The Most Insane Actor Ever - Klaus Kinski
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
- Klaus Kinski, the most insane actor ever, is a German actor that appeared in over 130 films including many spaghetti westerns. Most famous of them being For a Few Dollars More and five Werner Herzog films. He is so notorious for his on set antics and constant rages that an Indigenous tribe offered to take him out for Werner Herzog, a producer contemplated having him taken out for insurance money, and even Herzog himself threatened to take him out when Kinski went too far.
In this video we'll be going over Klaus Kinski's past productions and moments in his life that are notorious for his behaviour. The five Werner Herzog collaborations Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo, and Cobra Verde. His solo Jesus Christ Savior tour. The infamous and well documented production of Crawlspace. And some new revelations about his daughters that helped tarnish his legacy.
Our video on Werner Herzog: • The Wildest Director E...
Longer Video of Tantrum: • Klaus Kinski - Fitzcar...
Crawlspace's Production Short Film: • Please, Kill Mr. Kinski
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:53 - Early Life and Career
03:52 - Jesus Christ Savior Tour
05:33 - Werner Herzog & Aguirre
11:02 - Nosferatu & Woyzeck
12:52 - Fitzcarraldo
17:00 - Crawlspace & Cobra Verde
20:25 - Final Years and Revelations
Klaus Kinski. Werner Herzog. Clint Eastwood. Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Nosferatu the Vampyre. Woyzeck. Fitzcarraldo. Cobra Verde. Crawlspace. Jesus Christ Savior. German Actor. Doctor Zhivago. Pola Kinski. Indigenous Actors. Paganini. Burden of Dreams.
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#klauskinski #actor #insane - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Hey everyone! Make sure to check out our new Werner Herzog video if you haven't already for some even wilder production stories!
Since this video is picking up lots of views we just wanted to make a correction and a clarification:
1. We made a mistake in our script with the crowd's chants at Kinski during his Jesus tour. Thankfully the clip used has English subtitles that have what the chants actually were (thanks everyone who pointed it out).
2. We aren't putting Woody Allen at the same level as Roman Polanski in terms of allegations and other controversy. They were just two examples of people who don't have a super clean past that some would "separate the art from the artist" to enjoy their films more.
Anyways, thanks for checking us out!
you can't unsay it. You just did put Woody in the same boat. Not that I care, but they cases are completely incomparable, and shame on you for treating an innocent man like someone who was already tried.
Woody Allen is nothing like Polanski or Kinski. He was cleared, and maliciously framed in the first place.
@@fellowcitizen OK, but i still find him to be intensely wierd.....
@@stawmy There is a massive difference between him and Polanski/Kinski. He is a feminist filmmaker with extensive support and a crystal clear reputation from those who've worked with him on over fifty productions, while they are psychopathic serial rapists that can barely conceal their vindictive behaviour.
@@jerzykaltenberg298 Woody Allen was a disgusting serial pedophile. He was not cleared in any possible way…He started with his current wife while she a young teenager. There are so many accounts of him being with and constantly asking out girls 16 and under. Defending him is sycophantic…He was even extraordinarily close with Jeffrey Epstein. Visited the Island, and was photographed with him many times going into, and walking around outside of, his New York apartment building. Often spending the night as his guest…Jesus Christ. Some of you are delusional to the point of believing absurdities because it better suits your ideal narrative. Feminist film maker my ass. The plot of MANY of his films is some pathetic old man chasing after some gorgeous YOUNG female. His movies are vastly overrated.
You gotta admit, Werner Herzog was kind of insane himself for putting up with Kinski
And for a couple other things too.
herzog was 100% insane too yes, he admited in planning to setting kinskie's house on fire and it was only prevented by kinski's dog.
@@homoerot03 I don't think that plan to kill Kinski was insane. If it was anyone other than Kinski, maybe.
He made a documentary named "my beloved enemy" or something like that about their relationship
Werner Herzog once made a feature length documentary about eating his own shoe, guy is plenty crazy in his own right
I love that everyone seemed to reach a point where they seriously considered murdering Kinski rather than having to endure another moment with him.
And yet he somehow died of natural causes. If he was a worse actor or if the people he worked with were just a tad bit more impulsive, I think the ideas would've become reality
@@juannaym8488 I dont think so, because any film crew would know that at some point they will be done and wont ever have to work with Kinski again. So why go to prison and lose your life?
@@shesh2265 the situations I've heard/read off were often rather isolated. If Werner Herzog were to just shoot Kinski's tent, I don't think he would've gone to jail for it, for example
Y didnt thwy just fire him
I totally understand. I work with colleagues who drive me to contemplate murderous intent! 😂
That story about Herzog eating a chocolate in front of Kinski just to confuse him really killed me. I guess no one understood Kinski better than Herzog.
how to deal with kinski:
1) threaten to shoot him
2) eat chocolate in front of him
@@amazing_bastard😂😅😂
The chocolate eating in the jungle was to reassert who was in control. Kinski was a total lunatic but a brilliant actor.
@@WindTurbineSyndrome That sounds like some shit you could hear in a documentary from Animal Planet lmao
"He eats in front of them to assert its dominance"
@@youegg8905 that's not really the point. They all had very little and shitty food, and luxuries such as chocolate were unavailable. That Herzog pulled out this bit of chocolate and ate it in front of Kinski just dumbfounded him to such an extent that it rendered him speechless for once in his life
He really was insane, not just in an artsy way but properly insane. Just look at some of his interviews, he isnt even able to answer most basic questions without a tantrum
because he was annoyed by that kind of "basic questions"
@@flonkplonk1649Why? Because he was to much of a genius to be asked “basic questions?” He was just an actor, a talented one for sure, but the greatest? He was a disturbed and violent man that took himself much too seriously.
@@johnferry7778 Without that talent, he would've been locked up. A lot of geniuses used to get passes back then. Today, not so much (Ezra Miller) but who knows.
@@juniorjames7076 I don't know if I'd consider Ezra Miller a genius in any sense of the word.
@@suckapunch Ezra is genuinly stupid at least.
I get this was a serious encounter, but the idea that Wener Herzog tamed Kinski by threatening to kill him had me dying.
I doubt that was a threat. Given the stakes and Herzog's own estimation of his film versus the life of his actor and the circumstances, I imagine that he was deadly serious.
