Martin_Canine

Der Schuh des Manitu is a 2001 German parody of western films. Directed by Michael Herbig, it is a film adaptation of the Winnetou sketches from his ProSieben television show Bullyparade. With earnings of about 65 million Euro and 11.7 million visitors.

“Der Schuh des Manitu” (“The shoe of Manitu”) is a 2001 German comedy movie / parody that has a massive cult following in German language territories and became one of the most classic movies of the 21st century. But most importantly, it’s a hilarious gag parade.

The story involves around the blood brothers Abahachi (a Native American, portrayed by Michael Bully Herbig) and Ranger (a white man, portrayed by Christian Tramitz), who owe money to the Shoshones, and are on top accused of having killed the chief’s son, while it was in fact real estate agent / bandit Santa Maria (Sky du Mont) who shot him and stole the money from the two. While still trying to prove their innocence, Abahachi remembers that he is in possession of a treasure map leading to a precious jewel with whom they want to pay back their debt. The problem is: he only has one quarter of the map as he divided it between his close friends. The other three pieces are in possession of Abahachi’s gay twin brother Winnetouch (also Michael Bully Herbig), Greek restaurant owner Dimitri (Rick Kavanian) and saloon singer Uschi (Maroon Bäumer). Of course, Santa Maria and his bandits also found out about the treasure and now chase our team of heroes.

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1'Der Schuh des Manitu' is a 2001 German comedy movie directed and written by and starring comedian Michael Bully Herbig.

On the picture:
Michael Bully Herbig in 2016. - Martin_Canine

Let's start with the obvious.
He co-wrote it together with co-actor Rick Kavanian and screenwriters Alfons Biedermann and Murmel Clausen. - Martin_Canine

2The movie is a western parody that takes aim at the movie adaptations of Karl May novels.

Karl May is one of the most popular writers of German fiction, and used synonymously with westerns and adventure literature. His 19th century novels centering around the Native American Winnetou and his white blood brother Old Shatterhand have a huge, massive cult following and their many 1960s movie adaptations (which were European co-productions) are common knowledge to every German and still get aired very frequently. They are responsible for the very positive image Germans have of Native Americans, seeing them as heroic, brave and loyal ('Indianer' is not a negative term as 'Red Indian' is in English, it's simply the German word, and not usually used in a discriminating context). While American westerns had them as antagonists, they are the heroes in Germany. - Martin_Canine

On the picture:
Lex Barker (as Old Shatterhand) and Pierre Brice (as Winnetou) on the left, Michael Bully Herbig (as Abahachi) and Christian Tramitz (as Ranger) on the left. - Martin_Canine

3The movie had a budget of 4 and a half million euros, and had a gross of 65 million euros.

That's a gross of 70 million US Dollars compared to a 5.4 million dollar budget.
That's... quite a bit more. - Martin_Canine

On the picture:
Abahachi, stepping on a mouse trap. - Martin_Canine

4As of 2017, it is the commercially most successful German movie in Germany.

It blew everything away in 2001 and has since been aired on T.V. countless times.
In the list of movies with the highest grossing films in Germany, it currently ranks at number 9, sandwiched between 'The Lion King' and 'Avatar'. - Martin_Canine

On the picture:
Uschi (Marie Bäumer) performing in the saloon. - Martin_Canine