Crime scene: Escape to death

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Episode of the series Tatort
Original title Escape to death
Country of production Austria
original language German
Production
company
ORF
length 83 minutes
classification Episode 199b ( list )
First broadcast December 19, 1987 on ORF
Rod
Director Jochen Bauer
script Alfred Paul Schmidt
production Peter Müller
music Roland Baumgartner
camera Franz Zecha ,
Michael Schandl
cut Ewa Märk-Fichtel ,
Andreas Prochaska
occupation

Escape to Death is an Austrian television thriller by Alfred Paul Schmidt from 1987. It was written as 199b. Follow the crime series Tatort . It is one of the 13 episodes that were produced by ORF outside of the official Tatort series without ARD and only broadcast in Austria for the first time.

action

The two friends Leo Hofer and Willi Probst mix up a concert disguised on a motorcycle and then call the police themselves, Fichtl reluctantly takes care of the bagatelle. After the unsuccessful operation, Pfeifer reproaches Fichtl for following up anonymous tips. Leo and Willi's friend, Anna Schönbeck, found a customer, the grocer, to whom they could sell an accident car that they had previously worked on at a high price, whereupon the two, since Leo is a car mechanic, develop a business. Between Leo and Willi, who have a ménage-à-trois with Anna, the first conflicts over Anna's favor are emerging. The grocer and her client meanwhile notice that the car is not in order. Her suitor seeks out Leo and Willi and demands the money back, which the two refuse. Thereupon he draws a weapon, a scuffle ensues in which Willi kills the suitor. As the neighbors hear the shot that broke out in the scuffle and ring the doorbell, Leo and Willi flee in a panic.

Fichtl and Winter find out that it was probably not a murder, but a killing in combat and that Leo and Willi were involved in an illegal car trade. The officers can also clarify the background to the crime and are now looking for the two friends. Fichtl interrogates Leo's father, who doesn't like his son, and Winter also finds out that Willi's parents, who are middle-class people, are disappointed with their son and his way of life, none of them is willing to cooperate with the police. Fichtl learns from the grocer that she has contact with Leo and Willi through Anna and gives him a tip about their meeting point. Leo and Willi, who are now living underground, meet in the restaurant specified by the goatler to discuss their future. Pfeifer and his team are already waiting for the two of them there; the attempt to gain access fails because the police officers take the weapons and escape by car. In an emergency, Willi visits his parents Ernst and Maria, who promise to help him if he presents himself. When he refused and asked for money instead, his father refused to do so. Willi then tries to get Leo to give up because his father wants to pay him the best lawyer, but Leo fears that he will be sentenced to a longer prison term because he shot a policeman while attempting to gain access.

Leo would be okay with Willi standing alone, but Willi doesn't want to let his friend down, especially not because Anna is also on the run. The three then continue their escape together, but tensions rise between Leo and Willi. They commit a robbery to help finance their escape. Willi's father Ernst Probst visits Pfeifer and tells him about his request for help. He resigns when he learns that his son shot the owner in the attack and commits suicide as a result. On the same evening, Willi had a drunk car accident in which Leo was thrown out of the car because the accident vehicle exploded, Leo and Willi then think each other dead. Willi then wanted to give up, but Anna talked him out of it. A mentally retarded witness who observed the accident testifies to Pfeifer's team that he recognized Willi as a survivor of the accident, but not Leo. Leo meanwhile reads in the newspaper about a false report launched in the press that he was supposed to have been murdered by his friend Willi, Anna also reads about it and thinks Willi is a murderer because she was unconscious during the accident and no longer remembers what happened.

Shortly afterwards, Willi is found shot, Pfeifer suspects Leo Hofer, he could have read the false report in the newspaper and then took revenge on his friend. At that moment Anna turns to make a confession in front of Pfeifer. At the same moment Leo reports to the police and is ready to make a confession in front of Fichtl. Both independently confess Willi's murder. When Fichtl brings the two together shortly afterwards, they are relieved, whereas Pfeifer suspects a conspiracy in their double confession. Anna faints when she sees her lover Leo, at that moment Pfeifer understands that the two have not discussed each other, but want to protect each other. Pfeifer and Fichtl wonder which of the two is the murderer. Inspector Winter has now found out through testimony that Leo was seen a long way away from the scene shortly before the murder, and Anna has been convicted. The case is too close to both Pfeifer and Fichtl and Winter.

production

Escape to death was the seventh Tatort case involving Chief Inspector Pfeifer, but only three of the eight episodes were official Tatort episodes of the ARD series. The rest, as well as this production, were the only ones of ORF. These own ORF productions were only shown in Austria for the first time. The episode Escape to Death was never broadcast in Germany apart from a broadcast on 3sat in 1989.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. 13 special ORF crime scenes at tatort-fundus.de, accessed on February 28, 2015 .
  2. ^ Escape to death on tatort-fundus.de