Four Against the Bank (1976)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Four against the bank |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1976 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Petersen |
| script | Wolfgang crowd |
| music | Klaus Doldinger |
| camera | Jörg Michael Baldenius |
| cut | Johannes Nikel |
| occupation | |
| |
Four against the bank is a comedy thriller , which in 1976 for the ARD was produced and has been sent for the first time on 7 December 1976th In this television film, director Wolfgang Petersen relied on top-class and well-known actors.
Literary template
The film is based on the novel Gentlemen in the Red (original title: The Nixon Recession Caper ) by Ralph Maloney from 1972.
action
One evening, Hartmut Wredel, once an extremely successful architect , but hadn't had any interesting contracts for a long time due to the recession, had the idea of robbing a bank . To do this, he secretly procures a list in his golf club the next day , on which members are identified who have not paid their membership fees for a long time. From these, he chooses three club colleagues whom he invites to his boathouse without giving the exact reason .
Hartmut Wredel and the three club colleagues share an identical fate: All four were once very successful in their jobs, their standard of living is still at a high level and their wives are spoiled. However, due to the general economic situation, they are all in financial trouble. The actor Peter Pagodi recently gave a major tour , but was disadvantaged by the producer. The fashion designer Benedict Hoffmann has a new collection in his head, but he cannot finance the realization of it, and Gustav Blümel, who also once had a very good income, is already looking for deposit boxes for drinks in the garage because he has no more money to buy.
When the meeting takes place in the boathouse, Hartmut Wredel suggests, after a bit of digression, a joint raid on a bank. He has already carefully researched the property and details. The other three turn away in horror and want to leave, each referring to their status, but Wredel manages to make it clear to each of the other three that he knows exactly about their actual financial situation. After a lengthy discussion, the three agree to Wredel's plan. After numerous exercises in the boathouse, which had been converted into a bank branch, and with the help of a stolen car, masks and weapons that Blümel had organized through old Bundeswehr connections, they attacked the chosen bank and successfully escaped.
At the same time four other gangsters finish their preparations to rob the same bank, but hear the radio news of the robbery as they leave and are shocked. Both the golf colleagues and the four other gangsters now compete in a race with a special police commission in which the main question is: which bank is the next? There is a shootout in front of a bank that the police consider to be a particularly attractive object for the next robbery, in which the four other gangsters are all shot by the police while the golf colleagues are inspecting the bank - almost discovered by the police . The police have no doubt that the four people who were shot also committed the first attack, and they consider the case to be solved. With the clarification, the registration of the banknotes stolen in the first robbery, which the four golfers feared, is no longer necessary, so that these can now be distributed among them and also spent. In the last scene, the four golfers open an account with the branch manager, whom they faced masked during the robbery and with whom they have already played golf a few times.
Reviews
“An excellent crime comedy that could certainly have been successfully adapted for the cinema. The cheeky play of the main actors on the one hand and Wolfgang Petersen's skilful staging on the other hand make this TV film a real experience. "
"A successful crook across the board."
Others
- The shooting of the film began in June 1976 in Munich and on Lake Starnberg .
- The film has meanwhile been repeated several times on ARD , each with high ratings .
- Wolfgang Petersen, who later became one of the most successful Hollywood directors , called this film a “tabloid film” himself.
- Petersen himself shot a remake of his film from November 2015 with Jan Josef Liefers , Michael "Bully" Herbig , Matthias Schweighöfer and Til Schweiger . Filming was completed in February 2016 and the film was released in German cinemas on December 25, 2016 with the title Four Against the Bank .
Web links
- Four against the Bank in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Four against the bank at filmportal.de
- Four against the bank in the online film database
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Crime Homepage: Four against the bank
- ↑ tvspielfilm.de: Four against the bank
- ^ Filmstarts.de: "Vier gegen die Bank" with Schweiger, Bully, Liefers and Schweighöfer: "Das Boot" director Wolfgang Petersen is making another film in Germany Article from November 2nd, 2015