Die Vorstadtkrokodile is an older and unfortunately a pretty unknown movie, which is mostly because of the (bad) remakes.
It tells us the story of kids growing up in the "Ruhrgebiet", an industrial area in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.
Die Vorstadtkrokodile are a group of quick-witted teens, who first always meet in a tree house in a nearby forest, but soon move their den to the compound of an old brickwork.
To join their clique, you have to climb a roof. The movie starts with that dare, while the boy, who climbs, slips and barely can grab hold of the rain pipe that saves him from falling. Some neighborhood-kid witnesses the incident through his spyglass and calls the fire department: Kurt, who sits in a wheelchair and soon also wants to join Die Vorstadtkrokodile.
While the Krokodiler mostly disagree with that idea, burglars start breaking into shops and stealing electronic devices and bikes- actions, Kurt also witnesses.
An adventure begins; the Krokodiler intend to catch the burglars, while Kurt still fights for his place in the group.
The teenagers, that were cast for the clique, weren´t actors, but normal kids. This, however, makes the film really authentic. The lines are awesome and the movies does not have any lengths, it is very good edited. Besides that, the songs are very well chosen.
All in all, Die Vorstadtkrokodile is an awesome movie and the clique is just fabulous. It is realistic- West Germany really looked like this back then.
It is really sad that there was made a remake.
The original is brilliant.