Herzog can spin a good yarn
It just goes to show you that sometimes a firm hand is the answer to tantrums. Kinski was a lil bitch and he was pushing the boundaries to see how far he could push them - kinda like a very spoiled kid.
I wonder if Herzog had moments, when he was fighting his inner demons to prevent himself from killing Kinsky.
That is legit German boomer talk. Like my dad and all the guys with their mopeds, all denim and kinda drunk.
In other words watch his films in honor of the people who survived putting up with him to make them.
first and foremost you should watch them because they’re good movies
@@mosquerajoseph7305 true but, they wouldn't be the firsts or last good films to suffer the wrath of cancel culture due to the problematic nature of their protagonist or directors, that's why it's good to remind people to watch it for the other people who put their heart and soul into them.
@@salazarmandragora cancel culture doesn’t decide what you want to watch. Besides ppl or movies haven’t been actually cancelled successfully since like 2018 lmao. That term exists as an umbrella term industry heads use to demonize criticism of their behavior and reevaluation of older films
Great point!!! The effects of a megalomaniac on artists trying to create something beautiful!!! While being victims of abusive tyranny!!!
In the past cancel culture was called moral censorship and conservatives sure live practicing it. Still do.
Life is precious. It is not worth it to be angry all the time.
-Not Klaus Kinski
😂😂
Life is fragile. Stay angry all your life, you will die of a heart attack. -Also not Klaus Kinski.
You don't understand. He was always acting. Always.
I've always wondered how Kinski wound up in "For a Few Dollars More" (1965) and what director Sergio Leone thought of him. Kinski's role is tiny; but his display of barely suppressed rage when Lee Van Cleef strikes a match off his ear is memorable in its intensity.
@geraldmartin7703, I believe the match was struck off his prosthetic hunchback.
That was somewhat earlier in his career. Moreover, Kinski was in a role in which he could be readily replaced. Sure, he added to the scene, but he wasn't essential to the production the way, say, Eastwood, Van Cleef and Volonte were.
I bet knowing their personas it went like this in their heads:
LVC, being out of character a generally good natured laidback nice fellow: heh, look at this guy, he's sure got talent for characters, could really use a chill pill though...this is gonna be a great film, what a fun role this is, the final product I bet is gonna turn out awesome...😊
*Meanwhile inside Klaus Kinski's head, where this no line between the fantasy of their characters or reality at all*
"IWILLMOTHERFUCKINGKILLYOU 😳"
The strap of his braces.
He probably behaved via Eastwood being a badass lol.
I respect Werner Herzog even more now, he willingly worked with Kinski, maybe because he was one of the only directors who really understood how to work with Kinski. For example making him rage and starting to film his angry silence afterwards is unconventional, funny and brilliant.
Idk how far does that go? How many Jerry Luis type scumbags do we enable to become rich, famous and powerful just because their talented? Separating art from the artist is one thing but I don’t think we should prop up these figures like they did nothing wrong just because they gave amazing performances
@@byHexted Go to a museum and look at a Caravaggio and tell me the human race isn't just a little more worthy by exhibiting the work of a slimeball. Listen to a Wagner Opera or watch The Wizard of Oz and remember that horrible people created those things. The entire history of art and sport are full of these people. All of them should have been prosecuted for their crimes and their crimes should also be remembered, but their achievements can stand and do separate. The only thing I find vile is for people aware of their actual crimes to enable them during their lives.
@@byHextedthis is more revelant now than ever, just look at Ezra Miller, WB literally sank millions into buying silence about his outbursts and "antics"
@@tomasrivero6423
How about Josh Whedon, the self-proclaimed 'feminist supporter' who was an absolute dick against his subordinates, getting physical with James Marsters because he couldn't kill spike off in Buffy, booted Charisma Carpenter off Angel for getting pregnant
and cherry on top: not allowed to be alone in a room with Michelle Trachtenberg during her work on Buffy (really, what the fuck was going on there?)
He ate a chocolate bar inches from Kinksi's face?!?!! Hahhaahha!!!
Kinski's audience insultations are so notorious in Germany that in recent years a very talented comedian named Max Giermann has had great success with Kinski impersonations, basically just insulting everyone and anyone. Positively hilarious.
czcams.com/video/7O96B4cij10/video.htmlsi=IWaF2j8CodRAFLYo here is a littlw tasted of that😅 from a native german
There’s a parody of Burden of Dreams in the show Documentary Now. It’s a two part episode in season 4 called Soldier of Illusion and the actor who parodies Kinski is great
czcams.com/video/7O96B4cij10/video.html
Paul F. Tompkins does a hilarious Werner Herzog impression (podcasts). Matt Gourley is really funny as H R Geiger. (ditto)
If the man was diagnosed with psychopathy, that’s literally all you need to know for his behavior to make sense. He was a tyrant because he was physically incapable of feeling normal levels of empathy toward other human beings. His habits of self-promotion and raging at the slightest loss of attention are also clear signals of this syndrome.
He was most definitely not a psychopath, he was actually misdiagnosed with psychopathy. He was really hyperemotional and psychopaths are actually underemotional and don't feel frustration and rage, the psychopath's rage/anger only lasts 1 second at best. He also had suicidal attempts and cried something psychopaths actually never do since psychopaths do crocodile fake tears to coax and sensitivitize an audience that is not already against him/her. That's the main difference, he literally had no reason to shed crocodile tears those were genuine tears from his emotional tension. Psychopaths aren't emotional, they are literally feeling few and sparse feeling and even in blunted manner That guy was a borderline/cyclothymiac.
@@NS-kq3yy Based on his erratic, aggressive behaviour it is likely that he was misdiagnosed but it’s wrong to claim that psycopaths don’t feel or express emotions. That’s a myth stemming from the sterotype depicting psycopaths as stone cold killers. They can be, and often are, very emotional. They experience enormous anger, joy , resentment, lust etc. It all stems from a selfish, egotistical point of view, though. Since they are more or less incapable of feeling empathy they don’t care about people around them but they are very sensitive about their own ego. If they don’t get what they feel they deserve or if they are not treated the way they want, they can very easily become enraged and lash out towards people. It’s also wrong to claim that they don’t cry real tears. Basically suggesting that they are always scheming and manipulating so if they cry it must be ”crocodile tears” meant to decieve someone. They might not feel empathy towards other people but they have huge empathy towards themselves. Again, feeling mistreated and not acknowledged can sometims trigger huge emotional responses. Since they are indifferent towards other people they often lie, manipulate and threaten, sure. They can also be very, very dangerous. It is wrong, however, to claim they don’t feel or express emotions.
