Tooth for a Tooth (1985)

Episode of the series Tatort
Original title	Tooth for tooth
Country of production	Germany
original language	German ; French
Production ; company	Bavaria Atelier GmbH and Neue Constantin for WDR
length	95 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
classification	Episode 200 ( List )
First broadcast	October 10, 1985 in the cinema
Rod
Director	Hajo Gies
script	Horst Vocks ; Thomas Wittenburg
production	Hartmut Grund ; Heidi Steinhaus
music	Klaus location
camera	Jürgen Juerges
cut	Margot von Schlieffen
occupation
	Götz George : Horst Schimanski , chief detective; Eberhard Feik : Christian Thanner, chief detective; Renan Demirkan : Ulli; Charles Brauer : Grassmann / Delattre; Rufus : Pierre Hacker; Martin Lüttge : Wilkens; Ulrich Matschoss : Karl Königsberg; Herbert Steinmetz : Krüger Senior; Louis-Marie Taillefer : Bonano; Julien Maurel : Jean-Pierre; David Gabison : Corti; Claude Carliez : Jules; Erich Bar : Manni; Bilal İnci : Host; Brigitte Janner : Stewardess;

Tooth for a tooth is a German movie by Hajo Gies from 1985, based on the well-known TV series Tatort . Götz George played the main role of the chief detective Horst Schimanski . The title song Faust auf Faust (Schimanski) was sung by the Klaus Lage Band . The locations were the cities of Duisburg and Marseille .

action

During a demonstration in Duisburg, Alf Krüger and his family are found shot dead in their own apartment. The police initially assume a family drama with extended suicide ; What is striking, however, is that Kruger’s youngest child survived because it was hiding under the living room table.

Krüger had been dismissed from the Grassmann works in Duisburg ten days before his death as an accountant; he is DM 80,000 embezzled have. Chief Detective Horst Schimanski, who knew the dead man from school, goes to Grassmann on his own to interrogate him. An argument ensues in the course of which Schimanski becomes violent and leaves the house angrily. Thereupon he is suspended from duty by Chief Detective Koenigsberg.

At the same time, the pretty journalist Ulli, who is not unknown to Schimanski, is working on the same case. She gains unauthorized access to Krüger's apartment to look for clues to his suicide. When she thinks she has found what she is looking for and wants to take some files with her from the apartment, she meets Schimanski. He asks them to stay out of the case; later it turns out that Ulli is almost always one step faster than him. Schimanski also gets access to Krüger's files, in which a Delattre company from Marseille appears.

Schimanski wants to travel to Marseille on his own to meet a contact named Kremer, who should give him valuable information about an alleged collaboration between the Grassmann and Delattre factories. He is arrested by Thanner at the exit control at the airport. However, he knocks him out and gets into the waiting plane. Before Schimanski can get the information in Marseille, he finds the contact murdered in his hotel room. Immediately afterwards the French police arrive; the suspended Schimanski is the prime suspect. He is initially released by the police, but is not allowed to leave Marseille, which seriously affects his investigation. A short time later he meets Ulli, who has also traveled to Marseille to continue her research there. They drive together to the Delattre works and unceremoniously forcibly take the director along for a “leisurely trip along the Mediterranean”. They find out that the director had a visit from Duisburg, namely from Alf Krüger. In the course of the conversation, they learned one of Frederic Delattre's addresses. You want to get to know him personally; However, Ulli goes there alone and leaves Schimanski behind, who follows on foot. At the gate of the “Villa Delattre” he has an unpleasant encounter; he meets Pierre Hacker, the property manager whom he already met on the plane to Marseille. Just as he is about to greet him, he feels a thud and passes out.

He comes to as he lies in a burning barn. Ulli lies next to him. He manages to free himself and Ulli from the barn. Ulli is grateful for the fact that Schimanski saved her life, and the two fall in love. However, they are pursued by four French who target Schimanski. As they sit in a bar, an argument breaks out. Ulli escapes, but Schimanski has to take on the four Frenchmen, one of whom dies. Schimanski tries to flee, but does not get far and is caught again by the police.

