El viejo policía

The Old Fox (original German title "Der Alte", lit. "The Old Man") is a German crime drama created by Helmut Ringelmann. It premiered on April 11, 1977 on ZDF. Since 1978 the series is part of the legendary Friday Crime Night of the network.

It depicts the crime solving activities of four police detectives, Chief Inspector Erwin Köster, played by Siegfried Lowitz until 1985, from 1986 to 2007 Chief Inspector Leo Kress, played by Rolf Schimpf, from 2008 to 2012 Chief Inspector Rolf Herzog, played by Walter Kreye and from 2012 Chief Inspector Richard Voss, played by Jan-Gregor Kremp.

Humble and unassuming in appearance, chief detective Köster is the "Old Fox". By understanding the psychological make-up of his suspect, the "Old Fox" craftily leads the criminal into his own trap, to the great surprise of his often perplexed staff. The "Old Fox" has his own way of working. Wearied by the negative elements he has witnessed so often in society, the "Old Fox" provides a unique insight into human nature.

Armed with the wisdom of age and experience, the "Old Fox" hunts down criminals in Munich, assisted by his colleagues Werner Riedmann, played by Markus Böttcher, Gerd Heymann, played by Michael Ande, and Axel Richter, played by Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss.

I recently purchased a DVD with the two-hour pilot and the first installment of this series I once watched as a teenager. And I was very pleasantly surprised.

At the time the series was created, 1977, a whiff of New German Cinema seems to have penetrated TV productions of this kind, and I should say the makers had the audacity to subvert a genre. How on earth did they get away with it? I am convinced that today a bold step like is impossible – mainly because the public would not be ready to stomach it.

In Germany there was a tradition of „pappy" crime mysteries: An old police inspector (often very close to retirement) solves cases by sheer street knowledge and the wisdom of advanced age. The predecessor of „Der Alte" was „The Comissar", and its star, Erik Ode, portrayed a cute father figure in the mold of Heinz Rühmann. The social changes in the 1970s made this type of cop increasingly ludicrous.

But what did they do when they saw that the old recipe grew stale? They came up with another dusty old guy in a slightly unkempt gray business suit and called him „Der Alte". Apparently English versions of the series run under the name „The Old Fox", but the anything but respectful German term might as well mean „The Has Been". And in fact, „Der Alte" of the first installments seems to be an embittered and frustrated crime solver who is somehow isolated in the force and without friends – clearly a man on his way out. He does not crave for sympathy and his actions often seem to be outright suicidal: In the pilot he offers himself as a hostage in exchange for some bank clerks in a „Dog Day Afternoon" situation. In the following installment he sets himself up as a blackmailer of murderers and goes to a meeting completely exposed and without any protection. When the murderer's bullet misses him a shade of delusion seems to pass over his face. He really does not seem to care anymore.

„Der Alte" I write about here is a rather nasty guy, a loner who is unkind, sarcastic, arrogant and leers after young girls. He is plainly unlikeable and there is nothing particularly funny about him. But once he's taken up the scent he makes the right moves – and what else do we expect of a crime-solver? Experienced actor Siegfried Lowitz was dead right for this character and I guess he can largely be credited for the success of the series.

But not only the acting and the screen writing is of a very high quality, the whole visual style fits in perfectly. A pretty gloomy atmosphere of stark realism is created but all the set ups seem to be rigidly controlled, nothing seems out of line, every detail fits. An interesting aspect is the use of new Pop music themes to heighten the tension, the above mentioned installment for example uses excerpts of the song „Asylum" by Supertramp who were about to become very popular. Another installment used Alan Parsons Project's „The Raven". Again they must have purchased the rights at the time when the corresponding album was released. So they must have had a smart musical adviser on this series and an intelligent crew who knew exactly how to fit the tunes in – hey, maybe „Der Alte" is a predecessor to MTV which I think came a few years later.

Anyway, everybody who would like to get a feel of the mid 1970s in Europe will find the early seasons of this intelligent, artistically interesting series a treasure trove.

During 1991 to 1995, I used to watch the English (dubbed) version in our national channel (doordarshan) along with other German series such as Derrick, The Investigator (Der Fahnder). God How I loved them all, even if these were dubbed. I am still a great fan of Klaus Wennemann for his unique portrayal of The Investigator (Der Fahnder).

About Old Fox: I remember it was really like a real life police investigation, because clues to the murders were obtained real slow. most of these were got when the senior officer (Old Fox) cross-questioned the people involved and found some glitches in their story. Like I said, very much real life, so some people found it dull and boring, but for those who followed the dialogues, it was brilliant.

I wish I could time travel to the 1990's.....

I watched this serial as a kid sometime in 80's in India. It is an excellent TV serial. The original serial is in German, I believe, but it was telecast translated in English. The dubbing was so good that I did not even realize that it was not in English originally. (Of course, I was a kid then). In particular, I remember an episode where the killer used to kill his victims by giving poison in the chocolate. Very nice performance by Lowitz.

I have been looking for its DVD (in English, of course) but have not been successful in finding it. If anyone has it or knows where I can get it, please let me know. If you ever get a chance to watch this serial, please do not miss it. I am sure, you will like it especially if you are fond of detective serials.

Thanks ~U

What a pleasant surprise to find the show may perhaps still be airing new episodes!

I used to watch The Old Fox (I think) 20 years back - a foreign series shown in India. Given the other options, we used to watch The Old Fox avidly...

I thought Der Alte was good - if I get the chance, I'll pick up the DVDs and re-acquaint myself with Gerd Heymann!

FWIW - in response to a previous reviewer, I thought Buffy was a decent series, as was the original Star Trek. Don't care much for CSI, though...