The two terms ”psycopath” and ”sociopath” are sometimes hard to differentiate since they both stem from a severe lack of empathy. In general though, psycopaths tend to have better control of their internal feelings and they have no conscience wheras sociopaths are more impulsive and might have a rudimentary conscience (even if they usually don’t listen to it). This ability to, when needed, hide their emotions is what had caused people in general to assume they don’t have feelings at all, which is untrue.
@@NS-kq3yythis is false. Sociopathy (and yes, sociopath as the modern usage of psychopath got conflated with the definition of sociopath) as in Antisocial/dissocial personality disorder, can absolutely feel frustration and rage, and can be highly emotional. They simply lack the ability of empathy and usually has severe lack of "self-regulating" instincts like shame or fear. To put it in another way, they lack the instinctive functions to form a "moral compass".
Thus resulting in their emotions being very prone to taking abusive forms and being highly egocentric, while generally showing a lack of emotion about things that don't relate to themselves.
@@heimdal8I just realized you basically already wrote what I now wrote.
But I can add that, first of all, psychopath/sociopath are no longer used as legitimate terms in the profession. And secondly, i believe the terms were conflated to become synomous.
When most people these days talk about psychopath or sociopath, they are referring to the original definition of sociopath.
The actual definition of "psychopathy" in the old days was an umbrella term that spanned multiple mental disorders. It was basically just the generic term for "mental illness". In fact, the word psycho-pathy itself translates as "disease/illness of the mind/soul".
EDIT: which I might add, makes me question the diagnosis claimed in this video. Because the guy very specifically states "diagnosed psychopath as in antisocial personality disorder", but ASD wasn't coined until 1968, and previous definitions of this particular type of traits were largely referred to as sociopathic.
So depending on the time of diagnosis, and if his diagnosis was listed as "psychopath", it wouldn't be referring what to the guy in the video thinks it does. Making that part of the video a bit of a misinformation
One "AcTuAlLy" thing i'd like to point out: the natives weren't afraid of Kinski. They we're afraid of Herzog. In their culture only weak and fearful people scream and yell. Throughout his outburst Herzog remianed silent which terrified the natives. So out of respect they offered to kill Kinski.
He literally says this at 15:49
@@Trenz0no, read again and come back...
@@Trenz0one minute before your timestamp he says they were afraid of kinski
Literally said it in the vid lmfao
Then I'd be a god to those natives. 😂
Kinski was also quite intelligent. He could fluently rage and curse in German, English, Italian, French and Spanish
Yep ! I remember seing him on tv in the 90´s when I was a kid. (French tv btw) he went absolutely mad at the tv host for some
Unknown reasons
Any cab driver in London can curse in 7 languages, once, a London cabbie called someone out in Farsi, so i asked him what he said, he said it means "your mother is a goat' in Arabic , LOL
I do hate how people acuate knowing different languages to intelligence...
@@jesustyronechrist2330 well, it takes some kind intelligence to learn 5 different languages. Being brilliant at one thing doesn’t mean you can’t be an absolute moron in other things. Just look at Elon Musk
@@Vampirlestat84 Naah, just living in different places long enough and you'll pick up the languages. You won't be writing legal documents, but sure can swear and small talk.
It really is not that impressive except maybe to those who only speak 1 language and then find learning another one impossible because all they have is Duolingo lmao.
This man chose anger 9 out of 10 times
He chose tantrums 11 out of 10 times.
Except when he didn't because he was being contrary.
Clearly he wasn’t right, to some extent, as far as mental health goes.
Good God.
I'd love to have seen him try and play some video games like World of Tanks Blitz....
LoL
He'd cuss out the walls so hard they'd melt
Uwe Boll got nothing on him.
No, he chose raping his own daughter from the age of 5 to 19 years old!
That is the only thing we should remember about this incestuous pedophile monster.
Its really hard to give in into the fascination of Kinski after stories surfaced he was a rapist, pedophile and even using his own daughters. Pola Kinski wrote a book about her traumatic childhood in 2013 and Nastasia Kinski was always saying her dad was a creep without criminl evidential details. Kinski was protected by a system of cowards who choose to look away. Klaus Kinski is/was one of the biggest monsters in the industry.
Yes in that sense I don't respect his contually being hired because his employees become enablers then his daughter got no justice like Woody Allen if the abuser is popular the victim gets blamed instead.
I love how despite the craziness of Kinski, the villagers were still more afraid of Werner.
Maybe because Herzog was the only one who stood up to the beast and had cameramen immortality.
In his own way, Herzog was just as crazy. Shooting movies in active volcanos and lifting river steamboats through the jungle, etc.
And usually he did these projects against the advice of "experts", afaik.
The key difference is that Herzog's craziness doesn't manifest as manic, or violent behavior.
Kinski was unusually friendly and reserved outside of Germany in foreign talk shows.
In German talk shows, he could go berserk at the mere utterance of a word. There was once a statement by Kinski that he hated being in Germany.
understandable
Which part of Germany did he lived in.
The Germans were too brainy for him. Lol.
@@kimberlyporter9555no they always asked stupid questions... so they insulted him intellectually
@@flonkplonk1649 a blowing wind could insult that man
He basically played himself in every single movie.
*Daher ja auch seine Wut, er ist im Grunde wütend gegen sich selber, weil er genau weiß, dass er kein richtiger Schauspieler ist, aber gegen sich selber wütend zu sein, ist nicht wirklich vorteilhaft, daher die WUT gegen alle anderen ;)*
*Es hat schon seinen Grund, warum er immer drittklassige Filme gemacht hatte ;)*
True. He may also have had kind of a napoleon complex as he was "only" 1,73m in height.
Not realy that short, but it might have added to his demeanor, as his physical appearance clashed with his huge ego.
