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Derrick - Tod der Kolibris
episode 16
West Germany 1976
produced by Claus Legal, Gustl Gotzler (executive), Helmut Ringelmann (executive) for Telenova/ZDF
directed by Dietrich Haugk
starring Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Sylvia Manas, Ernst Schröder, Edith Heerdegen, Paul Bürks, Heinz Ehrenfreund, Günther Stoll, Gerhard Bormann, Michael Gahr, Benno Sterzenbach, Horst Ebersberg, Nangnoi Supasi, Maria Minh, Hans Stetter, Rita Russek, Heini Göbel, Teresa Stäger, Dietrich Haugk, Klaus Krüger
written by Herbert Reinecker, music by Erich Ferstl
TV-series Derrick, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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A Thai girl (Maria Minh) is found in the trunk of a couple (Hans
Stetter, Rita Russek), and it's soon determined where the girl has been
killed - which happens to be an upscale neighbourhood, but since her
outfit would suggest she's a prostitute, and there are no brothels in the
area, it's determined she has been visiting one of the houses -
professionally of course. And then, inspector Derrick (Horst Tappert) and his assistant Harry Klein
(Fritz Wepper) reveive a phonecall that leads them to Dr. Scheibnitz
(Ernst Schröder), a wealthy builder who of course claims he has never
even seen the girl, but when Derrick and Harry meet Scheibnitz's daughter
Anita (Sylvia Manas) and recognize her voice to be the one on the phone,
they know he's somehow involved. Soon, another Thai prostitute (Nangnoi
Supasi) who knew the deceased girl, shows up on the precinct and points to
a mysterious stranger who specializes in pulling girls from Thailand, but
she doesn't know his name, only can describe his likeness. And now the
police is combing all of Munich's brothels for the man, until Derrick
finds out one of them is co-owned by Scheibnitz, but no luck there.
Instead, the other Thai prostitute is killed - but not before she can tell
him the name of said man, Scheppmann (Heinz Ehrenfreund). Knowing the
police is on his trail, Scheppmann stops by homicide to introduce himself
to Derrick and Harry and tries to prove to them he's innocent - not that
they believe him despite not finding any clues to his guilt. But they put
him face to face with Anita, and she definitely has a reaction when she
sees him. Obviously Scheppmann then tries to kill Anita, but walks into a
trap set up by Derrick ...
Everything that's evident in most of Herbert Reinecker's
scripts for cop shows is also evident here, like stilted dialogue or
characters acting or reacting unnaturally, and really Reinecker could do
with portraying police work a little more realistic. But what really makes
this one odd is that it talks about an actual issues, human trafficking and
forced prostitution, and really treats it like just a random backstory for
a murder case. And the whole thing also comes across as slightly racist
inasmuch as the Thai prostitutes at the center of the story are
actually treated rather indifferently, especially the death of the second
girl gets little reaction from anyone. Sadly enough, this just mirrors the
attitudes of the time. On a plus side, Derrick and Harry show some self irony here, which
is refreshing, but in all, it's basically a sensationalist but
under-thought episode that fails to hit its nail on the head - by a
longshot!
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