Der Joker (1987)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Peter Patzak

Writers:

Jonathan Carroll (writer)
Mortimer Ellis (story)
(more)

Release Date:

15 October 1987 (West Germany)

Genre:

Thriller | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Several known criminals already have been murdered by a professional killer, leaving no trace but the "ace" game card...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Restaurant | Revenge | Murder Investigation | Impotence

Cast

Peter Maffay	...	Jan Bogdan
Tahnee Welch	...	Daniela Santini
Bernard Freyd	...	Mario Santini
Massimo Ghini	...	Toni Blach
Karl Merkatz	...	Josef Blach
Elke Krings	...	Theresa Blach
Elliott Gould	...	Serge Gart
Joachim Dietmar Mues	...	Salz
Marquard Bohm	...	Pfeffer
András Gönczöl	...	Koura
Werner Pochath	...	Resch
Monica Bleibtreu	...	Cilly
Uwe Hacker	...	Riese
Klaus Bueb	...	Paul
Klaus Stiglmeier	...	1. Zuhälter
Dietmar Mössmer	...	2. Zuhälter (as Didi Moessmer)
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Axel Baumgartner
Michael York	...	Dr. Proper
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Patzak	...	Mann an der Theke
Otto Retzer	...	Chauffeur

Directed by
Peter Patzak

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jonathan Carroll		writer
Mortimer Ellis		story
Peter Patzak		writer

Produced by
Horst Hächler	....	co-producer
Karl Spiehs	....	producer

Original Music by
Tony Carey
Carl Carlton
Frank Diez
Peter Maffay

Cinematography by
Dietrich Lohmann
Igor Luther

Film Editing by
Michou Hutter

Production Design by
Katja Beima
Gerald Damovsky
Claus Kottmann
Tobias Siemsen

Costume Design by
Heidi Melinc

Makeup Department
Alexandra Hutter	....	makeup artist
Christa Krebs	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Michael Kempe	....	unit manager
Otto Retzer	....	production manager
Erich Tomek	....	production manager
Michael Waldleitner	....	unit manager

Sound Department
Milan Bor	....	sound mixer
Adi Kredatus	....	sound

Special Effects by
Uli Nefzer	....	special effects (as Ulrich Nefzer)
Willi Neuner	....	special effects

Other crew
Franco Pizzorno	....	business manager
Ingunn Sievers	....	business manager

Production Companies

• CTV 72 Film und Fernsehproduktion GmbH
• K.S. Film
• Lisa-Film

Distributors

• Tivoli (1987) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• AVU-Video-Vertriebs-GmbH (2002) (Germany) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• Lisa Film (1990) (worldwide) (all media)
• Starlight (1986) (West Germany) (VHS)
• Vestron Video International (1988) (Sweden) (VHS)
• marketing-film (2002) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Lethal Obsession
The Joker (International: English title) (video title)

Runtime:

Germany:97 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German | English | Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Sweden:15 (video rating) | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | West Germany:16 (f) (w)

Filming Locations:

Abaton Kino, Allende-Platz, Hamburg, Germany

Company:

CTV 72 Film und Fernsehproduktion GmbH

Hard German revenge thriller

Peter Maffay is not the guy you expect to see in a hard-boiled detective revenge movie. The Romanian-born greasy ballad singer with a certain pseudo-rock and macho image who is a big music star in Germany for 35 years now tried a step into the movies with this German crime movie from 1987.

Maffay plays Jan Bogdan, a police detective in Hamburg who becomes seriously hurt during a bomb attack in a restaurant by a brutal killer gang. His good friend has been killed, and Bogdan is bound to the wheelchair now. Filled with anger and thirst for revenge he quits the police and kills his opponents one by one until he finds the heads of the gang... of course there's a good buddy involved, too, and a well-looking dark-haired seduction that both guys are falling in love with, some corrupt policemen, conspiracies, brutal henchmen with black gloves, assassinations, killings, showdowns etc.

The direction of crime movie veteran Peter Patzak is well done, but shows some boring lengths in the middle of the plot. The script combines elements of seventies crime action with hard-boiled detective stories, revenge dramas, Italian giallos and mafia movies and of course a lot of bad 80's hard rock ballads... the cast is fine with Tahnee Welch as the sexy girlfriend and first class actors like Armin Mueller-Stahl, Michael York and Elliot Gould (all of them playing bad guys here).

Only the choice of Peter Maffay was a big misstep, as his range of acting is limited to the face expressions of a goldfish. Bearing his never changing forced macho style all the time and especially listening to his bad way of stumbling his dialogues together is a pure pain in the ass! Fortunately for movie-goes, Maffay returned only once again on the screens - except for some cameos - in the cliche-ladden adventure drama "Verschollen im Jemen" (Missing in Yemen) in 1999, directed by Patzak, too.

Some more details for movie buffs - the bad soundtrack, consisting of greasy digital keyboard tunes and bad 80's "Scorpions" style hard rock ballads, was composed by Maffay and former Rainbow keyboard player Tony Carey who had a short musical career in Germany 20 years ago. Production assistant Otto Retzer later became the director of the cheesy soap opera "Ein Schloss am Woerthersee" and several b-movie adventures such as the strange "Der schwarze Fluch". A nice movie for Maffay worshippers, but not the big jewel to discover for crime genre and film retro fans.