The most on point description of Kinsky I have ever heard was in a rather unknown german TV documentation, where a friend (not Herzog, I think) said about him:
>What people seem to fail to realize about Kinsky is that he was, and always has been, an "Angst-beisser"...<
-a term that describes a small, beaten down dog, wich snaps and lashes at everyone and everything around it - due to being in constant terror and anxiety his whole life.
This description always stuck with me for some reason.
True words
@@chrisbent5734 Never thought about how angst could just be a straight up German word in English.
No. Not true..
Kinski definitely crossed the line from difficult to work with to just terrible human being
Considering the abuse of his daughter Pola since the age of 5 , he was a vile human being .
People can't distinguish art and acting from pathological narcissism. From a man who has an 1 years old emotional development,
if not even less than this.
Could he act? Maybe, but people's
opinion on his performance is clearly exaggerated.
It's a shame no one had balls to
actually do something about him,
How do you know he was guilty?
Assuming her accounts have been verified.
@@fredfish4316
Common sense and basic logic. He was perfectly capable of it as an individual, and his other daughter has experienced sexualization since little as well. Just abuse was directed at this woman alone.
I guess a good psychiatrist would be enough to confirm or deny her accusations. Yet it is not something that can change things or do anything positive for her.
No one can prove that or he himself cant answers on it....
Growing up in Germany born 63, Kinski was a household name. His ability as actor was great respected, but as a human being hated by many. Nobody wanted to interview him, or invited him to TV studios or public events, unless specific to honour him.
I meet him when I was working in a hotel he visited. He was actually a good customer, but bit restlessness.
Kinski may have been a better person when away from media people. I can understand that. :)
@HandleGF I don't think raping his daughter is better! 😳
@@HandleGFHe wasn't really. The things he did were quite morally repugnant, to put it mildly.
These examples do not at all encapsulate the diagnosis of ASPD to me ( Anti Social Personality Disorder)
I would have to know more but the explosive and unpredictable behavior could easily be from mental health diagnosis such as BPD ( Borderline Personality Disorder) or Bipolar Disorder, as examples. But, I would not say from what I heard that he meets criteria for ASPD. I am a mental health provider so this is army statement based on the limited information I have heard here. I am not formally diagnosing him though.
He sounds like Lou Reed here in america 😂😂😂
I had David Schmoeller (the director of Crawlspace) as one of my film professors and did a project with Kinski’s daughter in 2013, during which I even gave her a ride home one time. Neither had anything good to say about Klaus.
Lucky you, she was probably the first actress i fell in love with as a teenager. And if she had nothing good to say about him, after hearing this, i don't blame her!
Oh yeah, I remember her, a super hottie.
Natasha Kinski.
@@nelsonx5326 Nastassja - it was a flower show episode for RAI about what flowers she likes the most. We filmed it at Richard Harrison’s house in Malibu and it was all in Italian. Since she spoke it fluently (Klaus was largely absent from her life as she was raised in Italy by her mother) I had to edit the whole episode with her translating and making editorial decisions over my shoulder over 2-3 sessions. She was in her mid 50’s at the time and was nice enough to then come to the premiere of EUROCRIME (which I co-produced) at the Chinese theater.
@@aylmer666 This is an amazing story!
Sorry, though: who is Richard Harrison?
Kinski was clearly clinically insane but somehow still had a career. I feel sorry for the people who had to put up with this psychopath.
How can someone who is clinically insane be able to speak three languages?
maybe I'm too literal one answer would be
bad brain chemistry and living in Europe would fit the bill. an American being insane and speaking 3 languages is a bit more of a stretch tho I admit 😋
@@mickbaker9852Well, being insane, and being intelligent and talented isn't mutually exclusive.
Being insane 70 years ago was a norm.
Herzog's level of tolerance for Kinski astounds me
He had an extremely unique face
You could tell he was a mental case just by looking at it.
You can find Kinski masks at Spirit of Halloween.
He looks a lot like Willem Dafoe, or rather Willem looks like him
He looks like KK Downing
You can be unique, but "extremely unique" doesn't make sense.
His autobiography is absolutely insane.
It's mostly made up tho.
@@desisdosis473 maybe Herzog lied though. Why would you work with and live with someone who’s absolutely fucking insane? He continually hired him after the dude destroyed his house and sat in a room with leaves up to his knees, and could barely act without disrupting and destroying the set? Seems like he knew the dude was nuts and fabricated a lot of shit after he died to drum up more controversy.
@@PlutoTheGod as a german, i can tell you kinski was 100% insane. At the same time he was and still is the best german actor we ever had
@@deinvaterduhs no doubt he was insane but I just have a hard time believing things coming from seemingly an equally insane director. Bipolar maniac yes but it just seems outlandish to continually use and live with someone like that and also dispute their entire childhood story post death. Idk all around just a nutty story where you wonder where everyone’s heads were at.
@@PlutoTheGod You could not come up with "money" as an answer? It's like there are no Kinski's today, take a look at Tom Cruise or more recently Ezra Miller and those are just the tip of the iceberg. Not all great actor are nuts but it definitely happens more with actors then in any other field of work.
Shocked to learn that he didn't die at the hands of Werner Herzog
:-)
He died from KARMA.
@@davidpage3893 What? From a heart attack at the age of 65 in his nice California home? After a long & successful career? Yeah sounds like real Karma for a psychopath that raped his daughter.
In a bizarre way i feel like Klaus and Werner feeding off of each other's insanity kept them from killing each other when they were in the forest. That makes no sense but I'm for real
Their insanity canceled each other out.
Like Batman and Joker - "What would I do without you?"
@@tvrtkoceric5681 yes exactly! 100%
@@Mondomeyer exactly, yin and yang
Herzog tells it in his own words at the end of "My Best Fiend". "We were like critical masses. We were ready to perish together." Many of Herzog´s documentaries and feature films are centered on extreme, driven personalities. No wonder he came back to Kinski time after time.
I know he was psychotic, but I've always found him fascinating to watch
Agreed - you don't see his kind anymore - they just wouldn't put up with it, period.
@@alisdairmckenzie didnt the amazon tribe ask Herzog if it was okay with him if they killed Kinski?since he was pure cancer to walk around!
@@alisdairmckenzie And that's a good thing
@@vasvas8914 You'll always find people who think the opposite, which is the scary part lol
It's like a car crash.
