Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)   CLICK HERE to buy from Box-set: Entire series German language only   CLICK HERE to buy from Box-set: Entire series German language only Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

Jimmie Tamek (Wolfgang Reinbacher) and Herbert Maroltinger (Hanno Pöschl) are constant rivals on the motorcycle speedway track - but while Tamek not only lacks the talent to defeat Maroltinger but also repeatedly crashes his bike and is accident prone, Maroltinger is the undefeated champion of the track, and he lets everybody know it. He also has an affair with Tamek's wife Herma (Dagmar Schwarz), and he doesn't make much of an effort to hide it. And one day, when all three of them are riding in Maroltinger's convertible, the car's shot at, which brings homicide detective Kottan (Lukas Resetarits) and company - Schremser (Walter Davy) and Schrammel (Curt A. Tichy) - onto the case. They investigate everything that's going on on the track, but come up with very little. So little in fact that at the next race, Maroltinger is shot dead, right when racing - and it turns out he has been shot with Tamek's gun.

In the surprise resolution of the piece, it's Schrammel who reveals the killer to be Maroltinger's mechanic (Dieter Hofinger), who has factored little in the story so far, but who's now also revealed to be Maroltinger's brother and Herma's ex.

A lively episode thanks to all the motorbike action, and it's nice to see Schrammel, who's usually treated like an idiot by his colleagues, to do the arrest for a change. However, on closer inspection, the episode isn't very well written and more designed around setpieces - not only the speedway races but also irreverent comedy skits -, while the killer's really pulled out of a hat in the end. On top of that, much of the comedy has become rather repetitive at this point of the series already. A fun watch still, but far from greatness.

By the way, this episode gathered some notoriety for running an insert during syndication about a UFO landing that's to be reported on after the show - which resulted in a number of surprised phonecalls to TV stations ORF (Austria) and ZDF (West Germany) when that report never aired.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Kottan ermittelt - Kansas City at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Kottan ermittelt - Kansas City here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Thanks for watching !!!