Commissioner Rizzo has just arrested some drug addicts as he received a call from an African. On the recommendation of Rizzo's former colleague Caputo, the man calls and wants to tell details about the drug trade between South Africa and Italy. Rizzo makes up a meeting with the unknown, but has to watch as the African is shot down. On his death he whispers to Rizzo that diamond dealers are involved in the drug trade. Rizzo finds his son's picture in the man's wallet and learns that the African is also a police officer. There is also a reference to a hotel room in Naples. Rizzo makes his way to the hotel and there he learns from the doorman that a white man has lived in the affected room, who in the meantime has left again for Johannesburg. For Rizzo it is clear that this can only be the murderer and therefore he also travels to South Africa. Arrived in South Africa, he visits Caputo, who has resigned from the police force and now works as a waiter in a classy restaurant in Johannesburg. There he also meets the restaurant owner Smollet, who immediately invites him to a party. But first Rizzo makes a detour to the address of the murdered policeman, where he meets his son Bodo. He realizes that the police officer's apartment has recently been searched and devastated, and in the next moment he makes the acquaintance of the thugs who are responsible for the devastation. In a nearby museum Rizzo succeeds in overpowering the attackers. With Bodo, Rizzo finally makes his way to Mr. Smollet's party. As soon as he arrives there he has to deal with a killer again. Although Rizzo can overwhelm him, he manages to escape in the crowd of the party. Finally, in a nightclub, Rizzo finds a clue to a diamond mine near the city where Smollet has planned a safari for the next day, and so Rizzo decides to participate in this safari as well. On the spot, he has to defend himself against various assassinations. He recognizes who is behind these attacks, but does not yet catch the culprit, but tries to set a trap to get to the people behind them. With the help of Bodo, Caputo and other surprising allies, Rizzo finally manages to bring the case to a close after a final battle. Flatfoot in Africa (Piedone l'africano) is the third film in the four-part flatfoot series that takes the Neapolitan Commissioner Rizzo, embodied by Bud Spencer, almost around the world. This time he has to investigate for the solution of the case in South Africa. It is the only part of the series which was co-produced by a German company. Berlin-based Rialto Film was involved in the production, which is why some German-speaking actors can also be seen in the film, above all Werner Pochath as villain Spyros and Dagmar Lassander as Margie Connors. In addition, the German dubbing legend Rainer Brandt not only wrote the dialogue script for the German dubbing, he was also directly involved in the script. The film attracted 3.15 million viewers in German cinemas, for which it was awarded with the "Golden Screen". It is also the most successful film of the series. The German cinema version of the film has a running time of 98:37 minutes. It is almost exactly 15 minutes shorter than the original Italian version. In the meantime, the uncut version of the film has also been released in Germany on Blu-ray and DVD. The non-synchronized scenes are available in the original language with German subtitles. The little orphan boy Bodo, whom Bud Spencer meets during his investigation in South Africa, is played by the South African boy Baldwyn Dakile. The character was so popular with the audience that he was again in the follow-up film Flatfoot in Egypt (Piedone d'Egitto). In addition, Dakile only appeared once as an actor in the German comedy "Crazy Jungle Adventure" (Im Dschungel ist der Teufel los, Il paradiso nella giungla) from 1982. Today Baldwyn Dakile is to work as a lawyer in South Africa. In his biography Bud Spencer describes an incident during the shooting in South Africa when he wanted to eat together with the crew of the film in Johannesburg. Bodo actor Baldwyn Dakile was denied access to the restaurant due to his main colour and the apartheid of South Africa. However, Bud Spencer insisted that Bodo should be present so that disputes arose. Bud Spencer then received a warning from the police chief that he would be expelled immediately if such an incident should happen again. The music of the third part of the Flatfoot series was once again written by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, who gave the famous flatfoot theme an African touch. They also gave the movie a very catchy title track with the song Freedom. The title song Freedom was released as a single in Italy in 1978. There was no complete soundtrack album for the release of the film. This was only released on CD by Digitmovies in Italy in 2005. The album contains 26 tracks. The airplane in which Bud and Bodo are on the way is a Socata Rallye 235 GT from the year 1975. 235 indicates the HP number of the engine. The bus in the opening scene is a 1973 Fiat 418 AL, Caputo's sky-blue little car is a 1952 Fiat 500 C and the off-roader, that Flatfoot and Bodo used to follow Spiros is a Land-Rover Series III 109", where the 109 inches indicate the distance between the axles of the car. The film was shot in Naples, Johannesburg and in a South African wildlife park. Runtimes: German Blu-ray (universum, Theatrical version): 98:37 minutes German Blu-ray (universum, Uncut version): 113:39 minutes German DVD (universum, Theatrical version): 94:39 minutes German DVD (universum, Uncut version): 106:55 minutes Italian DVD (Medusa): 108:54 minutes Dutch DVD (Paradiso): 108:50 minutes The flatfoot series in the Spencer/Hill database 25.10.1973 Flatfoot Cop (Piedone lo sbirro) 27.03.1975 Flatfoot goes East (Piedone a Hong Kong) 22.03.1978 Flatfoot in Africa (Piedone l'Africano) 01.03.1980 Flatfoot in Egypt (Piedone d'Egitto)

Release Dates:

22.03.1978 Italy Premiere 23.06.1978 Germany Premiere 3.150.000 Besucher 02.02.1979 Finland Premiere 41.161 Besucher 16.05.1979 France Premiere 26.06.1979 Hungary Premiere Feliratos, 1 457 028 nézõ 25.12.1980 Hungary Television premiere Feliratos, MTV1 08.02.1986 Germany Television premiere ZDF

Additonal Title Screens: