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Der Kommissar - Die Anhalterin
episode 32
West Germany 1971
produced by Helmut Ringelmann for Neue Münchner Fernsehproduktion/ZDF
directed by Wolfgang Staudte
starring Erik Ode, Günther Schramm, Reinhard Glemnitz, Fritz Wepper, Helma Seitz, Karin Baal, Peer Schmidt, Werner Pochath, Hans-Michael Rehberg, Max Mairich, Friedrich G. Beckhaus, Lambert Hamel, Helga Lehner, Ellen Frank, Willy Harlander, Jakob Amerseder
written by Herbert Reinecker, series created by Helmut Ringelmann, Herbert Reinecker, title theme by Herbert Jarczyk
TV-series Der Kommissar, Harry Klein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The dead body of Irmgard (Helga Lehner) is placed on the train tracks
in a way that she has to be hit by the next train for her dead to be ruled
an accident - but there's a witness that she's placed there, and thus it's
found out that she was actually strangled. Inspector Keller (Erik Ode) and
his team (Günther Schramm, Reinhard Glemnitz, Fritz Wepper) pay a visit
to the dead girl's sister Erika (Karin Baal) to find out Irmgard has been
on her way to Nürnberg, and was planning to hitch a ride with a trucker,
which she did every Saturday. She liked to hitch rides with truckers the
most, as she claimed they were the nicest. And there was one trucker she
went with the most often. But since Erika doesn't even know that trucker's
name, Keller and company question all the local trucking companies, and
soon zero in on Schmett's (Max Mairich) business as it did regular drives
to Nürnberg on Saturdays. Apparently, Erika isn't content with the speed
of the investigations, so she goes hitch-hiking herself to find and
confront the killer. Now her first attempt almost gets her raped, but her
second try lands her in Rabe's (Werner Pochath) truck, who was indeed the
trucker Irmgard was hitching rides with regularly. But some questioning by
Keller and his team reveals it's unlikely he's the culprit. However,
Schmett's foreman Buddeberg (Peer Schmidt) acts more than a little
suspicious, so Keller and company put the squeeze on him - and after a
night of hardcore grilling, he admits he's trying to shield his boss,
Schmett, who has promised him to write over his company if only he doesn't
tell the police that it was Schmett himself who was driving Irmgard that
day, killing her when she didn't respond to his sexual avances. Case
solved, but one problem: Erika hasn't dropped her habit of hitch-hiking to
find her sister's killer that way, and she has just hitched a ride with
Schmett ... Not good in the traditional sense of the word, but
wonderful as everything about this episode seems to be completely
far-fetched: It starts with the girl insisting on hitching rides with
truckers, all the way to the killer's motives, and to the deceased's
sister trying to catch the killer by doing exactly what got her sister
killed, and trying to get a confession out of many a maybe-killer by
simply accusing them, but no way to apprehend them. It's these unnatural
actions and reactions that are pretty much trademark of Herbert
Reinecker's writing - along with stilted dialogue - that really make his
series so much fun, at least watched through a nostalgic lense. And this
episode it really Reinecker at his purest - almost a shame, as it's
actually pretty well-directed, with a feel for suspense, and an almost
cinematic feel to things.
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