Kinski as Toht in “Raiders” has always been my favorite “what if” in film history. Fun fact: After seeing them show down in “For a few dollars more”, I looked for any other films starring both Kinski and Lee Van Cleef, as I was convinced they were the biggest badasses in B-movie history. There was one
- “Codename: Wildgeese” - a godawful Rambo knockoff, at the time completely unavailable in the USA (this was in the early 2000s - it’s probably streaming somewhere by now). Through my college’s film school, I tracked down a PAL copy and convinced my professor to blow a solid 1/5th of our tiny yearly budget to have it converted under the pretense of it being a historically significant addition for our growing rare film collection (I also had this done for Kinski’s
“Paganini”, the only film he directed, also unavailable at the time - also, completely insufferable). I’ll never forget the look my professor gave me midway through the initial screening (for an audience of 3), and I’m pretty sure we never spoke again. Best of all: despite being the lead hero and villain respectively, Van Cleef and Kinski NEVER ONCE appear onscreen together, despite ostensibly being in the same scene several times, with Van Cleef even using a helicopter machine gun to kill a flamethrower-wielding Kinski in the climax. It was all worth it just to be able to type the second half of that sentence just now.
I saw that Paganini film and it's no wonder that Herzog refused to direct that piece of crap. 😂
Well my friend now we have the wonders of AI ...Make it happen
I remeber a film from the 70's called "the wild geese" with Harrison, Caine, and a few other well known Brit actors. This was about ex-military mercenaries in Africa. But in the westerns,Van Cleef was superb, the chemistry between him and Eastwood was just amazing, i love those spaghetti westerns.
legendary: Kinski vs. Terence Hill 😆
Kinski I think starred in a horror / thriller film called "Venom" about a black mamba snake and hostage sceanrio from 1981. He also starred in the comedy of "Buddy Buddy" as a doctor of a weird institute and was really good in it.
The sexual molestation accusations make his role in Aguirre even more creepy, especially when you think how he was obsessed with his daughter in the movie.
The same can be said for Cobra Verde, some of the girls he shares screen with towards the later part of the movie look absolutely uncomfortable as he 'fondles' them. The same in his scenes with his son in Paganini where he almost slobbers over his son to try to show his love for him. It was uncomfortable to watch and a badly made movie. Generally, love him or hate him, he was a scene stealing actor for sure, and one I was fascinated with to the point of obsession for a while, until I read his autobiography... that put me completely off him. He came across as a vile human being who was possessive, egotistical, and regarded others as lesser beings in the scheme of things. But he was never uninteresting. I am sure he would be pleased that we are here discussing him years after his death! He's still getting our attention!
It’s amazing that this guy somehow managed to get cast into so many films despite being completely untamed. Why even bother hiring him anymore once his reputation for his outlandish outbursts became widely known?
Because he is interesting to watch on film. Separate the art from the artist.
Because the acting word is a collection of damaged, narcissistic weirdos, sniffing their own farts and keeping up appearances amongst the public eye, while giving hollow praise and rubbing each other's belly
Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, apparently said, "The inmates are taking over the asylum." (when United Artists was formed)
He probably was more right than people seem to get
@@demarcdegasol Seperate the art from the artist does not apply in this case at all, what are you even on about? That phrase is for when an artist has done something controversial, not when the artists literal insanity actively hinders the creation of the movie
@@BalimSwogat I think one because Herzog was making movies where Kinski's real life character was paralleled by his role in the film, egomaniacal monsters sinking themselves and everyone else with them. Also never underestimate how much a fascinating face can lure a director, especially one such as Herzog. I don't know, I personally can understand why he chose Kinski for some of his films, despite the insanity he brought.
@@Nightdare There are plenty of well grounded, normal people in acting. The stereotype you're alluding to has little basis in fact and only applies to a handful of actors. Let’s look at the most acclaimed actors in history. Katherine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Ingrid Bergman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand, Spencer Tracy, Walter Brennan, Denzel Washington, Jack Lemmon, Cate Blanchett, Dustin Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Rebert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Gene Hackman, Glenda Jackson, Jodie Foster, Sally Field etc are all relatively normal people considering their celebrity. In fact when they are accused of being weird it’s usually because they shun publicity and the celebrity lifestyle. What all time great actor was a narcissistic weirdo? Marlon Brando? That’s more because he was lazy, grew tired of acting very quickly and couldn’t give a shit. Most of his on set antics were just him taking the piss and having a laugh at the expense of everyone else. Tom Cruise is a fucking lunatic I’ll give you that one.
Imagine this guy as a guest host on Saturday Night Live.
😂🤣😜
I think him and John Belushi or Sam Kinison would be great friends
On Lorne Michaels' voice: 'You know Klaus, I love the energy, but this is really a family show.'
@@janosnagy4483 Imagine Klaus introducing the band FEAR as the musical guest.
The only person who could dethrone Steven Seagal as the most unpleasant host.
Klaus lived about two miles from us in Lagunitas (Marin County, north of San Francisco). This was the early 80s. I remember his white Jeep with the "Nanhoi" plates, he even gave me a ride a couple of times. He wasnt "bubbly," but he was always civil, relatively soft spoken...
I worked with KInski on Timestalkers a bad B movie. He wanted a chocolate bar but couldn't remember the name of it. Everyone was trying to get it, I yelled out Mars bar! He said that's it! He picked me up and swung me around like I was a little kid.
What an awesome story! Thanks for sharing 😊
1:35 Kinski was NOT born in Poland to Polish-Germans. He was Born in the Free City of Danzig, a formerly German City under Mandate of the League of Nations.
Exactly
@@flonkplonk1649 zoppot,been there,a bar is there
Don’t start that shit up again
As someone descended from Prussians I appreciate this comment.
And his parents came from Kaliningrade to please the nazis
His Daughter,Natassja Kinski was One of the most Stunnig women/ actress to ever grace the Silver Screen.
She was. But man, did she have low self-esteem. Look at her list of men. Just weird weird weird.
@@Tabish29 i know. But i rather remember those Stunnig Hypnotic Green eyes...What a Gorgeous Women.
@jpmtlhead39 oh I know. 1st film I saw of hers was a strange film with John Savage and Keith Carradine and I fell in love with her. I was just a teen.
