Der Wixxer

In Germany of the 1950s and 1960s, a popular movie series, based upon the crime stories of British author Edgar Wallace, was produced, and it still has a cult following. Catering to this cult following (while still remaining funny for people not knowing these movies) the German comedians Oliver Kalkofe, Oliver Welke and Bastian Pastewka produced the Affectionate Parody Der Wixxer in 2004 and its sequel, Neues vom Wixxer, in 2007.

The dualogy deals with the Scotland Yard inspectors Very Long (Pastewka) and Even Longer (Kalkofe), who are trying to arrest a masked super-criminal known as the Wixxer.

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Tropes used in Der Wixxer include:

• Actor Allusion: Characters sometimes refer to the actors and other films based on books by Edgar Wallace. Often doubles with Shout-Out.
• Affectionate Parody
• Ambiguously Gay: Sir John. While he does show interest in prostitutes, he also sculpts phalli in his spare time and seems to have gay friends.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The Earl of Cockwood, although he only got the title by marriage. Also Victoria Dickham in the second movie.
• Art Shift: Everything is black and white in Blackwhite Castle and St. Vokuhila.
• Autopsy Snack Time: The coroner Dr. Brinkman lets his little son (plus a bunch of other kids) have a birthday party in the morgue.
• Bedlam House: The Bates Hospital
• Britain Is Only London: Averted: Although many scenes take place in London Town (Scotland Yard being there and all), Blackwhite Castle and St. Vokuhila are clearly not in the inner city. This is lampshaded when Blackwhite Castle is described as "Not in London, but in England."
• British Coppers: Apart from Even Longer, Very Long and Sir John, all the policemen wear this classic British helmets and uniforms.
• British Royal Family: Victoria Dickham wants to blow them all up with a bomb, in order to become Queen herself.
• Buddy Cop Show: With Even Longer as the Straight Man and Very Long as the Comic Relief.
• California Doubling: The movies were actually filmed in the Czech Republic.
• Casting Gag Joachim Fuchsberger, who played the inspector in several of the old Edgar Wallace movies, is the retired policeman Lord Dickham in the second Wixxer-movie.
• Creator Cameo: In the sequel both directors appear as paramedics called to the Abbey.
• Creator Provincialism: Although the story takes place in England, some jokes, most likely due to Reasons Of Funny, are quite German-specific. (Even Longer attended the Bundesjugendspiele??)
• Da Chief: Sir John is a rather ditzy version of this.
• Deliberately Monochrome: Blackwhite Castle and St. Vokuhila. The latter is even a literal example within the story: The nuns living there don't like colours, therefore they have a switch for turning the colours on and off!
• Every Car Is a Pinto: Bicycles and stair lifts can also be Pintos!
• Face Heel Turn: After killing the original Wixxer, Longer's old partner Rather Short decides to abandon his dull life as policeman in order to become the new Wixxer.
• Fake Brit: Almost everyone is a German actor/actress playing an Englishman or -woman (while speaking accent-free Standard German). A notable exception is Butler Hudson, played by the British Chris Howland. In one scene, Inspector Long comments Hudson's British accent, and the butler explains that he from Germany.
• Fake Kill Scare Rather Short fakes himself being blown up!
• German Dialects: The Dubinskys, being stereotypical East Germans, speak with the appropriate Saxon accent. Also, Hatler has the notorious accent of his historical doppelgänger.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Considering the fact that English is not the target audience's native language, names like Earl of Cockwood or Mrs. Drycunt do certainly count. While this is not especially hard to see through, the fact that it's English is probably the reason that the movie got away with this. This and the fact that Germans are a bit more relaxed when it comes to ratings.
• Herr Doktor: By the time of the second movie, Hatler got a medical degree and now runs an insane asylum in Britain.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: From the two main protagonists down to the smallest cameos, many characters are played by well known German TV personalities.
• His Name Is--: Played for Laughs with the Earl of Cockwood offering to reveal the Wixxer's identity, only to proclaim with his last breath that he hasn't time for that anymore. In the sequel, Eddie the Informant is killed short of revealing Wixxer's whereabouts and Chucky Norris is accidentally hit on the head and drowns before revealing Wixxer's identity.
• Hurricane of Puns: ANY name of any person or location. Aside of sexual allusions they also play with a German grocery store chain, hairstyles and whatnotever.
• Improbable Weapon User: Inspector Very Long uses a yoyo to attack the Wixxer at the end of the first movie (Well, he is the champion of a yoyo-derby!), and turns a blackboard-sized ruler and set square into a makeshift set of sword and shield, in the second movie... and even manages to break his opponent's sword with said ruler.
• Innocent Innuendo:
  • When Mrs. Pennymarket tells Chief Inspector Longer about how pugs ("Möpse") are bred at Blackwhite Castle ("Möpse" is also slang for "boobs".)
  • And in another scene, Longer exclaims that he has a gigantic thing in his trousers! He means the poisonous snake someone has smuggled into his clothes.
• Latex Perfection: Spoofed several times. In the first movie, the Wixxer wears the face of a well-known talk- and quiz-show host over his bulky expressionless skull mask. In the second movie, Even's brother Much Longer wears a mask that looks exactly like his own face, just with a moustache.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Although being a human in a costume instead of a puppet (just like the homonymous Edgar Wallace character he is a parody of), the Frog with the Mask looks like Kermit, has the same voice actor as Kermit, and at one point even says: "Applause!"
• Legacy Character: You could consider the Wixxer to be one: Within two movies, 4 different people have been under this mask.
• Low Speed Chase: The stair lift chase in Neues vom Wixxer.
• Medium Awareness: Some places are almost only shown in black & white. The characters are aware of this, and seem to regard this as a sign of the edifices being of old age and/or of the inhabitants being old-fashioned.
• Motive Rant: After the Wixxer is finally unmasked in the first movie. Poor Even Longer...
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Very odd example: Alfons Hatler.

