Big Mäc (1985)

Bernhard “Big Mäc” Maurer, a former motorcycle enthusiast, is chosen by the trade magazine Motorrad as the “perfect motorcyclist” after being fired from his job as a music teacher at a Munich high school. He is promised a $50,000 prize if he can beat a Japanese team in an adventure rally from the Zugspitze to Mount Kilimanjaro. Maurer accepts and chooses his young neighbor Max as his teammate and mechanic. Max, who is hoping to get an apprenticeship, injures himself shortly before the rally begins and has to sit out. Without Maurer’s knowledge, Max’s almost identical-looking sister Maxi takes his place. On a breakneck journey through Austria and Greece and into the African desert, Maurer and Maxi fight for victory. The fact that the Japanese manage to win the first three stages is due in no small part to Maurer’s love for his attractive Japanese rival, who repeatedly manages to outwit him. As the finale approaches, things get turbulent. After suffering a spell of weakness, Maurer learns that Max is actually Maxi. Offended, Maxi storms off and threatens to return to Germany. At the same time, the motorcycle is stolen. And when a mechanic on the Japanese team also slips sleeping pills into Maurer’s cocktail—which the Japanese rider drinks too—it seems that all is lost. Maxi finds the motorcycle and steals it back, then sets off alone on the final stage to Mount Kilimanjaro. The opposing team’s mechanic also rides instead of Hiroko herself. Maxi reaches the finish with ease and brings back the prize-money check.