“Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe” (1981)
If “Burden Of Dreams” is Les Blank’s most famous film then “Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe” is his most notorious. All of 21 minutes in length, the short doc centers on a now infamous bet that Werner Herzog made with fellow filmmaker Errol Morris. The German filmmaker would have been around 35-ish years of age and Morris approximately 30, and they had already met five years prior when Morris was an undergraduate student, through Tom Luddy, the co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival (and the man who many credit with discovering Blank, not to mention bringing Herzog to American attention, who acts as the master of ceremonies here). The uber-connected Luddy also linked Blank and Herzog together around the same time realizing they would be kindred spirits. Morris had already aborted a documentary about serial killer Ed Gein which Herzog had tried to support, but which had floundered along with several other unrealized projects (Herzog also says Morris could have been a cellist and gave up a promising science career). In a moment of frustration while Morris was discussing the difficulties of a new project, Herzog vowed to eat his own shoe should Morris ever complete a film. And so with the completion of 1978’s “Gates Of Heaven,” Morris won the bet. The film is a witty little bauble and time capsule, but it also captures the essence of Herzog’s utterly sincere, almost humorless, conviction. “I hate cowards,” Herzog says to the audience, noting he’s cooked the same leather shoes he wore the day he made the bet and dared not cop out with sneakers. The doc is simple, featuring interviews with Herzog on the way to the Berkeley theater where they’ll screen ‘Heaven’ and where the filmmaker will publicly eat his shoe, interviews the next day (where Herzog hilariously declares a fatwa on television and all it stands for), and the preparation of the cooking of the shoe (which of course features Garlic connoisseur Alice Waters). Curiously enough, Morris isn’t even present, but Herzog professes his love and support for his friend’s movie, and his touching pride that this odd form of encouragement helped “Gates Of Heaven” become fully realized. Cinema is full of wild legends that sound too good to be true, but thankfully Les Blank was there to capture this one in all its lunatic glory. [B+]
A final note, 10 of Blank’s films can be streamed on HuluPlus. Maybe start a free trial to watch a few?
