# Der Schuh des Manitu
**Der Schuh des Manitu** (English title *Manitou's Shoe*) is a 2001 German comedy western that parodies the [Karl May](https://www.edgepedia.org/karl-may) film adaptations of the 1960s, especially the Winnetou and [Old Shatterhand](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-shatterhand) pictures starring Pierre Brice and [Lex Barker](https://www.edgepedia.org/lex-barker). It was directed, co-written, and co-produced by Michael "Bully" Herbig, who also plays the double lead role, and it became the most successful German film at the domestic box office since official counting began in 1968, with about 11.7 million admissions.[1](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4) • [2](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | German premiere 13 July 2001; theatrical release 19 July 2001; FSK rating 6 and up[1](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4) |
| Director and lead | Michael "Bully" Herbig, who took his first turn as a film director after *Erkan & Stefan*, also serving as producer, co-writer, and double lead (Abahachi and Winnetouch)[3](https://constantin.film/kino/der-schuh-des-manitu/) |
| Main cast | Christian Tramitz (Ranger), Sky du Mont (Santa Maria), Marie Bäumer (Uschi), Rick Kavanian (Dimitri)[4](https://www.filmportal.de/node/34625/material/625959) |
| Box office | About 11.7 million admissions and roughly 65 million euros in Germany, the most successful German film since official counting began in 1968[2](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html) • [5](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/325835/kritik.html) |
| Production | herbX film with Constantin Film; shot 26 April to 28 June 2000 in Almería, Spain, and Munich; 84 minutes, 35 mm[1](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4) |
| Honors | German Film Awards 2002 for screenplay, production, direction, actor in a double role, and the audience award; FBW rating "wertvoll"[6](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf) • [7](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/der_schuh_des_manitu) |
| Sequel | *Das Kanu des Manitu*, released 14 August 2025, sold 5,048,825 tickets in Germany that year[8](https://www.ffa.de/marktdaten.html?cid=14517&file=files%2Fdokumentenverwaltung%2Fpublikationen+presse+%28bearbeitet+HS%29%2F2025%2FFFA-Kinojahr_2025.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story is set in a comic Wild West, which the [Constantin Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/constantin-film) synopsis places in the 18th century.[3](https://constantin.film/kino/der-schuh-des-manitu/) The Apache chief Abahachi and his white blood brother Ranger, who speak Bavarian dialect, keep peace and order in the frontier land. Abahachi takes out a loan from the Schoschonen (a comic distortion of the Apache-related name Shoshone) to finance a tribal pub, but falls into the hands of the con man Santa Maria, who sells him a worthless facade, absconds with the borrowed gold, and frames the two friends.[3](https://constantin.film/kino/der-schuh-des-manitu/) • [9](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/44489.html) Santa Maria also shoots "Falscher Hase" ("Wrong Hare"), the Schoschonen chief's son, and pins the murder on Abahachi and Ranger, so the tribe, lacking a war tomahawk, digs up the "Klappstuhl" (folding chair) instead.[9](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/44489.html) • [3](https://constantin.film/kino/der-schuh-des-manitu/)
The trail leads to a mountain called the "Schuh des Manitu," the film's title object. Complications pile on: Ranger falls for the smartly turned-out Uschi, and the pair must also deal with Abahachi's flamboyantly camp twin brother Winnetouch.[4](https://www.filmportal.de/node/34625/material/625959) The film's humor rests on dialect dialogue, slapstick, musical numbers, and constant references to film, television, and advertising.[10](https://www.fernsehserien.de/filme/der-schuh-des-manitu)
## Origins
The film grew out of the Winnetou sketches in *Bullyparade*, the late-night comedy show Herbig hosted with Rick Kavanian and Christian Tramitz on ProSieben from 1997 to 2002.[11](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Manitou%27s_Shoe_Review) • [1](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4) In an interview with the newspaper *Welt*, Herbig explained the method behind the show's more than 1,000 sketches: the team looked for material audiences already knew, and parody worked best when the original took itself seriously, as the Winnetou films did.[12](https://www.welt.de/kultur/article4479750/Michael-Herbig-Wie-ein-Trueffelschwein-auf-der-Suche-nach-Ideen.html)
Herbig had made his directing debut with the comedy *Erkan & Stefan*; *Der Schuh des Manitu* was the first project of herbX film, the production company he founded in 2000.[3](https://constantin.film/kino/der-schuh-des-manitu/) • [6](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf) The film was produced by herbX film in co-production with Constantin Film and with Bernd Eichinger, Michael Herbig, and Michael Wolf as producers.[1](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4) Shooting took place in [Almería](https://www.edgepedia.org/almeria) in southern Spain, on locations also used by the 1960s Karl May westerns and the Italian westerns the film borrows from, and in Munich.[1](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4) • [6](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf)
## Parody targets and style
The film's main targets are the Karl May westerns of the 1960s, in which Pierre Brice played Winnetou and Lex Barker played Old Shatterhand; Abahachi is modeled on Winnetou and Ranger on Old Shatterhand.[2](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html) It also draws on the Italian western tradition and, in individual scenes, on films such as *Dances with Wolves* and the [Indiana Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/indiana-jones) pictures.[2](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html) • [6](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf) • [7](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/der_schuh_des_manitu)
