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Several murders happen all across the USA, with only one thing in
common: In each case the criminals knew about some big loot the respective
victims had stashed away in a secret hidingplace ... & soon Jerry
Cotton (George Nader), best man of the FBI, & his sidekick Phil Decker
(Heinz Weiss) are on the case. But the only clue they have are some
phonecalls of a woman (who would eventually be identified as Mary
Springfield [Heidi Leupolt]) to FBI boss Mr High (Richard Münch) about
her sister Kitty (Sylvia Pascal), who is dating some gangster who might be
involved with the killings.
Mary though soon is run over by a car (by the gangsters of course),
& the only thing she can tell Jerry before dieing is that itty's
boyfriend owns a bowling alley near Penn station NYC. So disguised as a
bum & reformed alcoholic, Jerry visits the bowling alley, & its
owner Christallo (Hans E.Schons), & convinces him that on one hand he
knows about the murders, but on the other deosn't try toblackmail him
withthat knowledge but wants a job in his organisation ... &
Christallo grows soft on him & employs Jerry ...
From Kitty, who is indeed Christallo's moll, Jerry soon learns their
next heist: They plan to blow up a schoolhouse to divert the attention of
the authorities to quietly rob a private antiques collector across the
street.
Jerry can of course spoil their plans of blowing up the school, but
cannot stop them from getting away through the sewers ...
Meanwhile though the gangsters have found out about Jerry's true
identity, & Kilburne (Franz Rudnick), the actual head of the
organisation, shoots Christallo for having invited Jerry in, then he
kidnaps lawyer Hamilton, from whose safe he stole the informations about
the places they robbed, & steals his yacht in hopes to get away with
his accomplices & the loot. But Jerry & Phil Decker can put a stop
to that & free Hanmilton even before the police arrives ...
Very obviously, Schüsse aus dem Geigenkasten - and the whole
resulting Jerry Cotton-series - was produced as a German
attempt to rival the then enormously successful British James Bond-series,
even if the German series concentrated more on down-to-earth-crime drama
than somewhat over-the-top espionage plots, & was of course produced
on a lower budget.
Despite taking place in New York City, the film (like all of the
subsequent Jerry Cotton films) was actually filmed in
Germany, with some authentic New York footage spiced in or the actors
sometimes acting in front of New York rear projections. Much of the
(outdoor-)sets though are just German scenery made to look like New York -
not always very convincingly, which lends the film a certain charm.
Taken by its own merits, the film is an ok low budget action flick,
that tends to become rather funny (unintentionally of course) when it
tries to be cool &/or goes for authenticism, & can't really shake
a certain Germanness, displaying a certain fascination for
bureaucratic correctness when it's the least needed.
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