Review of Olsen-banden går amok

Finally... the last pieces are in place. This is where it all came together: The goofy and incompetent policeman is gone; Axel Strøbye is the criminal investigator who is neurotic, stuck in his job job and finds his younger colleagues painfully ignorant of how the police work needs to be done; Ove Verner Hansen plays a muscle-man-for-hire(though not Bøffen, yet); and the plan truly *is* brilliant. This is also the very first time they truly try something different with the opening, where Egon is released from prison after serving his time. And the Gang come closer than before to success... with a plot that surpasses any of the previous ones, several excellent plans and a pace that is thoroughly solid, this is about as good as it gets, for Danish comedy produced at that time. This contains the hilarious performance of Egon's as a German businessman and a sober(!) Dynamite-Harry. The humor is refined, sophisticated, satirical. The element of humanity is there in just about every gag and joke(there is hardly any silly humor left at all), and the film pin-points what being Danish in Denmark(of that time) was. The acting is all top-notch. Strøbye is an indispensable addition to the cast, generating proper opposition for the Gang(sure, Rico of "... in Jutland" was fairly professional, but he remained inferior and incompetent). The writing is great. Gone are the ridiculous mix-ups... enter instead the interesting and logical twists. The filmic language reaches a nice and steady level... setups are properly used and the film uses few, if any, weak plot items. The cinematography finds a comfortable level, with few(blatant) zooms(that aren't used for dramatic emphasis) and no wasteful shots. All in all... a grand comedy of Danish proportions, and one that has made not only millions of Danes laugh countless times(I, myself, have seen this more times than I can keep track of, as well as the later films), but also many Germans(the former Eastern Germany found the films uncontrollably funny), past and present. I recommend this to fans of comedy and of the other films in the series... and it helps a lot to, if not downright *be* Danish, at least know how things are here, especially back then. While it certainly doesn't transcend the likes of more well-produced(typically American) films, I still say that the enormous amounts of hours of entertainment for so many people earns this film a solid rating of 8/10.