Der Schuh des Manitu

Der Schuh des Manitu ("The Shoe of Manitou") is a German Western comedy released in 2001 and one of the most successful German films of all time.

The story revolves around Apache chief Abahachi and his white blood brother, Ranger. After being conned by Santa Maria, "a real estate agent from Wyoming", who sold them a saloon that consisted only of a front wall, a firefight ensues. Not only does Santa Maria escape, but also Fake Hare ("Falscher Hase", a type of meat loaf), the son of the chief of the Shoshones is killed, who just happened to deliver the "Shoshone Loan". Being framed for his death by Santa Maria, Abahachi and Ranger have to escape from Shoshone captivity to prove their innocence and find a way to repay the loan to chief 'Sly Lizard'.

Abahachi remembers that he owns a treasure, which he inherited from his grandfather Gray Starling ("Grauer Star", meaning cataract, the eye disease). Unfortunately his grandfather raised him very well and tought him to share with others, so he divided the Treasure Map and shared it with his teenage friends. And so, Abahachi has to seek out and reunite the friends of his salad days -- his own Camp Gay twin brother Winnetouch, the Greek Dimitri and his childhood sweetheart Uschi -- and lead them on in a race against time to salvage the treasure before Santa Maria and his gang of bandits get there.

Der Schuh des Manitu is based on a series of short skits from the comedy show Bullyparade; its style is quite similar to many of Mel Brooks parodies, like Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, or (more to the point) Blazing Saddles. It is ultimately a spoof of the western novels by German writer Karl May and their movie adaptations, the Winnetou films of the 60s, which are immensely popular in Germany.

Being a parody, the whole movie is practically made from tropes.

There are two English dubs: one is by the original actors, but it suffered from trying to preserve accent gags that worked in German but didn't in English. The other is more of a Woolseyism that adds even more anachronistic slang (Ranger and Abahachi's catchphrase is now "Wassup?!") and translates the Punny Names fairly well (the son of the Shoshone chief is now called Sonny Rabbit).

There's also a stage musical that's been out for a while.

Tropes used in Der Schuh des Manitu include:

Abahachi: But you always said "Abahachi, when we are big..."
Uschi: But 5'5 is not big.

  • I Owe You My Life: How Abahachi and Ranger first met.
  • Love Triangle: Abahachi, Ranger, and Uschi.
  • Meaningful Name: Dimitri's mule "Apollo 13", named after his twelve brothers who all died in accidents while crossing train rails.
  • Mobile Shrubbery
  • Mooks: Santa Maria's gang.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Uschi is named after German actress Uschi Glas, who played a lot of 'female love interest' roles in the 60s and appeared as such in at least one of the Karl May movie adaptations.
  • Plot Coupon: The treasure.
  • Pocket Protector: The gingerbread heart. Which could stop the bullet because it was at least 10 years old and long turned rock hard.
  • Punny Name: Almost all of the Indians.
  • Ranger: Well, Ranger.
  • Rollercoaster Mine
  • Say My Name: "ABAHACHI!!!" In slow mo.
  • Somewhere an Equestrian Is Crying: Invoked. Winnetouch's horse Jacqueline has to vomit after walking too fast, something horses are well known for not being capable of doing. The vomiting horse is actually a callback towards a joke from Herbig's old show, the Bullyparade, in which two men discuss the legend of having seen a horse vomit in front of a drugstop (based on a German figure of speech for believing something unlikely) and becoming partners in inventing throw up medicine for horses.
  • Temple of Doom: The caves in the mountain "Shoe of Manitu".
  • That Reminds Me of a Song: The "Super-perforator commercial song" and the "Gingerbread heart song".
  • Threshold Guardians: Lampshaded by Santa Maria: "No old Indian guarding the treasure? That's unexpected."
  • Treasure Map
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Santa Maria
  • Weapon of Choice: Santa Maria has a custom revolver that Hombre can identify by its sound alone.
  • Widget Series: A Weird German movie, made even weirder by the fact that most of the references will fly right over your head if you're not familiar with German culture. Fortunately, this adds to, rather than detracts from the movie.
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