The Gravy Train

The end of the Cold War and the integration of the former Soviet bloc into capitalist Europe is the subject of this two-part British comedy series from the early 1990s. Set at the Brussels headquarters of the European Economic Community (EEC)—the forerunner of today's European Union—The Gravy Train follows the misadventures of good-natured but hopelessly naïve Hans Joachim (Christoph Waltz), who becomes the assistant to scheming Michael Spearpoint (Ian Richardson), the EEC's director of information and culture. The first four episodes from 1990 follow Hans as he's manipulated into a nefarious scheme involving the sale of plums to Bulgaria, while the second four segments, broadcast in 1991 as The Gravy Train Goes East, finds Hans at the center of a corrupt plot to defraud the (mythical) Balkan state of Slaka. Richardson, as usual, is wonderfully droll as the suavely diabolical Spearpoint, and those who only know Waltz as the hard-bitten characters from his Oscar-winning Tarantino film performances will be happily surprised to see this early work in which he is a boyish, pipe-smoking bumbler determined to save Europe from itself. Admittedly, much of the political humor here is dated, but this is an interesting curio, both for an early role featuring Waltz, and for its cynically comic view of post–Cold War Europe. DVD extras include cast profiles. Recommended. (P. Hall)