Strike Team (E63)

1985 saw the launch of a brand-new sports channel for the Washington, DC area called Flagship International Sports Television. In celebration of this happy occasion, the channel gave away more than a hundred impossible-to-come-by tickets for a Washington Redskins football game. The lucky winners were invited to pick up their tickets during a special ceremony at a conference center, where the overjoyed football fans got more than they bargained for: a one-way trip to jail. It’s a true story worthy of a feature film script, proving that every dog has his day. The authorities had been grappling with how to collar countless fugitive criminals with a minimum of manpower, and a few imaginative officers came up with this brilliant but dangerous plan. In this comical documentary packed with archive material from the actual undercover operation and music right out of 1980s police series, the key players lift the lid on their inventive and unorthodox clean-up strategy. We discover that despite the party mood, behind the scenes they were dealing with nightmarish logistics. Still, the hopeful motto of the day was "Nobody gets hurt. They go to jail, we go home!" (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)