Gentlemen in White Vests

Gentlemen in White Vests

Directed by	Wolfgang Staudte
Written by	Horst Wendlandt Paul Hengge
Produced by	Fritz Klotsch Horst Wendlandt
Starring	Martin Held Walter Giller Heinz Erhardt Mario Adorf
Cinematography	Karl Löb
Edited by	Jane Seitz
Music by	Peter Thomas
Production company	Rialto Film
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	12 March 1970 (1970-03-12)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

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.

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Plot

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 from 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 clear up 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 clearing up these crimes. In fact, Walter's supervisor commissioner, Berg, eventually appears in person at his old friend's house to arrest him. In a conversation under four eyes, Zänker initiates the Commissioner in his motive and method and gains his understanding. So an arrest warrant goes out for Dandy, and Zänker manages, with the help of Pietsch, to cheer all the stolen items to Dandy. Immediately before Dandy's departure, all the predatory material is found in his suitcase. This justifies the appearances for the police, that Dandy actually committed the crimes, and that Dandy is being taken away. In fact, after his retirement, Zänker has finally managed what he has tried to do legally in his profession for a long time in vain.