At the end of part one Werner had just made a period drama about a profit who bewitches a village of glass blowers which he made by having his cast hypnotised... OK! Next!
In 1976 Herzog made a 45 min documentary film called,
"How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck" (1976)
It is a documentary film by documenting,
The World Livestock Auctioneer Championship
held in New Holland, Pennsylvania, USA.
The film also contains a section about the Amish and shows Amish speaking Pennsylvania German.
Herzog has said that he believes auctioneering to be "the last poetry possible, the poetry of capitalism". Herzog describes the auctioneering as an
"extreme language ... frightening but quite beautiful at the same time".
He also squeezed in a short film project...
"No One Will Play with Me" (1976)
With the run time of 14 min this short film focuses on a boy, Martin, who is outcast from the other children at his school.
The film was made with pre-school children in Munich, and is partially based on true stories which Herzog heard from the children themselves.
Werner had been developing a film project named "Woyzeck" which he was adapting from the unfinished play "Woyzeck" by the German dramatist Georg Büchner.
His intention was to cast Bruno S. in the lead role after his wonderful performance in This film "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" (1976) Herzog had openly discussed the project with Bruno but during the writing process he realised that Klaus Kinski would be a much better option for the film. Not wanting to let Bruno down Herzog penned a new script specifically for Bruno in four days.
Stroszek (1977)
Directed by Werner Herzog, Written by Werner Herzog, Produced by Werner Herzog & Walter Saxer, Music by Chet Atkins & Sonny Terry, Cinematography by Thomas Mauch, Edited by Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus, Starring Bruno S., Eva Mattes & Clemens Scheitz.
Bruno Stroszek, a hapless busker in Berlin, falls for a prostitute who's in trouble with local thugs. With nothing to lose, the new couple decide to emigrate to the United States with their neighbor Scheitz, whose American nephew lives in rural Wisconsin. But after a customs agent confiscates his cherished pet bird, Beo, Stroszek begins a downward spiral into culture shock and surreality as he experiences the dark underbelly of the American dream.
The film is a tragic comedy road movie that lampoons the American dream and showcases the "outsider" talents of Bruno S.
The film was written quickly but what sped up the process was that the protagonist of the piece is Bruno to be played by Bruno, Herzog just sent him on an adventure.
The film was shot in Germany and in the state of Wisconsin in the United States of America.
I don't want to go into plot points or too much details about this film in case you haven't seen this because you really should. It is off-beat, gritty, funny and heartbreaking in equal measure.
It also features footage of a dancing chicken!
After Stroszek Herzog was very productive making two feature films back to back and I mean back to back!
"Nosferatu the Vampyre" (1979)
Directed by Werner Herzog, Screenplay by Werner Herzog, Based on the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker & "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens" by F. W. Murnau
Produced by Michael Gruskoff, Walter Saxer
& Werner Herzog, Music by Popol Vuh, Cinematography by Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein,
Edited by Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus,
Starring Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani &
Bruno Ganz.
Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoul living off men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague...
Literally 5 days after work on Herzog's "Nosferatu the Vampyre" had ended production started on his next film in which he used the same exhausted crew and star.
"Woyzeck" (1979)
Directed by Werner Herzog, Written by Werner Herzog, Based on the unfinished play "Woyzeck" by Georg Büchner, Produced by Werner Herzog, Cinematography Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein, Edited by Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus, Starring Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes, Wolfgang Reichmann & Willy Semmelrogge.
Having fathered an illegitimate child with his lover, Marie, feckless soldier Franz Woyzeck takes odd jobs around his small town to provide some extra money for them. One of them is volunteering for experiments conducted by a local doctor, who puts Woyzeck on a diet of peas. This serves to drive him close to madness, and the discovery that Marie is conducting an affair with the local drum major exacerbates the situation. Pushed too far, Woyzeck resorts to violence.
Full transparency I have not seen this film yet so I don't have a personal opinion on it.
What I do know is most of the scenes were filmed in one take, The whole film was shot in 18 days and it was edited in 4 days. The film was scored using existing classical music including pieces by Beethoven & Valdi.
At the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, Eva Mattes won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this film.
The film is currently rated at 3.5 out of 5 on Letterboxd which indicates it's definitely worth a watch.
Coming into the 1980's Herzog kicked off the decade with two documentary projects both about American men of faith both christian preachers but very different characters.
"Huie's Sermon" (1981)
Directed by Werner Herzog, Produced by Werner Herzog, Cinematography by Thomas Mauch, Edited by Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus, Starring Huie Rogers.
This 1981 documentary film was made for television by Werner Herzog.
Reverend Huie Rogers is a preacher at "The Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ" in Brooklyn New York. This short film documents a single sermon by Rogers and has a run time of 43 minutes, during the sermon which he launches into an epic call-and-response denunciation of human hubris, greed, corruption and failure.
This film was made for television, Herzog uses lengthy shots and presents it less like a sermon and more like a James Brown concert and his performance induces an almost trance-like state.
"God's Angry Man" (1981)
Directed by Werner Herzog, Written by Werner Herzog, Produced by Werner Herzog, Cinematography by Thomas Mauch, Edited by Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus,
Starring Gene Scott & Werner Herzog,
Narrated by Werner Herzog.
This film documents the eccentric televangelist Dr Gene Scott. Scott was one of these aggressive guys who demanded financial donations from his audience constantly.
Based in California his television show aloud him to say things like,
“God’s honor is at stake every night!” and the only way to save God's honor would be to give Dr Scott money.
Herzog describes him as “appealing to the paranoia and craziness of our civilization”
Not having to pay tax on this money was not enough for Scott he constantly waged war against the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) which policed what he could and could not say on his programs. He obviously resented them preventing him from saying the most egregious things that would drive more donations.
At one point during a broadcast we see he refuses to speak until his viewers pledge an additional $600. After several minutes of silence, he yells angrily at the camera until a production assistant informs him that they have received $700.
Because... Jesus! Who knows!
I'm going to end this one here because the next film is a big one!
