Here's to you, Werner Herzog!

johnny_ultimate

Today a great man celebrates his 70th birthday. Few living directors have proven themselves to be quite as worthy of praise and acclaim as Werner Herzog. Over almost fifty feature films and documentaries, this looney, charismatic German man has crafted a filmography of great character, depth and variety. From his early days crafting bizarre films about dwarf revolutions, to his astoundingly successful infiltration of Hollywood (has ever there been more brilliantly eccentric mainstream productions as Bad Lieutenant and Rescue Dawn?) Herzog has consistently enriched the cinematic terrain. His crowning achievements are many, but we cannot fail to pay respect to his work on Aguirre: Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo: productions of such manic scale and troubled history, yet achieved their incredible goals while hypnotising audiences with their dreamy, beautiful portrayals of madness. His documentaries are every bit as colourful as his fiction films - never tackling his chosen subjects without his own fascinating (and unusual) questions about the nature of the universe. You rarely here Attenbourgh asking why monkeys do not make slaves of lesser, dumber animals.



All are likely to have their own favourite Herzog production. But few directors have been quite as interesting off and on the camera. From shoe eating to getting shot on camera or saving Joquain Phoenix from a car crash (and subsequently disappearing into the night as mysteriously as he appeared) Herzog's antics are a constant source of entertainment. He is a man of substance, of great charisma and with a killer sense of bizarre humour.

So happy birthday to Werner Herzog on his 70th birthday, as he shows no sign of slowing down. A cinematic genius whose soul never stops dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVOTx4Lx3pY

actuallylike

BigCatInJapan wrote: »

It's film producer Darryl Zanuck's birthdate today too and he had a far greater impact on cinema.

So the Happy birthday to Herzog should be revoked? It was a great OP and a brilliant homage to one of my most favourite directors/social commentators. Your snobby, thinly veiled 'I know about movies', comment shouldn't detract from it.

Happy birthday Werner, I'd eat your shoe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ymyiRXCszc

e_e

Not only a great artist, but one of the funniest and wisest people on the planet. Even interviews with him have me in awe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4i5WkkXdmc

"It's something very exhilarating for a man to be shot at with little success."

johnny_ultimate

I have a Herzog boxset with a few films still unwatched, so think that's going to be tonight's viewing sorted. The options are Kasper Hauser, Fata Morgana and Heart of Glass. Heard a lot of good about Kasper..., so might go with that.

Also, has anyone ever had a more awesome accent?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBtCb61Sd4

Da Shins Kelly

"It was not a significant bullet".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXqc8TQ15w

He also saved a man's life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDcnLfLaFiY

The guy is just an all-round legend.

The guy is absolutely bananas -

There was some movie he was doing, which was fraught with accident after accident, including when one of it's midget cast was ran over by a car and then subsequently set on fire. Herzog made the deal that if there were no accidents during the rest of the filming, he'd run and leap into a cactus. He kept this promise and leaped straight into the cactus.

Not to mention the whole episode with him eating a shoe.

Gee Bag

Happy Birthday big fella, I'm going to celebrate by watching Aguirre.

e_e

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

He also saved a man's life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDcnLfLaFiY

"Man, relax."

Sad Professor

I rather like his quote about how "film is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates".

Da Shins Kelly

e_e wrote: »

"Man, relax."

"I confiscated his cigarette lighter."

Galvasean

He nearly saved Dinotasia. Nearly.

I thought Grizzly Man was a brilliant documentary (even if I didn't fully agree with some of his conclusions). While Rescue Dawn and The Bad Lieutenant are great films in their own right. The latter being particularly bonkers. There's not much out there quite like it.

johnny_ultimate

I just watched The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, and it's that perfect mix of Herzogian eccentricities and genuine insight. Quirks galore, with a sly sense of humour throughout, but also a thoughtful critique of society and its treatment of difference. Rather excellent.

Oh, a more recent slice of Herzog gold, in which he claims to have gone for decades without knowing his supposedly good friend John Waters (who may be amongst the most flamboyant of Hollywood personalities) is gay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9P_sxaaMJE

Legend.

mikhail

Herzog is one of my favourite filmmakers. Even still, I have yet to watch more than half of his films. I'm enormously happy that he's so prolific: it's a problem that, say, Sergio Leone fans would surely love to have.

Deleted User wrote: »

The guy is absolutely bananas -

There was some movie he was doing, which was fraught with accident after accident, including when one of it's midget cast was ran over by a car and then subsequently set on fire. Herzog made the deal that if there were no accidents during the rest of the filming, he'd run and leap into a cactus. He kept this promise and leaped straight into the cactus.

Not to mention the whole episode with him eating a shoe.

The film you're thinking of is Even Dwarfs Started Small. It's one of his more cryptic, difficult films, but like all of his work it contains some memorable images.

Cienciano

He had a good bit in the tv show Entourage. Lunatic in that too.