Her first major role was in a german TV crime show in 1977, called Tatort. The episode „Reifezeugnis“ was directed by Wolfgang Petersen. She was 16 at the time and played a student who had an affair with her teacher. Of course it was scandalous, but her performance was stunning and made her a star.
@Rainyman63 wow. Seems like life mirrored art later. Polanski. Quincy Jones when he was like 100 years old. Yuck.
That Woyczeck mention gave me PTSD of my finals…people who haven’t attempted to read all of Woyczeck can’t fathom what a chaotic play it really is.
Didn’t make me fail though, so I think most people can power through the text. But man it is a ROUGH read, because nothing makes sense.
If you want to know how great Kinski was, watch "Dr Zhivago". He takes a bit part with a couple of lines and takes over the screen. It's one of the most memorable parts of a great film.
That's right!
I do remember him in that movie. My mom still watches that every year around Christmas. It's a great movie, but as a child it was so long. Kinski gave me creepy vibes when I was little, and I would wonder if he was acting or being himself.
Kiniski had a HILARIOUS role in an indie Sci fi low budgeter - the filmmakers prob getting him cheap so they could “use his name to help- sell their movie.” Kiniski pretty much strolls around a spaceship spitting out dialogue between gobbles ( deli wrapped sandwiches in space?????!?!?!).……Brilliant. I forget the movie’s title in this moment.
Creature, a 1985? Alien knockoff that is mainly notable for Kinski more than anything else.
@@cha5 ……That’s it!!! Dude Kinskiis the whole reason to watch that flick!!!
android?
Android most likely - Creature is hilarious because the first thing Kinski does is grope a female astronaut… and that he must have been kicked off the film as by the end of the movie he’s obviously played by a double.
Kinski in Android has a great line about the new breed ("The perfect working class") but when his character tries to grab the female android's rack, she stops him. AI, an early screen parable.
Now imagine picturing Kinski as the infamous SS commander Oskar Dirlewanger.
I like it!
Was just thinking that
Yeah he would have been right for the role
I remember there was a Red Skelton joke he told where he describes going to a hardware store to get some goods but ending up leaving in terror. "Well, I was in line but I realised the guy in front of me was Klaus Kinski and he was buying an axe. I decided to come back later". That's paraphrased because I can't remember the exact words but it definitely gets a laugh as if Klaus Kinski was in front of me buying an axe, Id definitely be going home right away.
My one regret, as a vintage movie collector, was trading in my VHS copy of Crawlspace.
I guess I was in the wrong mood because I didn't like it, traded it and then caught it again 5 years later. At that point I fell in Love with it and even wrote a spiritual successor, about 20 years ago.
But there's only one man to play that role, so the script sits in a special place.
Cheers from Canada
This actor was one of a kind. His rage outbursts are legendary. He really was nuts.
An acting coach once told me the best actors had/have the most screwed up lives.
They should make a film about the relationship between Herzog and Kinski
There Is. Made by Herzog
@@puturro do you know the title?
@@Cadence733 Mein liebster Feind
@@Halbi1987 ah 'my best fiend' wasn't that a documentary? I meant a drama.
@@puturro he means an actual film with actors playing their roles. Not the documentary. And I agree. That would probably be quite good if they got the right people involved.
Whenever I hear of people acting like morons on set I remember David Lynch's motto
"You don't have to suffer to portray suffering..."
Kinski was literally diagnosed as a psychopath and sent to a mental asylum. It wasn’t an act.
Well, he's still known here in Germany for his outbursts and talent, so he must have done something right. Most people here would get the joke if you did a Kinski imitation, that's how famous he is many years after his death. Very recognizable, like a cartoon of a man.
Kinski's autobiography might be the most outrageous and unhinged book I've ever read.
It was a doozy. Errol Flynn wrote a very entertaining one, if you are looking for a slightly less demented read. I don't know if it's entirely reliable... but there's a certain degree of frankness and self-awareness. His life was... a lot. Check out "My Wicked, Wicked Ways" (but get a later edition - it will contain material left out of the original out of legal concerns). It was technically ghostwritten, but pretty much his words from interviews at the end of his life.
As an actor, I find Kinski to be a fascinating character study.
I saw a special screening of the movie 'Creature' at Tarantino's theater, back in 2017.
The filmmakers were there to discuss behind the scenes stories, and they did not have good things to say of Kinski, except for the fact that he gave the most compelling performance in the movie.
Other than that, they said that when Kinski was in LA for the filming, he would frequently go to the local Junior High schools to pick up young girls
Well, his daughter Pola accused him of year-long rape and sexual abuse. He was a monster. A fascinating monster, sure. There's a reason why people put up with him.
But a rotten and sick human being.
Jesus, I hope his efforts were unsuccessful.
And the director didn't stop him because.....
Anyone?
@@vasvas8914 I mean he was off the clock...
How many bosses stop their employees from doing what they want to do, off the clock? Especially someone as strong-willed as Klaus... Filmmakers wanted him in the movie, & Hollywood's MO is to turn a blind eye due to pressure making movies... People in Hollywood got away with a lot back in the 80's... It was a much different time than it is now, for obvious reasons. Today it would be easier to pull up the school's CCTV footage and go public with it... Even to this day, much of the local law enforcement & media is in the pocket of Hollywood elites...
@@trevorpowers6032 elites being code for?
That TV series 'Documentary Now' did a brilliant two-part pastiche of Hertzog and Kinski's relationship. It touches on so many aspects of their relationship and some of the productions they made together.
Imagine the outright insanity it takes to make a movie with a guy who intentionally tried to shoot you with a handgun.
These people were not alright in their minds.
Imagine calling somebody, hearing incoherent screaming on the other end, not even knowing who was speaking and still staying on the line for an hour.
😂 we were thinking the same thing. Man is made of patience
As an actor, his performences are legendary. Not just from the Herzog movies. ...Before that he was a household name in the german Edgar Wallace and Winnetou films. During one Edgar Wallace production he was supposed to shoot a scene with him and actor Heinz Drache, showing them in a conversation. While filming he suddenly jumped forward started to strangle Drache. The director was like "Stop! Cut! Klaus what are you doing?" Kinski looked bewildered and said "Pardon me, but i was thinking about the scene, when i have to strangle him"
what the hell?!
