The Gods Must Be Crazy

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a 1980 South African comedy

lm written and directed by Jamie Uys. Financed only
from local sources, it is the most commercially successful release in the history of South Africas lm industry.[3]
Originally released in 1980, the lm is the rst in The
Gods Must Be Crazy series. It is followed by one ocial sequel and three unocial sequels produced in Hong
Kong.

and still speaks Xis dialect, concludes that Xi will die if

kept incarcerated. He and Steyn apply to employ Xi as a
tracker for the remainder of his sentence in lieu of prison.
Meanwhile, the guerrillas invade Kates school and take
her and the students as human shields for their escape to
the neighboring country.

Steyn, M'pudi, and Xi soon discover their eld work (observing the local wildlife) is on the terrorists chosen path.
Set in Botswana, it follows the story of Xi, a Sho of the They manage to immobilize the guerrillas as they are
Kalahari Desert (played by Namibian San farmer Nxau passing by and save Kate and the children. But Jack Hind
Toma) whose tribe has no knowledge of the world be- takes away Kate, and Steyn is left at the same place again.
yond, Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers), a biologist who With Xis term over, Steyn insists upon paying his wages
analyzes manure samples for his PhD dissertation, and and sending him on his way. Steyn tells Kate about his
Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo), a newly hired village problem and Kate is impressed and Steyn begins a relaschool teacher.
tionship with Kate despite his acute clumsiness around
women.
Xi eventually nds himself at the top of a cli with a solid
layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape below.
This convinces Xi that he has reached the edge of the
[4]
Xi and his San tribe (of !Kung bushmen ) are living world, and he throws the bottle o the cli. Xi then rewell o the land in the Kalahari Desert. They are happy turns to his tribe and receives a warm welcome from his
because of their belief that the gods have provided plenty family.
of everything, and no one among them has any wants.
One day, a Coca-Cola bottle is thrown out of an airplane
and falls to Earth unbroken. Initially, Xis people suppose 2 Cast
this strange artifact is another present from the gods and
nd many uses for it. (They employ it as a crafts tool,
Nxau Toma as Xi
blow the top to make music, etc.) But unlike anything that
Marius Weyers as Andrew Steyn
they have had before, there is only one glass bottle to go
around. With everyone wanting it at once, they soon nd
Sandra Prinsloo as Kate Thompson
themselves experiencing envy, anger, and even violence.
Michael Thys as M'Pudi (voiced by Pip Freedman)
Since the bottle has caused the tribe unhappiness, Xi con Louw Verwey as Sam Boga
sults with elders and concludes that its an evil thing
which the gods were absent-minded to send them. Noting that some attempts to dispose of the bottle have failed,
Xi agrees to make a pilgrimage to the edge of the world 3 Release
and toss the seemingly cursed thing o.

Plot

Along the way, he encounters a diverse assortment of

people. Theres biologist Andrew Steyn, who is studying the local animals; Kate Thompson, the newly hired
village school teacher; a band of guerrillas led by Sam
Boga, who are being pursued by government troops after an unsuccessful attack; a safari tour guide named Jack
Hind; and Steyns assistant and mechanic, M'pudi (who
is maintaining his cantankerous Land Rover).

The Gods Must Be Crazy was released in South Africa

in 1980 by Ster Kinekor Pictures; it became a box-oce
record breaker in that country.[1]:77 For the lms overseas release, the original Afrikaans dialogue was dubbed
into English, and voiceover work was provided for !Kung
and Tswana lines.[1]:76 At the time, it broke all box oce
records in Japan and it broke all box oce records for a
foreign lm in the United States.

When hungry Xi happens upon a corral, he shoots a goat In mid-November 1986, The Gods Must Be Crazy was rewith a tranquilizer arrow. He is shortly jailed for this at- leased on videocassette in the U.S. by CBS/Fox[5] through
tempt on livestock. M'pudi, who once lived with the San their Playhouse Video label.[6]
1

10

Reception

EXTERNAL LINKS

[9] Movies of the 80s [Flash Back Wednesday]: The Gods

Must Be Crazy". Clue Magazine. March 14, 2012.

Based on 19 reviews, The Gods Must Be Crazy has carried [10] Lee, Richard (2003). The Dobe Ju/'hoansi. Case Studies
a 95% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Film critic
in Cultural Anthropology (3rd ed.). Wadsworth PublishRoger Ebert gave the lm three stars out of four, and said
ing. ISBN 0-03-032284-7.
in his conclusion: It might be easy to make a farce about
screwball happenings in the desert, but its a lot harder
to create a funny interaction between nature and human 9 Further reading
nature. This movies a nice little treasure.[8]

Aftermath

Despite the lms having grossed over $100 million

worldwide, Nxau reportedly earned less than $2,000 for
his starring role. Before his death, Uys supplemented
this with an additional $20,000 as well as a monthly
stipend.[9][10]:186

Sequels
The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

See also
The Gods Must Be Crazy (lm series)

References

Jamie se treer: Met Uys, ja die wreld in. Rapport Weekly. July 12, 2014. Article which contains
an interview with the lms stars and producer Boet
Troskie
Box Oce History for Gods Must Be Crazy
Movies. The Numbers.
Klemesrud, Judy (April 28, 1985). "'THE GODS
MUST BE CRAZY' - A TRULY INTERNATIONAL HIT. The New York Times.
SummitView School. Introduction to Worldview
(PDF). Alternate link (slideshow at youblisher.com)

10 External links
The Gods Must Be Crazy at AllMovie
The Gods Must Be Crazy at the Internet Movie
Database
The Gods Must Be Crazy at Rotten Tomatoes

[1] Pfa, Franoise (2004). Focus on African Films. Indiana

University Press. ISBN 0-253-21668-0.

The Gods Must Be Crazy lm trailers at FilmAndTVFavourites.com

[2] Gugler, Josef (2003). African Film: Re-imagining a Continent. Indiana University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-25321643-5. Retrieved 2010-06-13.

The Gods Must Be Crazy full episode at Crackle

[3] Gorelik, Boris (12 July 2014). Jamie se treer: Met Uys,
ja die wreld in. Rapport (newspaper) (Media24). Retrieved 2014-07-14.
[4] Proles: !Kung. OrvileJenkins.com.
[5] Hunt, Dennis (14 November 1986). "'Gods Must Be
Crazy' Drops Into Video Stores; 'SpaceCamp' Is Set for
Modest Blast-O. Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). p. K18. Retrieved 2010-08-07. (registration required (help)).
[6] James, Caryn (14 July 1987). "The Gods Must Be Crazy
yea(1981): Home Videos; Sophisticated Silliness. The
New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2010-08-07.
[7] Reviews for The Gods Must Be Crazy". Rotten Tomatoes.
Flixster. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
[8] "The Gods Must Be Crazy Movie Review. Chicago SunTimes. Retrieved 2014-02-09.

The Gods Must Be Crazy full episode at Hulu

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