Otto – Der Film

Plot

The film starts with debris floating in the middle of the ocean, including a toilet seat, through which Otto emerges and begins to relate how he has gotten to be in this situation.

Otto, a young East Frisian country boy, comes to the big city to make his fortune. Unfortunately, his naivety nearly ruins everything from the start as he falls victim to a loan shark—conveniently going under the name of "Shark"—from whom he borrows the capital to start his own forwarding business; the resulting debt of 9,876 DM and 50 Pfennig becomes a constant object of worry and temptation for Otto throughout the film.

During one of his earlier attempts to make money, Otto inadvertently saves the life of Silvia von Kohlen und Reibach, the young prospective heiress of an enormous family fortune. Otto is introduced to the Kohlen und Reibachs to receive their gratitude, but Otto is quick to note that he could use their wealth to pay back his debt. But every chance he gets slips through his fingers, either owing to the callings of his conscience (such as when he attempts to shoot a hare for a reward which matches his debts exactly) or by dumb luck (when the wine he receives from the Kohlen und Reibachs turns out to be quite valuable, but only after a wine lover has consumed a considerable quantity of it).

Silvia and Otto also find themselves drawn to each other, but their main obstacle against their getting together is Silvia's stern mother, Konsulin ("Consul") von Kohlen und Reibach, who wishes her daughter to marry someone from their social class. She has already identified a suitable candidate in Ernesto, a handsome South American millionaire.

In the end, Otto realizes his true affections for Silvia only after she and her mother prepare to depart for Rio de Janeiro for Silvia's wedding to Ernesto. On his way to tell Silvia about his feelings, Otto gets mixed up in a bank robbery committed by disputatious Sonnemann and Haenlein. Otto later smuggles himself aboard the plane the Kohlen und Reibachs are on, but among the passengers are also the two bankrobbers. Otto, disguised as the radio operator, attempts to inform Interpol but instead hits the pilot's announcement system, prompting Sonnemann and Haenlein to hijack the plane. Unfortunately, the two break out into another argument, in which course they knock out both pilots, so they force Otto to fly. This of course results in mayhem when Otto sends the plane rolling, subduing the two bankrobbers in the process; Otto reveals his presence and his love to Silvia, who happily joins him in the cockpit, and Konsulin von Kohle und Reichbach has to learn to her shock that "Ernesto" is really a fraud named Harald.

Otto subsequently attempts to land the passenger jet on an aircraft carrier, but of course fails spectacularly, thus looping back to the film's beginning sequence. Fortunately, all passengers on the plane, including Silvia and her mother, reach a tropical island, where they receive the warm welcome of a polonaise from the local carnival-obsessed natives and Otto and Silvia finally become an item.

Cast

Otto Waalkes: Otto

Jessika Cardinahl: Silvia von Kohlen und Reibach

Elisabeth Wiedemann: Konsulin von Kohlen und Reibach

Sky du Mont: Ernesto (aka Harald)

Peter Kuiper: Shark

Karl Lieffen: Flopmann

Tilly Lauenstein: madam

Gottfried John: Sonnemann

Andreas Mannkopff: Haenlein

Lutz Mackensy: springbok owner

Johannes Heesters: wine lover

Günther Kaufmann: soldier "Bimbo"

Panos Papadopulos: Stavros

Wilken F. Dincklage: barkeeper

Erich Bar: rocker

Reception

The film was a box office success and had a record opening in West Germany with 768,535 admissions in its first weekend.