That’s pretty scary. That’s a big disconnect between what’s physically going on around him, and what’s going on in his brain!
Thank you for making this video. It was great getting to know Klaus Kinski.
I saw him in LAX in summer 1986. I was a kid, with my sister and dad, and we recognized him from something but didn't know his name. He was sitting like ten feet away from us, facing us. We had seen him in 'Venom' but couldn't remember it right then. His hair was short and golden, much like in 'Creature'. He went into the gift shop and I casually followed him a few minutes later, hoping to hear somebody say his name. Glad I didn't approach him, but it does make me wonder if anybody ever had the balls to go up to him saying "oh you're that one dude from that one thing".
Wow! Thanks for sharing that story. 😊
The part where you list some of his actions and then just add "What a guy" nonchalantly had me burst out laughing. That really is all you can really say about Kinski without going into a full rant about him... "What a guy..."
When i was a teenager i found out about him from Herzog's Nosferatu and everytime i found something that had him on DVD i got it. He's really good and fascinating to watch in many different roles, and have that hypnotic quality about him, but yeah, he seemed to have no filter to the types of movies he made.
And what a shock it was when i saw "My Best Fiend" and heard about his daughters years later...
Absolutely astounding thanks so much for sharing this. I will definitely check out those docs & shorts. I did not know most of this about Kinski or Herzog. Insane to think these things ever happened.
You know you're the ass on a movie production when the tribe's leader wants to kill you for the director.
8:10 Calling Herzog to accept a film role: "This call consisted of over an hour of inarticulate screaming before Herzog realized who it was." I'm dying! I've always been a fan of Herzog's documentaries, but I have new respect for a man willing to listen to screams and wails for that long in order to figure out the meaning behind the madness.
Crazy people are sometimes the most gift artists. And when I say crazy in this sense, I mean highly unbalanced but with enough genius to get away with their behavior most of the time.
So basically there’s a good chance this could be Jared Leto’s real father.
Muhahaha! I see that!
Omg you're right!
Leto isn't even close to Kinski. Not in genius. Not in insanity. Not in disgusting.
@@abonny hence why I said he could be his father. He’s learning from the master lol
@@abonny are you sure? 😁
Few Dollars More wasnt his only western. He was the lead antagonist in the brilliant The Great Silence
...one of the greatest (and most depressing) westerns ever made.
@@Perebynis that depends on the ending. There is a happier ending
he made a BUNCH of westerns.
He was also the lead actor in a western titled "A Fury at Sundown" (sometimes coming under different titles) as a character called Gary Hamilton who had been wrongly jailed for years then seeks revenge.
this was RAD! I’ve never heard of either of these men although one of the films was familiar to me. I already have one queued up and am excited to watch…..not for Klaus’s sake of course but for the enjoyment of film.
thanks for opening up an undiscovered world in a very palatable and intriguing way!
This was great work, very thorough and illuminating!
Guys, you must definitely make a similar bio on Werner Herzog! I'm sure it will attract even more views that this one on Klaus.
Yeah I think we’re gonna make one really soon! We’ve done some research and it looks even more interesting than this one. Expect it within the next month
@@FilmStack thank you, that is great to hear and I'm looking forward to it!
He is the best Dracula on film, in my opinion (Nosferatu, 1979).
The original movie is far creepier.
@@colinjames2469I think both are brilliant. I can't decide which one I like more. They are far above other Dracula adaptations.
im gonna be honest, Bram Stoker's Dracula is the best cuz it showed all sides of him and a lot more complexity. Bella Lugosi is famous but definitely not the best, Nosferatu original is good, and Christopher Lee is fantastic, i've heard ppl praise Frank Langella too. But idk, Coppola just ties up all the best elements of the prior 60 years of Dracula interpretations, and condenses and refines it. Gary Oldman is a brilliant actor, and despite being a ghoulish dracula you feel sympathy too, and he doesn't have to overact to be notable. Tbf we've not had a decent dracula film since the 90s
@GuineaPigEveryday I want to love bram stoker's dracula the best because it does have so much going for it, but ultimately I find its change of tone goes a bit too far (it's a great style for itself but very different from the dracula book, other films capture that tone better) and the tragic romance being treated so sympathetically despite dracula being a monster is not to my tastes personally.
I prefer the 1979 dracula personally despite that also being quite different from the book.
@@GuineaPigEveryday I've never liked Bram Stoker's Dracula because it tried to humanize Dracula far too much, Stoker's Count in the novel was an animalistic predator closer to a rapist and was the Victorian equivalent of the Anti-Christ and had about as much empathy for Mina and Lucy as a cat does with a mouse that it's playing with in it's paws and viewed them as little more than items on his food chain.
As to Dracula films the 1922 Nosferatu, The Bela Lugosi Dracula, and the Christopher Lee Horror of Dracula are my three favorites, (although I also loved William Dafoe's Shadow of the Vampire) but I'm really looking forward to both Reinfeld (haven't seen it yet) and The Demeter.
Enjoyed this tremendously, thank you very much!
Thank you!
It is hard to tell where Kinski as a person ended and Herzogs stories of him started. Both liked to create "tales". Herzog and Kinski were basically two sides of the same coin. Herzog was calculating and in control while Kinski was emotional and unstable. Both were more or less high functioning psychopaths. Think of "American Psycho" without the actual killings. They weren't crossing the line but dancing on it instead. Herzog was a Genius as was Kinski.
My favourite Kinski anecdote is still from the 1981 film Venom in which some bright spark thought it a good idea to cast the capricious German against… Oliver Reed!
Inevitably the ever bibulous Reed apparently spent much of his time delighting in winding Kinski up even more, locking him in his caravan and shouting ‘Nazi’ at him constantly. Like Werner Herzog before him quite how Venom director Piers Haggard survived this experience without therapy is a mystery… 😉
Oliver is the goods 😁
I bet he didn't say sh*t to Reed, who would have flattened him.
You didn't rage in Oliver Reed's face for more than 3/4 of a second...
Fitzcarraldo is an amazing film, throwing an already on edge actor into a jungle and fun times ensues.
Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes is arguably both Kinski's best and Herzog's finest work. What the crew did with that paddle steamer in Fitzcarraldo, though... both utterly mad and incredibly impressive.
@@dontbefatuousjeffrey2494Aguirre is in my all time top 10.
