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Derrick - Pfandhaus
episode 11
West Germany 1975
produced by Hans Peter Renfranz for Telenova/ZDF
directed by Dietrich Haugk
starring Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Johanna von Koczian, Max Mairich, Doris Kunstmann, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Gusti Wolf, Jane Tilden, Dirk Dautzenberg, Robert Meyer, William Ray, Doris Arden
written by Herbert Reinecker, music by Eugen Thomass, title theme by Les Humphries
TV-series Derrick, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Karruska (Max Mairich) has earned a decent fortune running a chain of
pawn shops all over town. And that of course comes with its perks, like
making a lovely young employee, Ursula (Doris Kunstmann) his girlfriend.
Thing is, he's just a middle-aged man, and not exactly attractive at that,
so it's no wonder that before long Ursula starts an affair with someone
closer to her age, Forster (Klaus Maria Brandauer). Karruska of course
eventually finds out, also finds out where Forster lives, goes over to his
place with a gun, rings his doorbell, and when he hears voices on the
other side, he fires four shots through the door and kills the man. Only,
it wasn't Forster whom he has shot but his sublet. Forster had of course
known Karruska was coming, having been warned by Ursula, but when
questioned by inspector Derrick (Horst Tappert) and his assistant
Harry (Fritz Wepper), he feigns ignorance as to who has fired the shots,
suggesting some underworld connections of his sublet. And he takes to
letting Karruska suffer, constantly visiting him at work, at home, making
out with Ursula before his very eyes - and Karruska is powerless, as
Forster is the key witness who could send him to jail. What Forster for
some reason hasn't reckoned with, Karruska has already tried to kill him
once, he might just as well try it again ... and he does, but fortunately
Derrick and Harry have had a watchful eye on Forster, have put two and two
together, and manage to jump out of the shadows and disarm Karruska just
as he trains his gun on Forster. A rather underwhelming
episode, mostly because nothing about it feels natural, starting with the
key point that Forster has no motive to shield his would-be killer, and if
so it would rather be blackmail than to annoy the heck out of a guy with a
gun. On top of that, there's no real tension in Derrick's investigations,
he and Harry basically just follow Forster around and are presented with
all their findings on a silver platter. And all of this results in just
not very good storytelling. Now sure, there's the nostalgia factor that
totally makes this watchable, but little beyond that.
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