"Otto - The Movie" is the first of 5 Otto films where actor Otto Waalkes plays basically the same character and being from summer 1985 it is almost as old as myself. It was directed by Xaver Schwarzenberger who got in the film industry by being Rainer Werner Fassbinder's cinematographer on several works and this is his first directorial effort for the big screen. Fassbinder was already dead at this point. Schwarzenbergwer worked on another Otto film afterward and his maybe most known work then is as a cinematographer again on Dietl's Oscar-nominated "Schtonkh!". Anyway, back to Waalkes. He is in his 60s by now and still one of Germany's most lauded and respected comedians. He is also still active in the movie industry and has given us his approaches on Snow White and Ocean's Eleven in recent years. In this film here, he does not only play the central character, but also many minor characters such as his own parents. But not the naked woman in the window. Looks like in the 80s you could already show that kind of stuff, at least for a short moment without getting everybody upset.
There is one scene in here which is really politically incorrect. It is prank with a black guy and modern slavery included and I found it really funny. And about how he drinks his coffee. Very provocative yes, but exactly my kind of humor. Shameless. The main plot, though, is a man who gets in trouble with a ruthless investor, but is lucky enough to save the life of a young woman with very rich parents. Sadly the desired reward does not happen. The film features some actors who very very popular 30 years ago. The almost immortal Johannes Heesters appears in one scene. And so does Günther Kaufmann, also a Fassbinder collaborator. One of the main antagonists is played by Sky du Mont, who was already quite a star back then, also internationally, and then again rose to fame almost 20 years later by being the antagonist again in the successful Bully Herbig movies. The audience must have enjoyed all the word-plays in this movie as it was a crowd magnet and truly successful at the box office in 1985. It won the Golden Screen and also a Bambi which is usually given to films relevant to culture. Otto also shows us his musical talent and uses quite a few classics including the Comedian Harmonists "Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus". And it seems not only audiences enjoyed it, as occasionally I felt that some of the characters were laughing out of character just because they found Otto so funny in his role.
However, let me warn you that this film is entirely different compared to today's (German) comedies. Humour was simply something else in the 80s. The alarm button scene was just the weirdest thing ever and so was the Heino song parody. Other than that, you can enjoy the film for Otto's frequent changing of costumes and maybe also for the action sequence at the end. Guess they really wanted to include one for the sake of it. Solid movie and I had a fun time occasionally watching this. Recommended.
There is one scene in here which is really politically incorrect. It is prank with a black guy and modern slavery included and I found it really funny. And about how he drinks his coffee. Very provocative yes, but exactly my kind of humor. Shameless. The main plot, though, is a man who gets in trouble with a ruthless investor, but is lucky enough to save the life of a young woman with very rich parents. Sadly the desired reward does not happen. The film features some actors who very very popular 30 years ago. The almost immortal Johannes Heesters appears in one scene. And so does Günther Kaufmann, also a Fassbinder collaborator. One of the main antagonists is played by Sky du Mont, who was already quite a star back then, also internationally, and then again rose to fame almost 20 years later by being the antagonist again in the successful Bully Herbig movies. The audience must have enjoyed all the word-plays in this movie as it was a crowd magnet and truly successful at the box office in 1985. It won the Golden Screen and also a Bambi which is usually given to films relevant to culture. Otto also shows us his musical talent and uses quite a few classics including the Comedian Harmonists "Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus". And it seems not only audiences enjoyed it, as occasionally I felt that some of the characters were laughing out of character just because they found Otto so funny in his role.
However, let me warn you that this film is entirely different compared to today's (German) comedies. Humour was simply something else in the 80s. The alarm button scene was just the weirdest thing ever and so was the Heino song parody. Other than that, you can enjoy the film for Otto's frequent changing of costumes and maybe also for the action sequence at the end. Guess they really wanted to include one for the sake of it. Solid movie and I had a fun time occasionally watching this. Recommended.
