Fitzcarraldo
We Heart Herzog
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2h 37m
Directed by Werner Herzog | 157 mins | 1982
The making of Herzog’s epic film about the endeavors of Irish entrepreneur Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle is perhaps as fascinating as "Fitzcarraldo" itself, as was stunningly documented in Les Blank’s "Burden of Dreams"—the story of a director’s five-year obsessions to match those of his antihero. In their fourth pairing, Herzog gave Kinski another seemingly tailor-made role (although in this case he was a replacement for Jason Robards, who had to drop out well along in the production), and there may be no more iconic image in all of Herzog’s dreamy-looking cinematic output than that of dozens of Peruvian natives hauling a 320-ton steamboat up over a steep hill—an unbelievable “special effect” that Herzog actually accomplished.
Up Next in We Heart Herzog
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Nosferatu the Vampyre
Directed by Werner Herzog | 107 mins | 1979
Herzog brashly took up the mantle of German Expressionism in revisiting the unhallowed soil of Murnau’s masterpiece, with old foe and collaborator Klaus Kinski as the pestilent Count and Isabelle Adjani as the owner of the pale, slender neck that he so ... -
Cobra Verde
Directed by Werner Herzog | 110 mins | 1997
The last film to emerge from the long, tumultuous five-movie collaboration/death struggle between Herzog and Klaus Kinski, "Cobra Verde" features Kinski as a disgraced, priapic plantation worker sent to almost certain death by his employer on a mission ... -
My Best Fiend
Directed by Werner Herzog | 99 mins | 1999
Amidst insults hurled, tantrums thrown, and some literal shots fired, Herzog’s collaboration with the notoriously explosive Klaus Kinski produced five indelible films, from 1972’s "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" to 1987’s "Cobra Verde". “Every gray hair on m...
