Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)

A short documentary in which directors Werner Herzog and Erol Morris make a bet which results in Herzog being forced to eat his own shoe.

Director:

Les Blank

Writer:

Werner Herzog

Stars:

Werner Herzog, Tom Luddy, Michael Goodwin

Cast

Credited 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

Storyline

A film exactly described by its title. German film director Herzog had made a bet with fledgling director Errol Morris that, if Morris made a film, Herzog would eat his shoe. Morris went on to film 'Gates of Heaven', so Herzog kept his promise. While eating the boiled shoe, Herzog carries on a dialogue with the film premier audience on film, art, and life.

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Plot Keywords:

shoe | director | bet | promise | eating leather | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1980 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Berkeley, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Herzog has something of a track record with this type of bet. When making "Even Dwarves Started Small" he promised his actors that if they all survived the shoot he would jump into a cactus patch for their amusement. They did, so did he, and he claims to still have some spines in his body as a result.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Werner Herzog: If we speak of television it's just... ridiculous and destructive. It kills us. And talk-shows will kill us. They kill our language. So we have to declare holy war against what we see every single day on television, commercials and... I think there should be real war against commercials, real war against talk-shows, real war against Bonanza, Rawhide or these things.

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Connections

References Rawhide (1959)

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Soundtracks

"Old Whisky Shoes"
Played by Walt Solek Band
Courtesy of Starr Records

User Reviews

"Old whiskey shoes"

This is a little documentary prepared by Les Blank about Werner Herzog's sort of bet to Errol Morris that he should make a movie, but if he did with the luck that he would need as a first time director, he would literally eat a shoe. Herzog adamantly says in the documentary that he's only doing it in support of Morris and his film (which at the time this doc was released didn't yet have distribution despite its great acclaim at festivals), though there's something sublimely absurd about it all, even through Herzog's deadpan/serious talks to the camera. He talks a bit about Morris and his film too, and his praise for it is all well and good. But it's even more interesting to see a) Herzog's views on commercialism and film-making and the lack of "adequate images", and b) director Les Blank's inventive cross-cutting between the on-stage eating of the show, footage of Charlie Chaplin doing the act in a silent, and Herzog talking to the camera. It's funny once or twice, perhaps unintentionally from Herzog's words (i.e. "it's not self-destructive to throw yourself into a pile of cactus"). But for the most part it's meant as a very serious act of foolishness not just for Morris but for filmmakers everywhere. If you can find it- and it's now available on free sites like you-tube- it's worth a look, especially if you're a fan of Herzog. And for Morris fans too there's a quick treat in an outtake from Gates of Heaven spliced in at one point. That song, by the way, of which I quote in the one-line summary, is awesome.