The joke was that Herzog himself was the real Fitzcarraldo. After all, he got a crew of natives to pull a steamship over a mountain with ropes and logs. No special effects, no miniature sets, no post-production tricks, just pure crazy.
I think “separating the art from the artist” only works when the artist had passed or can no longer make money or status off of the art. Like in this case. Otherwise we’re just lining the pockets of terrible people.
Aguirre was and remains one of my favourite movies. I first saw it on UK tv in the early 80s. It was one of those films that, like Tarkovsky’s Stalker which I saw on tv around the same time, I could not fit into my previous experience and struggled to understand, but was compelled to watch nonetheless.
Herzog comes across as kinda insane himself, but in a completely opposite way: Whereas Kinski was loud, obnoxious and in your face, Herzog is always quiet and almost *too* calm. I never once heard him raise his voice even a tiny bit.
20:12 it doesn't look like he's clutching his throat, it looks like he's putting the back of a machette to his neck!
Subscribed at the end of this video. Fascinating deep dive into this actor.
Thank you! We have a similar deep dive coming up next week about Werner Herzog, who might be even more interesting 😅
This was excellent, so I'm gonna subscribe just in case that Herzog does happen. I don't want to miss it.
Listening to this video while out running, assumed it was a huge channel, shocked to see it's not... yet. Keep going man, seriously talented.
The man was nuts but a legend. He did great films and crap films but he NEVER failed to be entertaining.
Great Video. Never watched most Kinski movies but now I got a little interested.
German pronunciation guide: the German W is pronounced like the English V, and Z is pronounced as TZ. The director's name is pronounced (roughly) Vairner Hairtzog.
I can only imagine how different raiders would have been had kinski been in it.
Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg probably would have left filmmaking.
Harrison Ford himself isn't the most affable of people. That would have given blood. (maybe)
@@superdrunkdnb i would pay good money to see harrison and klaus at their peak duke it out
@@suqmadique9762 Holy sh** that would be awesome!!!
The height advantage goes to Harrison. But hey - Mike Tyson was almost allways the shorter fighter, so...
@@superdrunkdnb kinski has this animalistic side to him, but apparently he is aware of people fighting back so maybe its all just show from him
but then again, thats what i would pay to find out :D
Wow this was done amazingly thank you for sharpening my sword to this practitioner of the art. Interesting actor.
30 years ago I read a book Kinsky wrote: "Ich brauche Liebe" (I need love). Dude was absolutely batshit crazy and helplessly insane!!! 😃
I feel bad that I best know Herzog from Jack Reacher, where he played a character I loved so well that I at least looked him up and was taken aback by his prior accomplishments. Years later, I saw his documentary about visiting Antarctica that involves no acting at all and found out that I really like the guy for his personality (at least who he was at that age). Not too far off, the only reason I've known the name Klaus Kinsky for so long is from a brief reference made by Patton Oswalt in a 1997 stand-up act that I'm a big fan of.
I remember reading some interview in which Herzog was a bit sardonic about Marlon Brando as an actor and thought that Brando was overrated in comparison to Kinski and everything he had gone through with the man in his lifetime, a comparison of the two actors would be interesting but probably would also be pointless.
I remember reading about him and making of movies in Empire magazine years ago and literally falling off my chair, grabbing my ribs laughing hysterically. So it was all true
Yep. He fucked his kid daughter from the age of five, and terrorized her sister with fear as well. He should not be celebrated or spoke of in any way, To do that at all is beyond disgusting, but to your own daughter?! It’s the most despicable act a man can commit…
Lmao the tiny king Curtis clip had me giggling thanks filmstack man
Good Lord, can you imagine a contemporary Hollywood production trying to cope with Kinski on set, especially in this day and age when so many movies rely upon CGI? He would've torn the green screen to shreds with his bare hands!
This channel is gonna blow up
Hertzog said they sat down during a walk in the woods one day and came up with ridiculous things to include in Kinski's biography. They met when Werner was a child and his mother was running a boarding house. Kinski ended up staying there after the war and became friends with Werner.
I've watched several Kinski movies and my favorite has to be Aguirre the Destroyer. I love what he said to Spielberg about his Raiders of the Ark script, what a mad genius.
aguirre the destroyer...i like that.
Thanks for summing it up, the rabbit hole 🕳️ s too deep for me
Kinski's character in Nosferatu was called Prince Orlock. Stoker's wife wouldn't allow Dracula to be used in the original version so it had to be changed.
The count's name is Orlok in the 1922 original, but Dracula had fallen into the public domain when Herzog made his adaptation, so he used the original character names from the book.
I wonder if there's a commentary to be found in the name of Count Orlok. Oorlog is the Dutch word for war. Could this be the spectre of war descending on the people like a vampire? 🤔
9:57
X'D the lil kid packing his bags and leaving, that was chefs kiss. Subbed
The only thing I knew about Kinski prior to this video was that he was nearly Toht in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, can you imagine Kinski’s face melting off in that finale scene 😂, in the end no one could have played that part in Indiana Jones better than Ronald Lacey, amazing video to watch.
Quality content!
I'd argue that the appeal of Kinski to non-german audiences is because we know that he was insane. So divorcing the person from the actor isn't really relevant here. He was both the actor and the person at the same time. He might be the one case in modern cinema where he was a known child abuser but people are still willing to watch his films just to watch an enigmatically engaging insane person. Despite knowing what he did he is still weirdly, morbidly beguiling to watch in a way that say, Woody Allen or Kevin Spacey, is challenging now. I'm not saying that's right, but he was such a unique actor and such a deeply strange and troubling person his madness is kind of fascinating.
Clint Eastwood's eyes: "God, I hope I don't run into Kinski at night"
I haven't heard Kinski's name in many years, so I'm really enjoying this, thank you!
I think I would have a dart gun full of elephant tranquilizer concealed on my person if I had to work with him. Glad he got putcin his place!
What the hell, Germany?
I doubt he would have been so great of an actor if he lacked warmth and I totally agree about RotLA.
Oh god, I didn't know about how he was with his daughters. It takes a lot out of my enjoyment of his work. Damn.
I saw Crawlspace when I was younger. Thought it was the creepiest movie I had seen up to that point. I'm glad someone finally mentioned it.