Kojak Budapesten (1980)

Director:

Sándor Szalkay

Writers:

István Kállai (writer)
Sándor Szalkay (writer)

Release Date:

5 June 1980 (Hungary)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Plot:

Lt. Kojak (who are revealed to be a Hungarian cop immigrated to the US) arrives to Budapest as a guest...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

László Inke	...	Lt. Theo Kojak
Cecília Esztergályos	...	Ann
Gábor Harsányi	...	Man with dark glasses
Ádám Szirtes	...	Captain Kerekes
Lajos Öze	...	Professor Laczina
Hilda Gobbi	...	Agatha Christie
Ágnes Bánfalvy	...	Laczina's secretary
László Márkus	...	Billy
Klári Tolnay	...	Mrs. Szalánczy
Zoltán Greguss	...	Mr. Szalánczy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Béla Abody
Györgyi Andai
Imre Antal	...	Tailorshop Clerk
Péter Balázs	...	Man with lawnmower
Juli Básti
Ferenc Bencze
István Dégi
György Dörner
László Dózsa
Andrea Drahota
János Gálvölgyi	...	Paramedic
Mária Goór Nagy
János Gosztonyi
Csilla Herczeg
Kálmán Hollai
Tivadar Horváth
Kata Kánya
József Kautzky
Emil Keres
Róbert Koltai	...	Worker
János Körmendi
Anna Kormos
Károly Kovács
Anna Kubik
Tibor Molnár
Attila Nagy
Ferenc Némethy
Athina Papadimitriu
Irma Patkós
Zsuzsa Simon
Sándor Szakácsi
Mari Szemes
Gábor Tomanek
László Ungváry
István Velenczei
Ferenc Zenthe

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Hungary

Language:

Hungarian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Trivia:

Telly Savalas sold his likeness for $1 for this movie.

Quotes:

Lt. Theo Kojak: Stavros will be so jealous that his hair will get straight, if I tell him about this crazy chick.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Kojak" (1973)

Unique atmosphere and humor from the 1980s' Budapest

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I love this movie because of the unique Hungarian atmosphere and humor. Kojak comes to Budapest just as the title mentions and he is Hungarian, what else could he be? He has been living in New York for a long time, this is the base of the plot and the jokes.

We can see the typical characters and situations of the 1980s Budapest. Lazy toilers, unattainable directors, fake bucks, ex-janitors, and wrong instructions. This movie is a perfect satire of the 1980s' socialism.

I love the scene where Kojak pursues a Trabant car in a Lada. It's very funny nowadays; I haven't seen any Trabant car for years. The action itself is scenic and exciting, just like the story.

László Inke dubs the original Kojak character and Telly Savalas to Hungarian, and Inke's appearance is the same as Savalas's appearance. He superbly impersonates Kojak; the gestures, the terms, the reactions are perfect.

If you want to meet the atmosphere of the 1980s in Budapest, or just want to laugh a lot, watch this movie. It's very entertaining.