A central comic device is the conflict between the two blood brothers themselves: Ranger, unlike his heroic model, is dissatisfied with the whole situation of constantly riding through the steppe and sneaking around, a complaint that became one of the film's best-known lines.[2](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html) The German Film Board (FBW), which awarded the film its "wertvoll" (valuable) rating, noted that the screenplay quotes westerns, Karl May films, and Indiana Jones both visually and musically, and that building homosexuality into the comedy follows through what the romanticized male world of the western latently contains.[7](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/der_schuh_des_manitu)
## Reception and box office
The film drew about 11.7 million cinema visitors in Germany and grossed roughly 65 million euros, making it the most successful German film since official counting began in 1968.[2](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html) • [5](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/325835/kritik.html) In Austria it displaced *Titanic* from the top of the box office on its opening weekend.[10](https://www.fernsehserien.de/filme/der-schuh-des-manitu) In summer 2002 the distributor released an extended version, *Der Schuh des Manitu – Extra Large*, with an added prologue giving fans the story before the film begins.[13](https://tv.orf.at/program/orf1/derschuhde102.html)
Awards followed in the 2001–2002 season: a Bambi, the German Comedy Prize for best feature film, the Golden Screen with two stars, and German Film Awards in 2002 for screenplay, production, direction, and actor in a double role, plus the audience award.[6](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf) The film screened at the Berlinale and at AFI Fest Los Angeles in 2002.[6](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf)
## Legacy and sequel
For more than two decades *Der Schuh des Manitu* stood at the top of the German all-time admissions ranking, and it was adapted into a stage musical at the Theater des Westens in Berlin.[5](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/325835/kritik.html) • [14](https://www.karl-may-gesellschaft.de/kmg/seklit/jbkmg/2009/355.pdf) In January 2024 Herbig and Constantin Film announced a sequel, *Das Kanu des Manitu*, written by Herbig, Tramitz, and Kavanian and released on 14 August 2025 with the original leads returning.[15](https://constantin.film/news/spektakulaere-fortsetzung-bully-und-constantin-film-bringen-das-kanu-des-manitu-ins-kino/) • [16](https://www.kino.de/film/das-kanu-des-manitu-2025/) The sequel sold more than two million tickets within days of release, the strongest start for a German film since 2019, and reached 5,048,825 tickets in 2025, well short of the original's figures but a substantial commercial success.[17](https://kulturstaatsminister.de/presse/zwei-millionen-tickets-in-wenigen-tagen-das-kanu-des-manitu-legt-erfolgreichsten-start-eines-deutschen-kinofilms-seit-2019-hin) • [8](https://www.ffa.de/marktdaten.html?cid=14517&file=files%2Fdokumentenverwaltung%2Fpublikationen+presse+%28bearbeitet+HS%29%2F2025%2FFFA-Kinojahr_2025.pdf) Herbig stated in late 2025 that no third Manitu film was currently planned.[18](https://www.n-tv.de/leute/Michael-Bully-Herbig-Bislang-keine-neuen-Manitu-Filme-geplant-article26136246.html)
## References
1. [Der Schuh des Manitu, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-schuh-des-manitu_3d677bd6e78244929c571611b9e524d4)
2. [Schuh des Manitu, Bayerische Kultserien](https://www.bayerische-kultserien.de/schuhdesmanitu.html)
3. [Der Schuh des Manitu, Constantin Film](https://constantin.film/kino/der-schuh-des-manitu/)
4. [Der Schuh des Manitu, Inhalt und Credits, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/node/34625/material/625959)
5. [Kritik zu Das Kanu des Manitu, FILMSTARTS.de](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/325835/kritik.html)
6. [Manitu's Shoe, Goethe-Institut film catalog (2003)](https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf185/filmneu-20031.pdf)
7. [Der Schuh des Manitu, Deutsche Filmbewertung und Medienbewertung (FBW)](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/der_schuh_des_manitu)
8. [Das Kanu des Manitu, FFA Kinojahr 2025 market data](https://www.ffa.de/marktdaten.html?cid=14517&file=files%2Fdokumentenverwaltung%2Fpublikationen+presse+%28bearbeitet+HS%29%2F2025%2FFFA-Kinojahr_2025.pdf)
9. [Der Schuh des Manitu, FILMSTARTS.de](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/44489.html)
10. [Der Schuh des Manitu, fernsehserien.de](https://www.fernsehserien.de/filme/der-schuh-des-manitu)
11. [Manitou's Shoe Review, The Spaghetti Western Database](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Manitou%27s_Shoe_Review)
12. [Michael Herbig: "Wie ein Trüffelschwein auf der Suche nach Ideen", WELT](https://www.welt.de/kultur/article4479750/Michael-Herbig-Wie-ein-Trueffelschwein-auf-der-Suche-nach-Ideen.html)
13. [Der Schuh des Manitu – Extra Large, tv.ORF.at](https://tv.orf.at/program/orf1/derschuhde102.html)
14. [Peter Krauskopf, Medienbericht 2008, Karl-May-Gesellschaft](https://www.karl-may-gesellschaft.de/kmg/seklit/jbkmg/2009/355.pdf)
15. [Spektakuläre Fortsetzung: Bully und Constantin Film bringen Das Kanu des Manitu ins Kino, Constantin Film (18 January 2024)](https://constantin.film/news/spektakulaere-fortsetzung-bully-und-constantin-film-bringen-das-kanu-des-manitu-ins-kino/)
16. [Das Kanu des Manitu, kino.de](https://www.kino.de/film/das-kanu-des-manitu-2025/)
17. [Zwei Millionen Tickets in wenigen Tagen, Pressemitteilung, Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (29 August 2025)](https://kulturstaatsminister.de/presse/zwei-millionen-tickets-in-wenigen-tagen-das-kanu-des-manitu-legt-erfolgreichsten-start-eines-deutschen-kinofilms-seit-2019-hin)
18. [Michael Bully Herbig: Bislang keine neuen "Manitu"-Filme geplant, n-tv.de](https://www.n-tv.de/leute/Michael-Bully-Herbig-Bislang-keine-neuen-Manitu-Filme-geplant-article26136246.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2000 to 2002 › Comedies of 2001*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license