Manitou's Shoe

A cowboy and the son of a native chief join forces against a villain after gold. The Wild West here is nothing but ground for jokes. The film parodies the Karl May novels read by generations in Germany and the nineteen-sixties films made from them; most of the humour targets specific scenes and turns of phrase in those films. It became one of the most watched German productions ever. Michael Herbig wrote, directed and played one of the leads. It grew out of a television sketch show. Before watching: most of the jokes mean nothing without knowledge of the Karl May tradition. The film also draws its comedy from imitating native peoples, and that pattern reads badly today.