Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Les Blank

Writer:

Werner Herzog (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

A film exactly described by its title. German film director Herzog had made a bet with fledgling director Errol Morris that...

Plot Keywords:

Shoe | Director | Bet | Promise | Eating Leather

Cast

Werner Herzog	...	Himself
Tom Luddy	...	Master of Ceremonies
Michael Goodwin	...	Driver / Interviewer
Alice Waters	...	Assistant Cook
Chris Strachwitz	...	Dwarf Voice (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Phil Harberts	...	Himself

Runtime:

20 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Berkeley, California, USA

Trivia:

Herzog once promised to eat his shoe if a certain young American film student went out and actually made the film he was always only talking about. The young student was Errol Morris, who met the challenge with his off-beat 1978 pet cemetery documentary Gates of Heaven (and went on to make The Thin Blue Line and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control ). Herzog makes good on his promise in this film.

Movie Connections:

Features Gates of Heaven (1978)

Soundtrack:

Old Whisky Shoes

pretty funny

A short little film, where Herzog eats his shoe, although in reality he just eats the leather part of his old shoe after boiling it in water. But still the principle of the whole thing is humorous, Herzog promised to do this if a filmmaker would actually just make the film they were always dreaming of making.

Errol Morris accomplishes this and so Herzog submits to it. Les Blank also did this documentary on Herzog "Burden of Dreams" so I think if I recall some footage of that is intertwined into this story.

Herzog should constantly have a camera on him, he strikes me as very interesting, I don't always love his films but he is always worth hearing from.