"Hallo Taxi" is an East German television movie from 1974 (wow.. my mother was not even 30 back then), so this one is getting closer to its 50th anniversary now already, only little over three years left because this one came out back in spring. Honestly, with the exception of fairytale movies, it must be said that the GDr is not exactly perceived as a country that delivered successfully in terms of films. This one here certainly confirms that. I was pretty disappointed. However, I will get later to what I liked (not that there was a lot) and didn't like. Let's go with the basics for now. At 75 minutes, this is really not a long movie by any means. But I think this is not uncommon for the GDR. They kept films at a relatively short running time frequently and there are many more films that do not make it past the 80-minute mark, let alone 90-minute mark, which was kinda unthinkable in West Germany back then. Actually still is, because movies at under 85 minutes or even under 80 minutes are still a rarity nowadays when it comes to my country. Not so back then, at least not for East Germany. The director and one of three writers (all credited with different positions) is Hans Knötzsch. This one we have here is not one of his earliest or latest works. The Reunification did not drastically mark the end of his career, but he only released one other movie back in 1995 pretty briefly before his death. Also slightly surprising that he is part of the writing staff here because he only provided the screenplays for about one third of his films. I cannot really say if this movie we got here is among his most known as I don't know about all the others and also this came out over ten years before I was born. This was the time when West Germany led by Franz Beckenbauer became world champion in soccer/football, but also lost to the GDR. So if you remember this (and I kinda doubt we have many non-Germans coming to this title page), then you also know how old this movie already is. It also shows in terms of the cast. Lead actor Ingolf Gorges is no longer alive, actually died over a decade ago already, so also did not grow really old. Pretty much the only one still alive is Petra Kelling who was slightly under 30 when this was made and means she is in her mid-70s now. She plays the female protagonist in here. I cannot say too much about the cast here unfortunately, but their background are kinda interesting. Like the lead decided to leave the GDR when it decided against musician Wolf Biermann and Gerhard Bienert was a lieutenant in World War I. Other times for sure here. Sadly the cast's interesting backgrounds do not make this a better movie by any means.
One problem for me was definitely that I hard a hard time finding the protagonists likable. This is normally not a problem if characters are not meant to be seen as likable, but here it felt as if Knötzsch had this on his mind. So I also never really cheered for them to end up together as they of course do in the end. By the way, Kelling with her really short hair fits in nicely here as female characters in GDR movies are almost always depicted in a boyish way somehow and rarely as truly feminine. Also fits she is driving a motorcycle. Oh well, some kind of emancipation too I assume. But actually maybe it was a good thing they ended up together because honestly the other guy who likes her seems to be way too good, way too kind for her and so let her have the playboy who randomly punches strangers. Oh yes, as you can see from the title, there is also a taxi component here because the main character is a taxi driver. But the scenes with his guests that were intended as a mix of informative and entertaining were also so bland. Just like the film itself overall. It says drama here on imdb, but while there are dramatic aspects, it is still mostly a comedy I would say. Never a good one. The attempt at humor in here almost feels as if they were too scared to even try to make the audience laugh. In the GDR, everything had to be a little more restrained I suppose. I mean, is it funny when a guy says he does not know Tucholsky, but knows a street named after Tucholsky? Not really. Comedy-wise, this has not aged well at all I must say. But good for them if people find this funny. The aforementioned location by the way is here in Berlin because this is where the film is set and it is my city, but even as somebody who knows the location I found it truly bland and the possibility that I could have recognized some streets or places in here, had zero impact on the quality of the film. This is not a better watch for my fellow Berlin citizens either. As for another failed attempt at comedy, you can take the moment when the protagonist is all of a sudden topless when they are on a boat. Honestly, it is a bit surprising though that in terms of the story they are going here with the woman falling for the wild guy, the one who is not really politically compliant perhaps. So it is a mildly revolutionary movie you could say, but of course they made sure that no censorship takes place by depicting the other man as likable too. Anything good I can say here? The bears were nice before the one-hour mark, but they weren't even in it for ten seconds I think. Enough said. Overall, I am definitely glad this movie was very short, because it all felt very boring and uninspired. By the way, don't mistake this one for the Hörbiger/Moser movie from 15 years earlier and also do not mistake it for the television series from the 21st century. Probably this one here is the worst project from those three and no hesitation for me in giving this one a fully-deserved massive thumbs-dpwn. Yes, it is this poor. I mean I am normally a bit generous when it comes to older movies because they at least have some charm and also some historic value, but here I fail to identify either for the most part. The title song is about as catchy and joyful as the rest of the film. Namely, absolutely not, although it really wants to be. The conclusion is that maybe you should watch the Hörbiger/Moser film instead if you want to go for something taxi-related. Or "Taxi Driver" of course. Or the Jafar Panahi movie. Okay, sorry I am drifting a bit away now. I guess it's time to end the review. You get the conclusion anyway. I think it is not a bad thing that, judging from the amount of ratings here on imdb, this film has been forgotten pretty much by now and I cannot appove of this still being shown on national television in 2020. Of course by those stations that eat up all your GEZ money. No excuse for that. "Hello Taxi" (although not really any translation necessary) gets an utmost negative recommendation. Oh and no positive words from my side either on the very forced happy ending when all of a sudden kids come into play. It really all rings false here. Skip.