Upon meeting Lord Dickham (played by Joachim Fuchsberger, who also starred in many crime movies, including 'Der Hexer'):
Even Longer: It is an honour to meet a man who personally caught The Squeaker.
Very Long: It was Heinz Drache. (another German actor, who played the inspector in 'Der Zinker'/'The Squeaker').

• Parallel Porn Titles: The title alludes to the Edgar Wallace movie Der Hexer (The Warlock). See Xtreme Kool Letterz to learn more.
• Parody Commercial: For annoying gag ring tones, useless SMS dating services and overprized mail-order CD collections.
• Pocket Protector: Very Long, Lord Dickham, and presumably other Scotland Yard employees wear a can of tomato soup in their breast pockets, just for that purpose.
• Punny Name: Almost everyone. See Getting Crap Past the Radar. A special mention goes to Harry Smearlap in the first movie. The character is a Shout-Out to Klaus Kinski's parts in the original Wallace movies. His aliases, as mentioned by Even Longer: Laus Linski, Fritz Carraldo and Horst Ferratu.
• Refuge in Audacity: That's how many of the gags work.
• Retraux: Basically the reason why Blackwhite Castle and St. Vokuhila are in this movies (most scenes there are in black & white, like the early Edgar Wallace movies).
• Retro Universe: Also when in colour, the movies try to aesthetically come close to the Wallace films of The Sixties they are spoofing, via the costumes, cars, ect. Except when the Rule of Funny comes into play. Just one example: Dieter Dubinsky's allusions to the GDR in past tense would suggest the story being set at a time after 1989.
• Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: Very Long and Dieter Dubinsky barely escape a Death Trap invoking this category.
• Scotland Yard
• Shout-Out: Besides the old Edgar Wallace movies, allusions to many other films abound:
  • When Very Long is shot and Even Longer remembers how close they were together, all scenes with Indians are exact copies of corresponding scenes from the German adaptation of Winnetou, a cult movie series in Germany. Doubles with Fridge Brilliance, as these movies were also released in the 60s.
  • Hard to spot, but just listen to the few tacts of music that plays when special agent Inge Lenzen gets out of the miniature submarine.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Adolf Hitler's doppelgänger singing "My Way" by Paul Anka. Compounds with Lyrical Dissonance.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Very Long absent-mindedly asks why the villains don't just shoot him while being chained to an elaborate Death Trap.
• Meaningful Name, Stealth Pun, and Incredibly Lame Pun: Ubiquitous. All the names: Very Long, Even Longer, Much Longer, Rather Short, Miss Minipony, Earl of Cockwood, Freddie Fartface, Cookie Dent (referring German dental maintenance brand Kukident), Harry Smearlap (pun on the German word Schmierlappen, meaning Greasy Slimeball), Der Wixxer (a pun on the German word "The Wanker"), Miss Drycunt, Pomeroy (Pommi) and Fitzgerald (Fritti) (a pun to Pommes Frites), Alfons Hatler, Miss Pennymarket (a pun on the discounter "Penny"; ironically, she was adopted by an owner of a corner shop), Lord Dickham, RIP (Rest In Pieces), Bates Hospital, and finally Vokuhila Monastery (pun on the abbrev. Vo.Ku.Hi.La.; the German slang term for mullet).
• Taking the Bullet: Very Long sees the bullet shot at Even Longer, runs alongside the bullet, overtakes it, throws himself into the bullet's path, lands back onto the ground before the bullet even touches him, jumps again, and is finally hit by the projectile. All this of course in slow motion.
• The Butler Did It: No, even though he looks like Hitler.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: A chase scene with bicycles? Or stair lifts??
• Wire Dilemma: Solved by switching to black & white, so that all the wires look the same.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: The title is a parody on Der Hexer (one x), one of the classic Edgar Wallace movies. Wixxer is a idiosyncratic spelling of Wichser (wanker).