Favorite Werner Herzog Films

by sleepingbag | created - 1 month ago | updated - 1 month ago | Public

My favorite Herzog films to date. Werner Herzog is my favorite filmmaker of all time. Including both his created stories, and his fantastic documentaries, here is my list.

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1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Biography

In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro

Votes: 62,304

2. Stroszek (1977)

Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama

In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz, Wilhelm von Homburg

Votes: 15,325

3. Fitzcarraldo (1982)

PG | 158 min | Adventure, Drama

The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes

Votes: 38,603

4. Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)

Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama

A group of dwarfs at a correctional facility erupt in anarchy.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Helmut Döring, Paul Glauer, Gisela Hertwig, Hertel Minkner

Votes: 6,291

5. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama

German-American Dieter Dengler discusses his service as a U.S. naval pilot in the Vietnam War. Dengler also revisits the sites of his capture and eventual escape from the hands of the Viet Cong, recreating many events for the camera.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Dieter Dengler, Werner Herzog, Eugene Deatrick

Votes: 6,834

6. Grizzly Man (2005)

R | 103 min | Documentary, Biography

87 Metascore

A devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Werner Herzog, Carol Dexter

Votes: 61,897 | Gross: $3.17M

7. My Best Fiend (1999)

Not Rated | 95 min | Documentary, Biography

70 Metascore

The love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Eva Mattes

Votes: 12,198 | Gross: $0.10M

8. Cobra Verde (1987)

Not Rated | 111 min | Adventure, Drama

55 Metascore

During the 1800s, paroled Brazilian bandit Cobra Verde is sent to West Africa with a few troops to man an old Portuguese fort and to convince the local African ruler to resume the slave trade with Brazil.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, King Ampaw, José Lewgoy, Salvatore Basile

Votes: 8,427

9. Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)

Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary

Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since adolescence, and her work on behalf of other deaf and blind people, this film shows how the deaf and blind... See full summary »

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Fini Straubinger, M. Baaske, Elsa Fehrer, Heinrich Fleischmann

Votes: 3,200

10. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

Not Rated | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History

A young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira, Willy Semmelrogge

Votes: 18,903

11. Lessons of Darkness (1992 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 54 min | Documentary, War

This film surveys the disaster of the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames, with little narration and scarcely any interviews. Hell on Earth is presented in such transcendent visions and music that one can only be fascinated by it.

Director: Werner Herzog | Star: Werner Herzog

Votes: 6,749

12. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)

R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

69 Metascore

Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Russell M. Haeuser, Val Kilmer

Votes: 80,910 | Gross: $1.70M

13. Into the Abyss (2011)

PG-13 | 107 min | Documentary, Crime, Drama

74 Metascore

Conversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Richard Lopez, Michael Perry, Damon Hall

Votes: 17,354 | Gross: $0.22M

14. Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

G | 99 min | Documentary

80 Metascore

Film-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Scott Rowland, Stefan Pashov, Doug MacAyeal

Votes: 19,257 | Gross: $0.94M

15. La Soufrière (1977)

31 min | Documentary, Short, Biography

Herzog takes a film crew to the island of Guadeloupe when he hears that the volcano on the island is going to erupt. Everyone has left, except for one old man who refuses to leave. Herzog ... See full summary »

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein, Edward Lachman

Votes: 2,304

16. Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel (1999 TV Movie)

65 min | Documentary, Adventure, Biography

Werner Herzog returns to the South American jungle with Juliane Koepcke, the German woman who was the sole survivor of a plane crash there in 1971. They find the remains of the plane and recreate her journey out of the jungle.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Juliane Koepcke, Juan Zaplana Ramirez

Votes: 1,497

17. The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)

Not Rated | 80 min | Sci-Fi

65 Metascore

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visits to Earth and Earth's man-made demise, while human astronauts attempt to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Brad Dourif, Donald Williams, Ellen Baker, Franklin Chang-Diaz

Votes: 3,888

18. Heart of Glass (1976)

Not Rated | 94 min | Drama

The foreman of a small village glassworks dies without revealing the secret to the famous "Ruby Glass".

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz, Volker Prechtel

Votes: 6,610

19. Wheel of Time (2003)

Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary

65 Metascore

Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: The Dalai Lama, Lama Lhundup Woeser, Takna Jigme Sangpo, Matthieu Ricard

Votes: 2,737

20. Echoes From a Somber Empire (1990)

91 min | Documentary

Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Michael Goldsmith, Werner Herzog, Augustine Assemat, David Dacko

Votes: 728

21. Herdsmen of the Sun (1989 TV Movie)

52 min | Documentary

Herzog's documentary of the Wodaabe people of the Sahara/Sahel region. Particular attention is given to the tribe's spectacular courtship rituals and 'beauty pageants', where eligible young... See full summary »

Director: Werner Herzog | Star: Werner Herzog

Votes: 842

22. Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)

Not Rated | 46 min | Documentary, War

The film focuses on a group of Miskito in Nicaragua who used child soldiers in their resistance against the Sandinistas.

Directors: Werner Herzog, Denis Reichle | Stars: Werner Herzog, Denis Reichle

Votes: 1,018

23. Signs of Life (1968)

Not Rated | 91 min | Drama

Three wounded soldiers are removed from battle and given the task of looking after a fortress in a small coastal town. However, the pressures of isolation begin to take their toll on the men.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Peter Brogle, Wolfgang Reichmann, Athina Zacharopoulou, Wolfgang von Ungern-Sternberg

Votes: 2,456

24. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

PG | 107 min | Drama, Horror

79 Metascore

Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor

Votes: 40,542

25. The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)

45 min | Documentary, Biography, Sport

A study of the psychology of a champion ski-jumper, whose full-time occupation is carpentry.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Walter Steiner, Werner Herzog

Votes: 2,883

26. The White Diamond (2004)

Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary

83 Metascore

Engineers attempt daring journey above Guyanese rainforest canopy with airship prototype. Adventure fraught with risks, as previous expedition ended tragically. This is a unique story of exploring uncharted jungle from the air.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Graham Dorrington, Dieter Plage, Adrian de Schryver

Votes: 4,952

27. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016)

PG-13 | 98 min | Documentary

76 Metascore

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Elon Musk, Lawrence Krauss, Lucianne Walkowicz, Kevin Mitnick

Votes: 13,410 | Gross: $0.59M

28. Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia (1993)

60 min | Documentary

What is faith and religion to Russians after the fall of communism? We get the insight into the Russian Orthodox church as well as different folk and shamanic beliefs.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Anna Hitch, Vissarion, Yuri Yurievich Yurieff

Votes: 1,103

29. Where the Green Ants Dream (1984)

R | 100 min | Drama

A geologist employed by an Australian mining company finds himself disputing the rights of some aborigines who believe their land to be sacred.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Bruce Spence, Wandjuk Marika, Roy Marika, Ray Barrett

Votes: 2,631

30. Rescue Dawn (2006)

PG-13 | 125 min | Adventure, Biography, War

77 Metascore

A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, Zach Grenier

Votes: 110,815 | Gross: $5.49M



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