some hacienderos . Malko is said to travel to Santo Domingo and persuade Chacon to leave the country. The other local CIA employees are leaving because they used to work with Chacon. Chacon's residence in Santo Domingo is unknown to the CIA leadership.
Malko receives the legend of a political analyst. He is to be supported locally by the COS resident Walter Dallas, who resides in the US embassy in Santo Domingo. At his hotel in Santo Domingo, Malko is contacted by photographer Peter Reynolds. It is through him that Malko meets Elena, a former friend of Chacon's, with whose help he intends to contact Chacon. When he tries to find Elena in her apartment the next day, he finds her murdered. At the US embassy, Malko meets Walter Dallas, who gives him no hope of persuading Chacon to leave the country.
Malko tries to get information about Chacon from the liberal landowner Martinez, but the latter cannot help him and is already about to leave the land. However, Malko Martinez's niece Pilar is helpful. Malko agrees to monitor Martinez's departure to the airport. Dallas cops give him him. But on the way to the airport, the convoy is ambushed by Chacon. Martinez and his companions are shot. The police officers accompanying Malko do not intervene.
Malko receives a weapon from the US embassy, but he has to register it with the military. After the gun is registered, he is intercepted by Colonel Mendoza, who practically forces him to fly in a helicopter. The helicopter attacks a group of guerrillas , some of whom are massacred.
Malko goes to the university to contact the guerrilla leader Rosa. Rosa conducts a funeral service for four murdered comrades. Before the meeting, she accuses Malko of being responsible for the deaths of the four students. She calls for a tribunal; some of the participants want to execute Malko immediately. Malko denies participation. Rosa then shows him photos of his visit to Colonel Mendoza and his flight in the helicopter. Malko tries to explain the misunderstanding, but does not succeed. In order to save his life, all he has to do is take a daring escape.
Back at the hotel, he manages to convince Rosa of his honest intentions. Father Juarez, whom he met through a tip from David Wise, vouches for him . Malko receives a threatening phone call from Chacon asking him to fly out to Miami . Chacon ambushes Malko. There is a chase through the city and an exchange of fire between Chacon and Malko, but Malko receives help from soldiers at a roadblock by calling his pursuers guerrillas. Although the guards set Chacon's car under fire, he managed to escape.
When he met again with Dallas, Dallas informed him that his two bodyguards Chris Jones and Milton Brabeck were arriving. Chacon's girlfriend Maria Luisa Delgado appears at the hotel. There is a fight with three bullies, apparently members of a death squad, but at the last moment Jones and Brabeck arrive and prevent Malko from being mistreated. Malko fakes a love scene with Maria Luisa, who is observed by Chacon outside the hotel.
Malko and his bodyguards are invited to a garden party at a wealthy businessman who appears to be on good terms with Chacon. All three hand in their weapons at the entrance. Chacon appears at the party with heavily armed companions. He shoots Maria Luisa in front of Malko's eyes with the explanation that she is no longer worthy of him after the love scene with Malko.
In the hotel, Malko meets with the guerrillas Rosa and checks the photos that were presented to him at the university and that should prove his guilt for the death of the four guerrillas. He noticed a mark in the pictures. He visits Reynolds in his room and confronts him. Reynolds denies having taken the photos, but there are photos in his darkroom with the same motifs as on the prints Malko has. The noticeable markings are from Reynolds press agency. Malko forces Reynolds to tell who the contact is from whom Chacon gets all information about Malko by pressing his face into the caustic liquid of a developing solution. Reynolds only knows the name of the contact, Donald , but never saw him.
Malko calls David Wise in Langley and asks him who works under the code name Donald in Santo Domingo. It's Walter Dallas, the CIA resident. He passed on the content of all his conversations with Malko to Chacon so that he was always informed about Malko's steps. Malko arranges a meeting with Dallas and shoots him without further comment.
After Malko found out where Chacons lived, he broke into his villa and placed the killer in a hall of mirrors . There is a showdown in which Malko kills Chacon with the last remaining cartridge .
Deviations of the German version from the French version and the novel
While in the French version it is clear from the film title that the film is set in El Salvador (San Salvador is the capital of the country), this fact is concealed in the German version by the synchronization. However, the name of the murdered (arch) bishop was not changed. Furthermore, film symbols (an advertising poster in Malko's hotel, a map in Walter Dallas’s office) indicate that the film is set in El Salvador. The German version has been shortened by a good 12 minutes compared to the French version. The film plot is largely identical to the original literature; de Villiers also wrote the script. The acronym COS for the organization Dallas is a part of makes no sense; I mean the CIA. This generally applies to the German title: Malko is recruited for the contract by the CIA and not by the Pentagon .
criticism
The lexicon of international film judged disparagingly: “Filming a trivial agent novel; formally and in terms of content equally poor. "
literature
- Gérard de Villiers: Terror in San Salvador , Hamburg ( Cora-Verlag ) 1981 (Malko vol. 45).
Web links
- SAS Malko - On behalf of the Pentagon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Still photo: Malko in the university
- French video edition
Individual evidence
- ↑ SAS Malko - On behalf of the Pentagon. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .