Film Archive

Manitou's Shoe (Schuh des Manitu, Der)

Move over Blazing Saddles and make room for this English-dubbed German box office record-breaking madcap Western spoof that holds nothing sacred.

The Apache Chief Abahachi and his blood brother Ranger are responsible for keeping peace in the Wild West. The trouble all starts when Abahachi takes out a loan from the Shoshone Indians to buy a saloon for his tribe. It turns out that the real estate agent is no real estate agent at all - he's a trickster and a really bad guy named Santa Maria. The saloon is only a façade and Santa Maria gets away with the money. To make matters worse, Abahachi and Ranger get blamed for the death of the Shoshone Chief's son, Funny Rabbit. They've got no choice - they have to find the treasure that Abahachi's grandfather Mad Cow bequeathed him many years ago, pay back the Shoshone and prove their innocence. Finding the treasure is not an easy matter, however, especially because Abahachi divided the treasure map into four parts and now can't remember who he gave the other three parts to.

Writer/director/star Michael "Bully" Herbig shot this film on locations once used by Sergio Leone. With adamant vigilance, he has realized his vision of absurd hilarity and absolute silliness.

Michael "Bully" Herbig studied Photography and is well-known on the German comedy scene as a writer, director and producer. He has appeared in various TV specials and is author, actor, director and producer of the comedy show bullyparade. He had his feature film directorial debut with the comedy Erkan & Stefan (1999). In 2000, he founded the production company herbX film, whose first project was the box office hit Manitou's Shoe (Der Schuh des Manitu, 2001), followed by Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 ((T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1, 2004), Bully & Rick (2006-2007), and Lissi and the Wild Emperor (Lissi und der wilde Kaiser, 2007).
 

Genre Comedy
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2001
Director Michael "Bully" Herbig
Screenplay Murmel Clausen, Michael "Bully" Herbig, Rick Kavanian
Director of Photography Stephan Schuh
Editor Alexander Dittner
Music by Ralf Wengenmayr
Production Design Claus Kottmann
Producers Michael "Bully" Herbig, Michael Wolf
Production Company herbX film/Gruenwald, in co-production with Constantin Film Produktion/Munich, SevenPictures Film/Unterfoehring
Principal Cast Marie Baeumer, Alfons Biedermann, Sky du Mont, Michael "Bully" Herbig, Rick Kavanian, Hilmi Soezer, Christian Tramitz
Casting Rita Serra-Roll
Special Effects CA Scanline Production/Geiselgasteig
Studio Shooting ARRI Film & TV/Munich
Length 87 min, 2,225 m
Format 35 mm, color, cs
Dubbed Versions English, Russian, Spanish
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English
Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festival Screenings Berlin 2002 (German Cinema), AFI Los Angeles 2002
Awards Bambi 2001, German Comedy Prize 2001 for Best Feature Film, Golden Screen with 2 Stars, German Film Awards 2002 for Best Individual Achievement in Screenplay, Production, Direction, Actor in a Double-Role & Audience Award
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
German Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich

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