Superbug, Super Agent (1972)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Just what I expected

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely Fantastic

This is "Ein Käfer gibt Vollgas", the second film from the West German German-language Käfer film series, about a very special brand of car. The writer and director is Rudolf Zehetgruber again and he also acts like he does in the first film. The runtime is also similar at approximately 90 minutes. But there are differences too, for example the first film was a whole lot about the rally aspect and this one here focuses on different Käfer-themed action. I would not say it is worse than the first, which is usually a compliment for a sequel, but the problem here is that the first was already pretty bad. Zehetgruber got Blacky Fuchsberger in here to play the main character, which is certainly a main reason why audiences watched this sequel and probably also why it has more reviews here on IMDb than the first. But Fuchsberger alone cannot make this a good film. I found it very absurd, very over-the-top again many times, but sadly not very interesting. Not at all. Then again, I have absolutely zero interest in cars, so my lack of interest can be explained this way perhaps. Other than that, I still believe that the writing that had nothing to do with cars was also far from convincing. Thumbs down. Watch something else instead.

SUPERBUG--SECRET AGENT is, I believe, the second of five films in this German SUPERBUG series, which is a takeoff on the HERBIE films of Disney, but which foreshadows KNIGHT RIDER in many ways. The English-dubbed version of this film is what I saw, and it is dubbed in a cartoon-like way that is in keeping with the cartoon-like feel of the film. In fact, on the level of being a "spy" film, this plays out a lot like a Scooby-Doo cartoon, but with live actors and real locations (Portugal, quite lovely and well-filmed!). There is much Stooges/Bowery Boys-style slapstick, and even the usually suave Joachim Fuchsberger (star of many fine Edgar Wallace thrillers in the 60s) finds himself mugging as if he's in an Edgar Kennedy comedy short. Superbug's owner, Jimmy Bondi (played by Robert Mark, who also directed and wrote the film under his real name), is a laid-back unshaven fellow with a cowboy hat, making him a relatively "safe" hero for a children's film. As another comment stated, this film is also quite reminiscent of the Terence Hill-Bud Spencer comedies of the 70s and 80s, with sound effects in the fight scenes and quirky semi-lounge music that immediately cries "foreign" to an American audience. Overall, I found this film quite entertaining as an adult...if you like lowbrow comedy and nice Portuguese locations. Think "a live action Scooby-Doo made in Germany, entertainingly dubbed in English" and you should have a good idea what SUPERBUG--SECRET AGENT has to offer.

It is a paradoxical situation when one finds a comedy, thats so bad it's actually funny. It requires a lot of laughing in the "wrong places".Although surely not intended, Ein Käfer gibt Vollgas almost works as a parody of the films it tries to rip off: Disney's Love Bug and it's sequels.Any sense, plot or genuine intentional hilarity this one has not, but it is somewhat redeemed by the unimitable groovy seventies feel. It sort of reminded me of the seventies Reeperbahn- films in techniques of storytelling, but where the Reeperbahn films had plot just to connect softcore sex scenes together, this one is all bad.Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.

I can't say I understood this film much, other than it was an odd German takeoff on Herbie. Dodo, the protagonist car, flew, went across water like a boat and did other stuff at the request of his owner, Jimmy Bondi. There was a plot about counterfeiters, I think, and Bondi wanted to avoid this girl who was hot for him.The scene that sticks out in my mind is Dodo fighting off attackers with car hood and doors, while flashing what I'm sure are German insults on his computer screen.