Horst_In_Translation Review of Ein Käfer geht aufs Ganze

Ein Käfer geht aufs Ganze (1971)

How it all started, but sadly not how it ended

[4/10 · 2 August 2016]

"Ein Käfer geht aufs Ganze" or "Superbug" or " The Love Bug Rally" is a West German German-language film from 1971, so it has its 45th anniversary this year. The director is Rudolf Zehetgruber and the writer is Alexander de Callier, but I am actually not sure if this is Zehetgruber himself as he wrote all the other "Käfer" films, one of them also under an alias. And I already mentioned that there are more of these films. This one here was the beginning of the series and 3 more films followed in the next four years and a fifth film in the late 80s. In terms of German cinema, there is lots of good in the 1970s (Herzog, Fassbinder, Wenders for example), but there is also lots of trash and this one here is an example for the latter really. But I guess it must have been successful enough with audiences because otherwise Zehetgruber would not have made all these sequels. Oh yeah, Zehetgruber also acts himself in all these films, usually even in a lead role. So yeah, what else is there to say about this one. I guess the rally aspect is what it has and the sequels don't which is an advantage, but overall the story still was so forgettable and yet over the top that it was not an interesting watch at all. The film runs for slightly over 90 minutes and this is basically true for all the movies. I give it a thumbs-down. You need to loves Käfer cars really a lot to appreciate this film.