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Haumer (Lukas Resetarits) has never been a model father, but when he finds out his underage daughter has been forced into pornography, he loses it a bit - but then figures why not blackmail Bleiner, one of the men responsible for the film, as producing porn movies with underage girls wouldn't go with his career as politician. Not the best idea since Bleiner and his cronies Aichinger (Bibiane Zeller) and Sommer (Fred Schaffer) presently plan a big grift, and a hiccup like that could put a spanner in the works. So they hire Nash (Frank Gorshin), a killer from the US, to kill Haumer.

When Kottan (Franz Buchrieser) from homicide and his assistants Schremser (Walter Davy) and Schrammel (Peter Neubauer) are brought in to investigate, they find it hard to even identify Haumer's corpse, as he hasn't just been shot but also set on fire, and their first lead leads them astray to a prostitute (Maria Bill), and only eventually can they piece the puzzle together. Meanwhile, Nash shows up at Aichinger's and tells her it wasn't him who killed Haumer, apparently somebody beat him to it. Still, the police eventually gets on his trail, so much so that he has to go into hiding. Then Kralicek (Pavel Landovský), Bleiner's porn producer, is blown to pieces, and it turns out Haumer is still alive. He even goes so far as to call Kottan for a sort-of confession. Again, Haumer tries to blackmail Bleiner, and again Nash shows up but doesn't shoot Haumer but Bleiner, and while Kottan ultimately manages to arrest Haumer, Aichinger and Sommer make dead Bleiner their perfect scapegoat ...

The TV series Kottan ermittelt was always known for their often eccentric casting choices, and there was of course no reason to expect Kottan's first adventure on the big screen would be any different: While on TV, Lukas Resetarits has since taken over as Kottan, in the movie the role falls back to Franz Buchrieser, with Resetarits playing a petty-criminal turned blackmailer. And Bibiane Zeller, Kottan's wife in all but the first episode, is one of the key villains here.

Tonally, this feature film differs from the series quite a bit, as it's a rather serious thriller with some socio-political commentary thrown in for good measure, so a far shot from the series that has over time become more and more of an irreverent gag-parade. And frankly, sometimes the residues of humour really don't sit too well with the film's overall plot, so much so that the film might have worked better if all associations with the series were dropped. As it is, the film is maybe no masterpiece, but pretty good genre entertainment. And Frank Gorshin as the somewhat melancholic American hitman past his prime sure gives an outstanding performance.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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