Such a curious case is rare: TV viewers who wanted to relax on the sofa and enjoy a true gangster epic on June 7 looked into the tube. The RTL broadcaster Nitro had scheduled the film “American Gangster” starring Denzel Washington for 10:35 p.m. and, interestingly enough, another film for 12:05 a.m.: “Lord of War” with Nicolas Cage. Sounds like a good evening, but there was a problem. Nitro stuck to its own programming a little too closely: “American Gangster” actually ended at 12:05 a.m., but the film still had around 60 minutes to go at that point. The story about the drug dealer Frank Lucas (Washington), who smuggles heroin into the USA on a large scale and sells it there, lasts 157 minutes. His opponent is the police officer and later prosecutor Richie Robert, played by Russell Crowe. But after 90 minutes, Nitro was simply over.
“Insolence”: Viewers are angry
This is of course very annoying and the comments on Nitro’s Facebook page are correspondingly indignant. Under a post where the broadcaster draws attention to the broadcast of the film, there are comments such as “cheeky”, “great that your “film version” ends in the middle” and “Is that a joke! Show half the film and that’s it?! “. Another user notes: “Was on the computer during the commercial break, go back to the TV and I’m confused because suddenly Nicolas Cage is playing.”
A spokesman for Nitro told TVSPIELFILM.de that there was a “technical planning error” and apologizes to viewers. The good news is: If you couldn’t finish watching the film due to the circumstances, you get a second try. Nitro will repeat the film “in its entirety,” though the spokesman couldn’t say when that will be.