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My Best Fiend

Original title: Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski
  • 19991999
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
12K
YOUR RATING
My Best Fiend (1999)
Home Video Trailer from Anchor Bay Entertainment
Play trailer1:30
1 Video
27 Photos
DocumentaryBiography
In the 1950s, an adolescent Werner Herzog was transfixed by a film performance of the young Klaus Kinski. Years later, they would share an apartment where, in an unabated, forty-eight-hour f... Read allIn the 1950s, an adolescent Werner Herzog was transfixed by a film performance of the young Klaus Kinski. Years later, they would share an apartment where, in an unabated, forty-eight-hour fit of rage, Kinski completely destroyed the bathroom. From this chaos, a violent, love-hat... Read allIn the 1950s, an adolescent Werner Herzog was transfixed by a film performance of the young Klaus Kinski. Years later, they would share an apartment where, in an unabated, forty-eight-hour fit of rage, Kinski completely destroyed the bathroom. From this chaos, a violent, love-hate, profoundly creative partnership was born. In 1972, Herzog cast Kinski in Aguirre, the W... Read all
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
12K
YOUR RATING
    • Werner Herzog
  • Stars
    • Werner Herzog
    • Klaus Kinski(archive footage)
    • Claudia Cardinale
    • Werner Herzog
  • Stars
    • Werner Herzog
    • Klaus Kinski(archive footage)
    • Claudia Cardinale
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 49User reviews
    • 72Critic reviews
    • 70Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Kinski: My Best Friend
    Trailer 1:30
    Watch Kinski: My Best Friend

    Photos27

    Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Werner Herzog in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Werner Herzog in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Werner Herzog in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Werner Herzog in My Best Fiend (1999)
    Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend (1999)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Werner Herzog
    Werner Herzog
    • Self - Narrator…
    Klaus Kinski
    Klaus Kinski
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Claudia Cardinale
    Claudia Cardinale
    • Self
    Eva Mattes
    Eva Mattes
    • Self
    Beat Presser
    • Self
    Guillermo Ríos
    Guillermo Ríos
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Andrés Vicente
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Justo González
    • Self
    Benino Moreno Placido
    • Self
    Baron van der Recke
    • Self
    José Koechlin von Stein
    • Self
    Bill Pence
    • Self
    Paul Hittscher
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Mick Jagger
    Mick Jagger
    • Self - Wilbur
    • (archive footage)
    Tom Luddy
    Tom Luddy
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Thomas Mauch
    Thomas Mauch
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Jason Robards
    Jason Robards
    • Fitzcarraldo
    • (archive footage)
    Walter Saxer
    Walter Saxer
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
      • Werner Herzog
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In some footage of one of his notorious on-set flare-ups, Klaus Kinski yells at Werner Herzog that he's "a dwarf director!" This apparently random insult is a specific reference to Herzog's movie Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970).
    • Quotes

      Werner Herzog: Every grey hair on my head, I call Kinski.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: American Beauty/Blue Streak/For Love of the Game (1999)

    User reviews49

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Fascinating documentary about two mad geniuses
    This fascinating documentary is not really about a madman. It's about two madmen. While it's quite obvious from the outset that Klaus Kinski is a nutcase, it becomes more and more apparent that Werner Herzog himself is a pretty crazed character as well. For anyone who has seen Aguirre, the Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo this will come as no surprise, seeing as those two movies were pretty crazy undertakings to begin with. Travelling down the Amazon on primitive rafts and dragging steamboats over hills are not the sort of activities carried out by normal film makers. Repeatedly making films with Kinski was perhaps an even less sane idea but Herzog made five features with this most demented actor. The films themselves are completely engrossing and unique. This documentary is likewise.

    Having read Kinski's autobiography 'Kinski Uncut' I was under no illusions of what I was going to encounter here. The book is a quite extraordinary account. Surely there has never been a star autobiography quite like this one? Full of aggression, madness and pornographic detail of his sexual exploits, this was the work of a deranged individual. Kinski didn't really focus on his film career, he concentrated much more on his sexual liaisons and was not shy at hurling insults around at famous people. For instance, he declined a role offered to him from Federico Fellini because the money was not good enough, he dismissed Fellini with the words 'Go and have yourself f---ed in the ass!'. I couldn't imagine Tom Hanks saying this to Steven Spielberg to be perfectly honest. In the book too, Kinski continually makes clear his severe dislike for Herzog. In My Best Fiend, Herzog suggests that both men worked on the insults together in order to make the book more sensational. I do have to wonder to the legitimacy of this claim, as it does seem strange. From what I have seen Kinski needed no assistance in coming up with insults to hurl at anyone, least of all Werner Herzog.

    So, similar to Kinski's book, the account given by Herzog in this documentary is a highly subjective one. You really can never be sure the true extent of the truth, and you never will be. But My Best Fiend is a terrific film whatever the case. Herzog is incapable of being boring and he does capture the essence of the relationship between these two striking individuals very well. There are a number of other people interviewed too, who worked with these men on these films and this adds a great deal to the story. While there is some fantastic footage of Kinski to appreciate, from the pure unhinged insanity of his Jesus Christ Savior performance, to his intense ranting over a minor food-based complaint on the set of Fitzcarraldo, to the extraordinary gentleness of his interaction with a butterfly.

    This film is a rarity in that it is one that can just as easily be enjoyed even if you have no knowledge of the films made by the two principal characters. Both men are just too unorthodox and the relationship so fraught that the story of their relationship is enough in itself. For fans of the movies themselves, this is of course, an absolute must.
    helpful•8
    0
    • Red-Barracuda
    • Jun 27, 2011

    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 7, 1999 (Germany)
      • Germany
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • German
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Peru
    • Production companies
      • Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
      • Cafe Productions Ltd.
      • Zephir Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 35 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby SR

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