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Les dieux sont tombés sur la tête (1980)

The Gods Must Be Crazy (original title)
PG | | Comedy | 26 October 1984 (USA)
A comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.

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Writer:

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Popularity
4,638 ( 217)
2 wins & 3 nominations. See more awards »
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Hilarious documentary on the wildlife of the Namib Desert.

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
...
...
Xi
Louw Verwey ...
...
Nic de Jager ...
Fanyana H. Sidumo ...
Card 1
Joe Seakatsie ...
Card 2
Brian O'Shaughnessy ...
Mr. Thompson
Ken Gampu ...
President
Paddy O'Byrne ...
Narrator (voice)
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Storyline

A Sho in the Kalahari desert encounters technology for the first time--in the shape of a Coke bottle. He takes it back to his people, and they use it for many tasks. The people start to fight over it, so he decides to return it to the God--where he thinks it came from. Meanwhile, we are introduced to a school teacher assigned to a small village, a despotic revolutionary, and a clumsy biologist. Written by Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

It's PRIMITIVE! . . . It's POIGNANT! . . . It's PERTURBING! but it will make you laugh, cheer and shout! See more »

Genres:

Comedy

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

|

Language:

| |

Release Date:

26 October 1984 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Les dieux sont tombés sur la tête  »

Filming Locations:

 »

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Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,188, 15 July 1984, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$30,031,783

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$60,000,000
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Production Co:

,  »
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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The films' depictions of the Bushmen, even if they were superficially accurate prior to regular contact with civilisation, was already no longer accurate in 1980. The DVD's special feature "Journey to Nyae Nyae" (N!xau's homeland in northeastern Namibia), filmed in 2003, demonstrates this. See more »

Goofs

When the Bushmen make music with the Coke bottle, an empty bottle produces different notes. Changing tones should mean adding water. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: It looks like a paradise, but it is in fact the most treacherous desert in the world... the Kalahari. After the short rainy season, there are many waterholes, and even rivers. But after a few weeks, the water sinks away into the deep Kalahari sand, the waterholes dry up, and the rivers stop flowing. The grass fades to a beautiful blond colour that offers excellent grazing. But for the next nine months there will be no water to drink, so most of the animals move away, leaving the ...
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Connections

Referenced in Rick and Morty: The Ricks Must Be Crazy (2015) See more »

Soundtracks

Song With Thumb Piano
(uncredited)
Music by Andrew Tracey
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User Reviews

 
A Masterpiece
17 February 2002 | by See all my reviews

What starts out as a simple tale of the bush turns into a wild adventure with a coke bottle, revolutionaries, a dis-enchanted office worker turned teacher, and a scientist who studies animal dung with no skills around women. Add a smart-tongued mechanic and a 4x4 called the antichrist, and you have one of the funniest movies ever to come out of South Africa. You laugh as much at the ludicrous nature of some of the situations as much as what they want you to laugh at. You may never look at Africa the same again.


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