that he was high for two days; he also identifies by name the various crooks, embezzlers, thieves and jailbirds with whom he worked throughout his ca- reer, noting that even series producer Theo Maria Werner (one of the good guys, in his estimation) died owing him 160,000 DM for work he had done in good faith. He also speaks candidly about co- stars Tony Kendall, Christa Linder, Ann Smyrner, Dana Andrews and Victor Buono. It may sound like a torrent of negative gossip, but Harris man- ages to discuss all these people with interest, ap- preciation and occasional gratitude, recognizing them all as unique facets of a career he’s been fortunate to have.
The seventh and final disc in the Kommissar X set is devoted to Reginald Ginster’s digital docu-
mentary Die X-Männer schlagen zurück (“The X-Men Strike Back”), a 142m chronicle of a re- markable visit by Brad Harris, Tony Kendall and Gianfranco Parolini to the Dusseldorf-based Buio Omega film club on September 25, 2009. There they participated in an interview before a small but packed theater, a three-hour signing, and a celebratory dinner. By the time the viewer reaches this disc, Brad Harris has become like an old friend through his audio commentary reminiscences and on-camera interview, and Ginster and on-camera host Jo Steinbeck continue to use him here for cutaway commentary and counterpoint in English (with optional German subtitles), which helps the Ger- man-language feature to play well to English viewers. Because neither Kendall nor Parolini were conversant in German, most of their scenes—the bulk of the program—are in En- glish, or a kind of pigeon English, and if there is anything that bypasses understanding, it adds to the surreal, Toby Dammit-like glamour of the occasion, which is further buoyed by this German community’s palpable love for B-cinema. What this documentary achieves as a foot-
note to the preceding six features is quite special, because it lets us to bear witness to the real life interplay of the three principals, which is unex- pected to say the least. Brad Harris, so outspoken till now, turns out to be the laconic member of the bunch, while Tony Kendall arrives looking every bit the movie star he ever was—still handsome, actually more charming than onscreen, with more warmth and humility than one might expect. As for Parolini, he turns out to be a bigger character than either of them: an impish and impressively energetic man, then officially 79 years old but admitting to
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86. The fact that he hasn’t made a film since 1988 doesn’t obstruct him from pursuing a stubborn dream to upstage Ridley Scott’s GLADIATOR (which he hated) with his own arena adventure called “Nero Gladiator Gladiatrix,” which he hopes to make someday with Brad and Tony—in China! From the moment Jo Steinbeck asks his first question at the Q&A, Parolini clutches his micro- phone and starts pitching this mad idea to the audience. Having the full attention of 200 adoring people, he is unable to let it go. An exasperated Kendall plays this embarrassment for comedy, eventually seizing an opportunity to hide Parolini’s microphone, just to get a word in—while Harris sits back and enjoys the spectacle, as if quietly savoring what he knows will likely be the last time they’ll all be together. (Unknown to all but a few people present, Tony Kendall made this last public appearance knowing that he had terminal cancer; he died only two months later on November 28.) As a moist-eyed Harris says in a cutaway comment, he could sense his hosts’ discomfort as Gianfranco mutinized the evening, and sympathized with their frustration at not being able to ask questions, but he also knew that, while the audience might not get the information they came to hear, they were going to be part of an occasion they could talk about for years to come, and be thoroughly amused and entertained. All this is true. Fortunately, the program gets back on topic when the hosts project various trailers and some expertly edited montages highlighting each of the participants, all of which prompt audience ap- plause and some heartwarming verbal response. The most important piece of information comes from Tony Kendall, when he’s asked about DEATH TRIP and how he felt when Rudolf Zehetgruber serenaded him with the balalaika. Tony: “What I think? I think... I want to break this balalaika!” As the Q&A event draws to a close, it’s obvi-
ous how much the event meant to each of these men, whose open-hearted response leaves one wondering if they had ever before been shown so much appreciation by so many at once. In the foot- age from the signing table, Tony Kendall is shown looking astonished when presented with German paper materials he’s asked to autograph—post- ers he’s clearly never seen before, and which he shows to his friends with the most disarming pride. There’s charming footage from the dinner as well, with Parolini doting on an attractive young woman at his table, which doesn’t escape Tony’s notice; he attempts to get even with Parolini’s sabotage of the Q&A by approaching the object of his inter- est with some of the old Kendall charm. The docu- mentary continues with Parolini’s attempts, the
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