At the police station he learns that the dead man wears the badge of a criminal and influential group of ex- foreign legionaries , whose boss is Delattre himself. Through his inexperienced interference, Schimanski had destroyed years of covert investigative work within this group. The angry police release him again, but instruct him to leave Marseille the same day. Ulli waits for him in front of the police building, together they drive to Villa Delattre again. You can gain access to the villa where you will find photos and contracts. Schimanski is particularly interested in one photo: Frederic Delattre can only be seen from behind in a uniform, but facing him is Alf Krüger senior, the father of the dead Alf Krüger junior! Schimanski is shocked. Ulli, on the other hand, steals a contract in which it is documented that the Grassmann works have long been sold to Delattre and that the plant in Duisburg is to be closed. The two learn that Alf Krüger had found out exactly this and had to die because he threatened to go public. When they want to leave the villa, they are surprised by Pierre Hacker, who shoots them with a rifle. You can overwhelm him and transfer him to Duisburg in the trunk of a rental car. A comparison with Krüger senior and the bereaved girl clearly shows: Hacker is the murderer of Alf Krüger and his family, his client was Delattre. Schimanski and Hacker, armed with his pistol, leave the house and walk across the dark, deserted street - destination: unknown. Suddenly you hear a loud bang and Hacker collapses, he has a bullet in his head. Before Schimanski can grasp what happened, a police car pulls up. The officers want to arrest him. However, he can flee again.

The next morning he meets Ulli again, who tells him that she has an interview appointment with Delattre - Grassmann put him through. Schimanski has a suspicion and urgently warns her not to go to Grassmann's second home. Contrary to his request, she does it and Schimanski follows her. Ulli knocks on Grassmann's door; but when no one opens even after repeated knocking, she pulls the door open. Schimanski, who arrives at the scene a moment later, hears the loud bang of an explosive. Ulli flies a few meters and hits his head on the ground. Schimanski immediately rushes to her, seriously injured, she dies in his arms.

Desperate, he walks through the ruins of the house and looks around. He finds the photo from the Villa Delattre, taken from a different perspective; the man in uniform across from Kruger senior is Grassmann. Full of hatred, he makes the decision to go to Grassmann's home and bring the matter to an end. He disrupts a festivity and faces the elegantly dressed grass man in a blood-smeared jacket. When he admits to be Delattre, to have ordered the murder of Alf Krüger and his family and also to have killed Ulli, Schimanski pulls out his gun and points it at Grassmann's head. The next moment a shot is fired, Grassmann collapses with a head wound. But it wasn't Schimanski who shot. As a final proof that he was not mistaken, Schimanski tears open the shirt of the dying Grassmann; you can see the legion's badge, which he also saw on Hacker and Kremer.

In the last scene, Schimanski and Krüger senior walk along the Rhine and talk about Krüger's old carbine from his time with the Foreign Legion. It becomes clear that Krüger shot Grassmann and Hacker with it and that Schimanski will keep silent about these acts.

background

Tooth for tooth was produced by Bavaria Atelier GmbH for WDR. It is the 200th episode in the Tatort series and the first ARD crime thriller that was specially produced for the cinema. The film was only shown on television as the official Tatort episode on December 27, 1987 . In 1987 the second crime scene film Zabou followed . Hajo Gies directed twelve of the 29 other crime scenes with the Schimanski / Thanner duo.

The film had to be shortened afterwards because of a surreptitious advertising scandal. Cough drops from the Paroli brand , for which George advertised as Schimanski at the time , were placed in a striking way in several scenes .

The song Faust auf Faust reached number ten in the German charts at the end of 1985. The actors Charles Brauer and Martin Lüttge later played crime scene commissioners themselves .

In contrast to the second movie Zabou , Tooth for Tooth does not have a separate soundtrack. An 11-minute cut of the film music from Tooth by Tooth can be found on the B-side of the Klaus Lage Volume 12 "maxi single" Stille Wasser "from 1985. The title" Universum "is on the 7" single of the same name the B-side.

criticism

“Convincing, fast-paced action film with good actors and a sense of atmosphere and humor. All in all, solid entertainment without any particular depth. "

- Lexicon of international film