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Gentlemen in White Vests

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Gentlemen in White Vests
Directed byWolfgang Staudte
Written byHorst Wendlandt
Paul Hengge
Produced byFritz Klotsch
Horst Wendlandt
StarringMartin Held
Walter Giller
Heinz Erhardt
Mario Adorf
CinematographyKarl Löb
Edited byJane Seitz
Music byPeter Thomas
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • 12 March 1970 (1970-03-12)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman

Gentlemen in White Vests (German: Die Herren mit der weißen Weste) is a 1970 German comedy film directed by Wolfgang Staudte and starring Martin Held, Walter Giller and Heinz Erhardt.

It was shot at the Spandau Studios and on location around Berlin at the Olympiastadion, Tempelhof Airport and Charlottenburg.

Plot

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At the beginning of the film, gangster Bruno Stiegler alias Dandy returns to West Berlin from the United States as a boxing promoter. The boxing business serves him more as a camouflage, however, because soon it turns out that he and his gang want to realize various planned raids. The now retired Judge Zänker has tried in vain to put Dandy behind bars by legal means during his active service. Now he turns the tables with his friends and sister Elisabeth. His old friends and colleagues meet as a men's choir disguised in his home and prove to be a pensioner's gang, taking on Dandy's gang. He succeeds in this by using the ex-con Pietsch as a snitch in Dandy's gang.

Dandy wants to steal the revenue from a Hertha BSC football match at the Olympic Stadium, but Zänker and his gang are faster in doing so. The same is achieved by them with Dandy's attempt to rob dubious businessman Kunkelmann's cash cabinet and clean out the Haase jewellery store during a parade. To make matters more complicated, Zänker's son-in-law Walter, who lives with his daughter Monika in the house near Zänker, works as a criminal inspector with the police and is charged with investigating these crimes. In fact, Walter's supervisor, Berg, eventually appears in person at his old friend's house to arrest him. In a conversation under four eyes, Zänker explains his motive and method and gains Berg's confidence. So an arrest warrant goes out for Dandy, and Zänker manages, with the help of Pietsch, to pin the blame for all the thefts on Dandy. Immediately before Dandy's departure, all the stolen items are found in his suitcase. As a result, the police have probable cause to arrest Dandy. So in retirement Zänker has finally achieved what he never managed to do legally as a jduge.

Cast

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References

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