The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

Director:

Jamie Uys

Writer:

Jamie Uys (writer)

Release Date:

21 August 1981 (Norway)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Tagline:

The critics are raving... the natives are restless... and the laughter is non-stop!

Plot:

A comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.

Plot Keywords:

Bottle | Kalahari | Desert | Terrorism | Rebellion

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Marius Weyers	...	Andrew Steyn
Sandra Prinsloo	...	Kate Thompson
N!xau	...	Xi
Louw Verwey	...	Sam Boga
Michael Thys	...	Mpudi
Nic De Jager	...	Jack Hind
Fanyana H. Sidumo	...	Card 1
Joe Seakatsie	...	Card 2
Brian O'Shaughnessy	...	Mr. Thompson
Vera Blacker	...	Mrs. Thompson
Ken Gampu	...	President
Paddy O'Byrne	...	Narrator (voice)
Jamie Uys	...	The Reverend

Directed by
Jamie Uys

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jamie Uys		writer

Produced by
Boet Troskie	....	executive producer
Jamie Uys	....	producer
Gerda Vanden Broeck	....	assistant producer

Original Music by
John Boshoff

Cinematography by
Robert Lewis
Buster Reynolds

Film Editing by
Jamie Uys

Art Direction by
Caroline Burls

Costume Design by
Gail Grobbelaar
Mij Reynolds

Makeup Department
William Bell	....	makeup artist (as Bill Bell)
Olga Lombard	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Rina Venter	....	production manager

Sound Department
Avram D. Gold	....	supervising adr editor (US release)
Joseph Holsen	....	sound editor
Martha Burns Holsen	....	sound editor
John Rotondi	....	sound engineer
Roelf Van Jaarsveld	....	sound editor
John Roesch	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Paul Ballinger	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Anthony Bannister	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Stanford C. Allen	....	consulting editor
Ricardo Olivero	....	color timer

Other crew
Viv Bristow	....	animal trainer
Chris Fellows	....	final mix producer
Sheryl Friederichsen	....	foreign marketing producer
Jack Seale	....	animal trainer
Di Yates	....	continuity

Production Companies

• CAT Films
• Mimosa

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1984) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1983) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Botswana | South Africa

Language:

English | Afrikaans | Ungwatsi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:All | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Australia:PG | New Zealand:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Norway:11 (re-rating) | Norway:12 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Company:

CAT Films

Trivia:

The films' depictions of the Bushmen, even if they were superficially accurate in the decades before the rapid social changes of the 1970s and 1980s, are clearly no longer accurate. The DVD's special feature "Journey to Nyae Nyae" (N!xau's homeland in northeastern Namibia), filmed in 2003, demonstrates this.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the movie when Andrew is covered in flour he also has a lipstick kiss on his cheek before Kate kisses him for the first time.

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...

Movie Connections:

Featured in N!ai, the Story of a K!ung Woman (1980)

Lots of laughs, honest joy.

I don't know that I've ever seen a movie that had such innocent joy - I'm not sure if any other movie I've seen had any innocent joy, for that matter.

Perhaps what true joy I've seen in movies is civilized and therefore self-conscious.

Anyway, you can look at the crazy civilized world through the eyes of these innocents and have joy about it instead of cynicism. Can ordinary pain relievers do that?

The premise is how one empty Coke bottle in the garden of Eden could corrupt it. They do a totally believable job of it, too.

Lots of laughs, kids loved it. I saw it in the theaters in the mid-80's and am glad I saw it again. You'll like it. It will lighten your heart.