PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*
There's not a lot to say about most of these West German imitations of Walt Disney's THE LOVE BUG series, but I re-visited them just to see what sort of kind of sociological curiosities they might have turned up.
Like the Love Bug, the titular "Superbug"-- also called "Dudu," which is an African word for "beetle"-- is a sentient VW that can perform all sorts of miraculous feats in service of his driver. In contrast to the Disney films, there's one constant driver for the whole series. West German director Rudolph Zehetgruber also acted the part of the driver, usually called "Jimmy Bondi" as a joke on "James Bond." Of course the car is the actual star, and though there's no actual "origin story" for the vehicle as such, over time its miracles become more the result of advanced tech that Jimmy or other persons have worked into the vehicle's computerized body. All five films also co-star the star/director's wife Kathryn Oginski, and all are largely aimed at kids, which is one reason I'm just giving thumbnail decriptions of each one.
SUPERBUG GOES WILD (1971)-- Superbug is shipped to Tanzania, a former German colony, and after meeting with his destined driver (not yet called Jimmy), the miracle bug gets involved in a big race. Oginski plays an African "daktari." Not too many Africans in this version of Tanzania.
SUPERBUG SUPER AGENT (1972)-- The second film is the most typical of the series as a whole. Zehetgruber's character is called "Jimmy Bondi" for the rest of the series, and it's implied that his good friend Magnolia (Oginski) may be partly responsible for installing a lot of Dudu's gimmicks. Jimmy and Dudu get involved in thwarting a gang of crooks after counterfeiting plates.
SUPERBUG RIDES AGAIN (1973)-- Again Jimmy and Dudu get involved with gangsters and a stunt show, this time in England. This time Oginski is a female mechanic, running a garage with one other woman (the usual glamorous Evelyn Kraft, who spends part of the film looking the part of a grease monkey).
SUPERBUG, THE CRAZIEST CAR IN THE WORLD (1975)-- It's race time again for Jimmy and Dudu, with lots of slapstick violence along the way. This time Oginski and Kraft play nuns who want to win the race for a big cash prize.
SON OF SUPERBUG (1978)-- As the title suggests, Superbug is scrapped in favor of a small computerized golf-cart with six wheels, in which Jimmy fights the Mafia. Oginski is present once again in her least memorable role.
All five are undemanding kiddie-fare, but SUPER AGENT is rather unusual. First, it's the most violent in the slapstick sense, featuring so many knockabout fights that I thought it must've been co-produced by Italian filmmakers. (It's also the only combative entry.) Second, AGENT boasts a couple of aspects that are oddly sexual for children's films. In this film, Magnolia nags Jimmy to marry her, and gets mad when he reneges on the deal. There's also an undercover cop (Joachim Fuchsberger) who's trying to get the goods on the crooks, while a young gamin named Tamara (Heidi Hansen) attaches herself to the cop. At first she seems to be pursuing him, encouraging him to kiss her even though he's "old enough to be her father," though there are no further romantic moments in the film. Once the case is concluded, Jimmy and the cop leave the two women behind on a beach while the men pilot Dudu atop the sea-waters like a motorboat. Magnolia uses a radio control device to override Dudu, making him respond as if his two occupants are thieves, hitting Jimmy with the steering wheel and causing the cop to get jerked around in his revolving seat. All the while the two women laugh at the men's discomfiture, and in a line that may or may not be in the German original, Jimmy comments of the men's predicament, "There's nothing you can do about it-- so sit back and enjoy it!"
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