Flussfahrt Mit Huhn (1984)

Johanna is taken by her parents to her grandfather’s during the summer holidays. Her cousin Robert is there too, but he wants nothing to do with her. Johanna notices that Robert and his friends are up to something. When Robert is away from home, she searches his room. There she finds books about pirates. Robert has also gathered supplies under his bed. One night, Johanna discovers Robert taking money from the slot machines in his parents’ pub. The next day, she follows him to a boathouse, where Robert and his friends have gathered. Johanna secretly eavesdrops on the boys. They are planning a trip down the river. During their conversation, Johanna loses her balance and falls into the water. The boys realize they have been overheard. They confront Johanna and discover that she knows all about their plan. So they have no choice but to take her along. After a solemn ceremony, Johanna is accepted into their pirate gang. First, though, they have to catch a chicken. According to an old sailors’ custom, every ship needs a chicken to ward off the Klabautermann. The children sneak out of the house at night, and their river journey begins. They take their grandfather’s sailboat. The adventure is meant to take them into “uncharted” waters, where they hope to find a “new” passage to the sea. The next morning, Grandpa notices that the children are gone. Johanna has left a letter saying they are heading downriver. When Johanna’s parents call, he doesn’t tell them she has disappeared. Instead, he says they’re going on a longer trip together. Since Grandpa wants to handle the matter within the family, he doesn’t call the police; he sets off alone to look for the children. He borrows a motorboat for the search. Robert already suspects that Grandpa will follow them, so the children hide near the riverbank. Grandpa passes them in his faster boat without noticing them. That night, Grandpa camps on an island in the river. The children spot him, but he doesn’t see them. Robert steals Grandpa’s motorboat, leaving him without a vessel the next day. Eventually, however, Grandpa finds the sailboat the children have left behind. By then, they have continued their journey in the motorboat. After Grandpa catches up with them again, the children decide it would be better if he had no boat at all, so they take his sailboat too. But he manages to catch up with them once more. He rappels down from a bridge and just manages to grab the dinghy. After the children cut the dinghy loose, Grandpa has to continue the journey in an inflatable boat, while the children carry on in the motorboat. During the night, little Alex disappears. He has drifted away in the sailboat. The children search for him but can’t find him at first. They find him again the next morning, and Grandpa is with him. The children manage to separate Alex from Grandpa, and the game of cat and mouse continues. The next day, the children moor at an abandoned factory. The old building naturally sparks their imaginations, so they play around the grounds. But a man is watching them. He eventually locks the children up, unties their boat from the landing, and lets it drift away. The children now hope Grandpa will rescue them. Meanwhile, Grandpa has disguised his boat so the children won’t spot him again. While pursuing them, he comes across a military exercise. The soldiers mistake him for a spy because he is in a camouflaged boat, and take him prisoner. Once the military realizes its mistake, they take him farther down the river. On the way, he passes the factory where the children are being held, but he has no idea and sails right by. Eventually, he spots the boats that have drifted away and resumes his search for the children. After Grandpa talks to Johanna’s parents on the phone, time is running short. Her mother wants to visit soon, since the children’s river trip has brought them close to the parents’ holiday resort. Meanwhile, the children manage to free themselves. But without a boat, they would have to continue on foot. A fisherman comes to their aid. He has found the boats that drifted away. They are moored at a hotel where Grandpa is staying. Johanna’s parents have arrived there too. Once the whole family is together, they continue their river journey with Grandpa. And so they reach their great destination: the sea.