Mit Dobermännern spaßt man nicht

"The Amazing Dobermans" is a harmless bit of fluff. While the plot makes no sense at all, the actors try their best AND you get to see some wonderful trained doggies.

James Franciscus plays Lucky...an undercover Federal agent whose actions NEVER make any sense during the course of the story. He is out to capture a bookie but his methods all leave you confused...especially when he insists he needs to join a circus AND use trained Dobermans to complete his mission! Along the way, he's assisted with the likes of Fred Astaire, Barbara Eden and Billy Barty.

Again...the story makes no sense when you think about it. It's a shame as I really wanted to like the film since it featured Fred Astaire...one of my favorite actors. The only plus are the dogs, though they aren't seen enough in the film to make it worth my time. Kind of a dud.

This is the third and last entry in the "Doberman Gang" films and while its probably the most lightweight of all of them it does have the best cast of the three films. Story is about a gambler (Supposedly) named Lucky (James Franciscus) who owes a mob guy named Solly (Jack Carter) about 13 thousand dollars and he doesn't have the money so a couple of his goons take him out to a remote area and work him over when an older gentleman named Daniel Hughes (Fred Astaire) discovers the scene. He has 5 dobermans and can control them with a gadget that looks like a TV remote control. He gets his dogs to save him and the goons drive off. After spending the night at Daniels, Lucky hitches a ride into town with a circus midget named Samson (Billy Barty) who helps him get a job with the circus shoveling up Elephant dung. He meets a bareback horse rider named Justine (Barbara Eden) and of course it doesn't take long to get smitten. After a while Lucky gets an idea to get Daniel and his dobermans to create an act and join the circus with him. Of course the mob guys and Lucky get involved in robbing the armored car that picks up the circus earnings every week. This is definitely more of a family oriented film and all three films were directed by Byron Chudnow who never did use any actor more than once in all three. This film has a veteran cast from films and television and while you certainly don't take a film like this seriously, you can sit back and enjoy it on a very easy level. One thing that stood out for me was how beautiful Barbara Eden was wearing her skimpy circus outfit. Eden was probably around 40 or so when this was filmed and her body is just gorgeous. She had abs and her belly button was in full display which we all could not see during her "Jeannie" days. While the first two films were about using the dobermans to rob for money, this one was the opposite. I guess it really wanted to aim at a very young audience. The one major gripe I had about this film was that their were long stretches of the film where you did not see the dobermans nor were they part of the story. Once they joined the circus then the film becomes more of what you expected. I kind of wished they made more sequels because I did enjoy these films. This one is definitely the most lightweight but how can you not enjoy a film that has Fred Astaire spouting from the bible and being in charge of 5 dobermans? Easy going entertainment. Did I mention that Barbara Eden looked sexy as hell in her outfit?

The Doberman trilogy comes to an end with this movie that was released 3 years after The Daring Dobermans. The second movie proved to be a worthy sequel and may have given the saga a good ending. The Amazing Dobermans was made more to continue milking this saga and they didn't exactly think about giving the trilogy an ending. To be honest, if you compare this movie to its predecessors, it's obvious that they didn't have many ideas. Here the Dobermans are still just as cunning and skilled as in the other movies, but they no longer have a role as attack dogs. Here they are introduced as dogs redeemed by Daniel and are now used as entertainment in a circus. The relationship between these Dobermans and the previous movies is somewhat complicated because of the number of times this movie was edited. You can tell that when it was re-edited for re-release in 1978, they used the original VHS because the clips from the two previous movies look in excellent quality than the rest of the movie. The second cut was most likely made in Italy because the Italian dubbed version is the only complete version of the film that exists. Watching the movie in its original language, you can tell that it was a spin-off movie at first with no relation to the previous movies. When the flashbacks from the previous movies and the final scene that is recycled from Daniel's first appearance with the dobermans appear, the language of the movie automatically switches to Italian. Until the second cut was made, footage from the previous movies was used to make a new opening. This is something important to mention because in the English language nothing is mentioned about the events of the previous movies, but in the Italian dub there are dialogues that do mention those events to make this movie canonical. Daniel is not even related to the characters from the previous movies and his mention of having trained dogs in prison while the flashbacks are happening makes the movie contradict itself as a sequel. It would have been better if they hadn't re-edited it and at least left it as a spin-off movie. One difference from the previous films is that this installment is more comedy-oriented and that makes it quite enjoyable, although it also takes away the seriousness that the series had. The return of Alan Silvestri as composer was a minor contribution because the soundtrack of this film falls short of the score and songs of the first film. Aside from the skills of the Dobermans, another good thing about this film are the characters. James Franciscus is a fun protagonist, Fred Astaire has become a veteran who has left his musical days behind and Barbara Eden who many of us know from the I Dream Of Jeannie series provides a good romantic interest, although she should have had more of a leading role. As a stand-alone film it is quite enjoyable, but as the last film of the trilogy it is the most inferior. The Amazing Dobermans fails to be as amazing as it promises and falls short of the original films. It is certainly an ideal film to enjoy with the family, but in the end it did not add anything to the trilogy. Not tired of that, they wanted to continue with another made-for-TV movie and try to start a series, but they failed at it. The supposed fourth movie is now lost media and that proves that The Doberman Gang was never meant to become a franchise. My final rating for this movie is a 6/10.

Aftermaths the first impact by its uniqueness of THE DOBERMAN GANG the sequel lost the punch on THE DARING DOBERMANS, in this third version aside a fabulous casting as the classy Fred Astaire, James Franciscus and still gorgeous Barbara Eden upon a weak screenplay the whole thing down the hill beyond repair, also allied on slow pacing storyline, even directed by own Byron Chudnow, in fact the screenwriters weren't creative whatsoever for our despair.

This turn a stubborn loser on gambling Lucky (James Franciscus) finds himself in dire straits with a mobster Solley (Jack Carter) whom owe money, often running away from Solley's thugs that have been hard beaten the "unluck" Lucky for the loan which he can't afford, soon Lucky stumbles with a sole man Daniel living in a trailer with their beloved and menacing Dobermans, out of the blue he oversees a light on the end of tunnel if using these trained dogs for circus's main act whereby the beauty Amazon Justine (Barbara Eden) works, well it gonna happen aftermaths, the Dobermans performance lifts the profits at extent draw attention of evil Solley for a robbery of armored-car on collecting circus's money.

Well aside the wise Daniel's mannerism concerning biblical quotes the picture never gets fire properly, also Barbara Eden doesn't deliver any sexual appealing as she used to be, as matter of fact just the secondary casting shines as Parler Baer, Billy Bart and Jack Carter improving the dead duck, even the silly Dobermans performances weren't enough to increase it, it just works out as nostalgic reasons only.

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First watch: 1996 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.5.

We all expect Fred Astaire to dance around with Ginger Rogers, we all expect Barbara Eden to dress like an Arabian harem and blink things out of thin air, and we all expect James Franciscus...okay, he's not noted for anything. But in "The Amazing Dobermans", Astaire owns a group of Dobermans whom he controls through a device that sends out sound waves. He uses this to help Franciscus escape some gangsters, while Franciscus and Eden get acquainted at the circus.

Obviously, the whole thing seems a little outlandish, but it's not hurting anything. Certainly not like anything that anyone would usually anticipate.