One problem for me was definitely that I hard a hard time finding the protagonists likable. This is normally not a problem if characters are not meant to be seen as likable, but here it felt as if Knötzsch had this on his mind. So I also never really cheered for them to end up together as they of course do in the end. By the way, Kelling with her really short hair fits in nicely here as female characters in GDR movies are almost always depicted in a boyish way somehow and rarely as truly feminine. Also fits she is driving a motorcycle. Oh well, some kind of emancipation too I assume. But actually maybe it was a good thing they ended up together because honestly the other guy who likes her seems to be way too good, way too kind for her and so let her have the playboy who randomly punches strangers. Oh yes, as you can see from the title, there is also a taxi component here because the main character is a taxi driver. But the scenes with his guests that were intended as a mix of informative and entertaining were also so bland. Just like the film itself overall. It says drama here on imdb, but while there are dramatic aspects, it is still mostly a comedy I would say. Never a good one. The attempt at humor in here almost feels as if they were too scared to even try to make the audience laugh. In the GDR, everything had to be a little more restrained I suppose. I mean, is it funny when a guy says he does not know Tucholsky, but knows a street named after Tucholsky? Not really. Comedy-wise, this has not aged well at all I must say. But good for them if people find this funny. The aforementioned location by the way is here in Berlin because this is where the film is set and it is my city, but even as somebody who knows the location I found it truly bland and the possibility that I could have recognized some streets or places in here, had zero impact on the quality of the film. This is not a better watch for my fellow Berlin citizens either. As for another failed attempt at comedy, you can take the moment when the protagonist is all of a sudden topless when they are on a boat. Honestly, it is a bit surprising though that in terms of the story they are going here with the woman falling for the wild guy, the one who is not really politically compliant perhaps. So it is a mildly revolutionary movie you could say, but of course they made sure that no censorship takes place by depicting the other man as likable too. Anything good I can say here? The bears were nice before the one-hour mark, but they weren't even in it for ten seconds I think. Enough said. Overall, I am definitely glad this movie was very short, because it all felt very boring and uninspired. By the way, don't mistake this one for the Hörbiger/Moser movie from 15 years earlier and also do not mistake it for the television series from the 21st century. Probably this one here is the worst project from those three and no hesitation for me in giving this one a fully-deserved massive thumbs-dpwn. Yes, it is this poor. I mean I am normally a bit generous when it comes to older movies because they at least have some charm and also some historic value, but here I fail to identify either for the most part. The title song is about as catchy and joyful as the rest of the film. Namely, absolutely not, although it really wants to be. The conclusion is that maybe you should watch the Hörbiger/Moser film instead if you want to go for something taxi-related. Or "Taxi Driver" of course. Or the Jafar Panahi movie. Okay, sorry I am drifting a bit away now. I guess it's time to end the review. You get the conclusion anyway. I think it is not a bad thing that, judging from the amount of ratings here on imdb, this film has been forgotten pretty much by now and I cannot appove of this still being shown on national television in 2020. Of course by those stations that eat up all your GEZ money. No excuse for that. "Hello Taxi" (although not really any translation necessary) gets an utmost negative recommendation. Oh and no positive words from my side either on the very forced happy ending when all of a sudden kids come into play. It really all rings false here. Skip.
