Originally published at: The curious history of the dancing chicken in Werner Herzog's 1977 film Stroszek | Boing Boing
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This movie is great, but for me I can only watch it once a decade or so, as just like Glengary Glen Ross, it hits to close to reality/home and it’s just too depressing.
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Siskel and Ebert both loved the film. It is kind of disturbing but in a very unexciting way, there’s this blandness at the heart of “the American Dream”: grey skies forever.
People remember Herzog for Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, or documentaries like Grizzly Man, but Stroszeck is a gem in his oeuvre, there’s an uncomfortable realism to it, maybe because most of the actors were just locals playing versions of themselves.
[ETA: I was unaware of the history of ABE Inc., I was always curious about those dancing animal displays, so thanks for that.]
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in cheap-ass carny days they’d have a dancing chicken thing set up for folks to walk past but the base of the chicken’s “stage” was a hot plate - crank it up (with the music) and, hey wow, the chicken dances - after a while the feet and the smell aren’t so good for business (or the chicken) so there’s stew for everyone at end of day and a new bird makes their debut tomorrow
oof, I love Glengary Glen Ross but yes it’s difficult to watch. Thanks for the warning!
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