Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe [VHS]

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe [VHS]
by Werner Herzog, Les Blank

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Product details

Actor: Les Blank, Werner Herzog
Director: Les Blank, Werner Herzog
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 22 minutes
Release Date: 1979-01-01

VHS Movie Reviews of Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe [VHS]

Movie Review: One of the funniest, most unique documentaries ever made...
Summary: 5 Stars

This is one of the most unique documentaries ever made. It has one of the greatest titles in movie history (along with Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Bullet in the Head), and it's incredibly funny and truly unique.

If you don't already know, Werner Herzog, in an attempt to motivate his friend and fellow filmmaker Errol Morris, said he would eat his shoe if Morris finished a film (that film was Gates of Heaven, Morris's first film). Morris did indeed finish his film, which is considered by many to be one of the greatest documentaries ever made. Herzog keeps his word to Morris, and at a San Francisco theater, Herzog is seen cooking his shoe. Herzog really goes all out for it, boiling the shoe in water and duck fat, adding garlic, tomatoes, and various seasonings, and washing it down with a Heinenken. It makes it a true meal. Herzog also waxes prophetic on talk shows and how they're killing our language, talks about another time he kept a bet with his crew from Even Dwarfs Started Small, and Les Blank (the man who directed this film and Burden of Dreams) intercuts some funny clips of Chaplin's The Gold Rush along with Even Dwarfs Started Small. The film also has a great opening song called Whiskey Shoes.

The film is now available on the Criterion DVD of Burden of Dreams as a bonus feature. It's worth seeing over and over again.

Movie Review: Pop Culture Gold
Summary: 4 Stars

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe is a short documentary made in 1980 by Les Blank, the prolific American filmmaker. True to its title, the movie features the acclaimed German born director, actor and screenwriter, Werner Herzog, eating his own shoe. Why, you may ask? Because of a bet, of course.

In 2003, The Guardian listed Errol Morris as the seventh greatest director in the world. But a little under thirty years ago, Morris was just a failed philosophy student with a propensity for sneaking into movies. It was through his friendship with Herzog that Morris first became involved with filmmaking.

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe has two origin stories. In the first, Herzog and Morris got into an argument, and Herzog told Morris that that he would never finish his documentary, Gates of Heaven. Herzog claimed that he was so sure of Morris's imminent failure, if the film ever was completed, Herzog would eat his own shoe. In Herzog's version of the story, the great German director meant to encourage the young protégé by telling him, "You are going to make a film. And the day I am going to see the film in a theatre I will eat the shoes I am wearing."

No matter which story you prefer, Herzog was true to his word. When Morris's Gates of Heaven premiered, Herzog boiled his own shoe, and ate it at the premier. Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe is worthwhile not only as a pop culture curiosity, but also for the monologue on film and life that Herzog gives to the audience as he dines.

Movie Review: Courageous and Insane
Summary: 3 Stars

Bizarre and funny short documentary shot by Les Blank, featuring director/legend Werner Herzog who promised colleague and friend Errol Morris that when the latter completed and released his film about pet cemeteries (Gates of Heaven), he would eat his shoes. Herzog fulfils his end of the bargain at the premiere of Morris' film, and he proceeds to rant about waging war on television and commercials, and encourages film students to steal in order to get their films made. The film is a small and amusing portrait of a devoted (if a bit fanatical) auteur staying true to his grandiose declarations.

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