The first of five movies director Rudolf Zehetgruber made about a yellow Volkswagen beetle with many gadgets. He played the driver himself, called Ben in this movie, but Jimmy Bondi in the sequels. Another difference is that there are considerably less gadgets in this first movie yet. This is a rather simple story about a race in Africa, entirely shot on location in Tanzania, where film-making was an adventure in itself almost 50 years ago. A hovercraft shall race against several racing cars, although it is obviously slower, but it is allowed to short cut the racing track across water to even the chances. Dudu, the yellow VW beetle, is only permitted as a support car, not as a full participant in the race, but the little car bravely faces the challenges of the African wilderness. This is a nice little race movie with some comedy elements, clumsily narrated and except for the Tanzanian locations, offering little to remember. Most of the sequels improved the concept a lot, I voted 4-7-6-5-3 for the five movies.
Review of Ein Käfer geht aufs Ganze
