Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

19801980
20m

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

7.2/10

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A passionate cook, acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog stuffs some culinary aromatics into his shoe and uses the laces to truss it like a chicken, before he sticks it into a pot with water and duck fat to stew it. It is so that he can bring the stewed shoe to one of the first screenings of Errol Morris' debut film Gates of Heaven (1978) to eat it. This act will fulfill his loss of a bet to Morris, who he met as a student filmmaker, that he would never be able to make a movie. The bet was not Herzog's attempt of a jab against Morris, but rather to support a struggling but gifted Morris in his quest to do whatever was required to finance a movie project. In the process of eating the shoe, Herzog wants to encourage other aspiring filmmakers, and to set an agenda of increasing what he calls adequate images as a true reflection of the world. —Huggo

director name in title five word title shoe bet director 6 more

Genres
- Documentary
- Short
Parents guide

Trivia
The woman who helps Werner Herzog cook his shoes is the famous chef Alice Waters. The shoes were cooked in the kitchen of her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California. There are shots in the film of Herzog entering the restaurant wearing his shoes, and leaving it barefoot.

Quotes
[last lines]
Werner Herzog: Errol has set a good example. He's a landmark now. And I'm very proud of it. I'm very proud for him and I'm proud for me that I'm pushed him a little bit into, into this. And therefore to eat a shoe is a foolish signal but it was worthwhile. And once in a while I think we should be, we should be foolish enough to do things like that. More shoes, more boots, more garlic.

Connections
Edited from The Gold Rush (1925)

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

Top review

7/10

Odd

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

Filmed in April 1979, the film features Herzog cooking his shoes (the ones he claims to have been wearing when he made the bet) at the Berkeley, California restaurant Chez Panisse, with the help of chef Alice Waters. (The shoes were boiled with garlic, herbs, and stock for five hours.) He is later shown eating one of the shoes before an audience at the premiere of "Gates of Heaven" at the nearby UC Theater.

This film is great because it connects three of the finest filmmakers of the era. Werner Herzog is a great documentarian and director, while Morris (just starting out) has gone on to become possibly the best documentary filmmaker in the business. And who should be filming this? Les Blank, the chronicler of America culture... quite possibly the best before Morris came along. All three being linked like this is a rare moment.

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