The Gods Must Be Crazy

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a 1980 South African comedy film written and directed by Jamie Uys. Financed only from local sources, it is the most commercially successful release in the history of South Africa's film industry. Originally released in 1980, the film is the first in The Gods Must Be Crazy series. It is followed by one official sequel and three unofficial sequels produced in Hong Kong.

Set in Botswana, it follows the story of Xi, a San of the Kalahari Desert (played by Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma) whose tribe has no knowledge of the world beyond, Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers), a biologist who analyzes manure samples for his PhD dissertation, and Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo), a newly hired village school teacher.

Plot

Xi and his San tribe (of !Kung bushmen) are "living well off the land" in the Kalahari Desert. They are happy because of their belief that the gods have provided plenty 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, Xi's people suppose this strange artifact is another "present" from the gods and find many uses for it. (They employ it as a crafts tool, blow the top to make music, etc.) But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one glass bottle to go around. With everyone wanting it at once, they soon find themselves experiencing envy, anger, and even violence.

The Gods Must Be Crazy (film series)

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a series of films starring the Namibian San farmer and actor Nǃxau.

Official films

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

The first film released in 1980, written and directed by Jamie Uys. Set in Botswana and South Africa, it tells the story of Xi, a Sho of the Kalahari Desert whose tribe discovers an empty Coca-Cola bottle. The bottle brings discord to the tribe, and Xi is sent out into the unknown world beyond the Kalahari to return the bottle to the Gods by throwing the bottle off the world's end.

The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

A sequel was released in 1989. Xi's name was changed to Xixo in this film. In it, Xixo's two young children encounter poachers in the Kalahari Desert, explore the back of their truck, and become unable to jump off once it starts moving. Xixo must once again travel great distances to retrieve them, and once again encounters various other western characters who are on quests of their own. The film is notable for the increased role of animals throughout the story, and for its light-hearted treatment of the civil war still raging in nearby Angola at the time.

The Gods Must Be Crazy II

The Gods Must Be Crazy II is a sequel to Jamie Uys' 1980 comedy film, The Gods Must Be Crazy, and it is the second film in The Gods Must Be Crazy film series. It was made by Weintraub Entertainment Group and released by Columbia Pictures in the US and released in the rest of the world by 20th Century Fox. The film was released in the United States on 13 April 1990.

Plot

The film is split into four stories:

The story starts with two elephant poachers crossing the area in which Xixo's tribe lives. Curious about their vehicle, Xixo's son Xiri and daughter Xisa climb into the water tank trailer and are subsequently taken for an involuntary ride as the poachers continue. Xixo follows the truck on foot, determined to retrieve his children.

A young lawyer named Ann Taylor arrives at a bush clinic to participate in a lecture. Since she has some spare time, she accepts the invitation by a young man to take a joyride in his two-seat, twin engined ultralight aircraft. They go to see scientist Dr. Stephen Marshall, who exchanges places with the other pilot so he and Ann can continue on, but the plane crashes, stranding them both in the middle of the Kalahari desert. In addition, war is brewing, personified by a lost Cuban soldier (Mateo) and his Angolan enemy (Timi), who repeatedly attempt to take each other prisoner.

Gods (disambiguation)

Gods or deities are beings with superhuman powers or qualities who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred.

Gods may also refer to:

See also

The gods (theatrical)

The gods (UK English), or sometimes paradise, is a theatrical term, referring to the highest areas of a theatre such as the upper balconies. These are generally the cheapest seats. One reason for naming the cheapest seats "the gods" is because the theatres have beautifully painted ceilings, often mythological themes, so the cheap seats are up near the gods. Another is that those seated in "the gods" look down upon both the players and the occupants of more expensive seats, like the Olympian Gods looking down from Mount Olympus upon the lives of mortal men and women.

There are references to the "gods" in many plays and films. Among them is the famous French film, Les Enfants du Paradis (or Children of Paradise in its US release), which is described as "set in the teeming theatre district of 1840s Paris (the "boulevard du crime"), the paradise of the film's title is a reference to "the gods", the highest, cheapest seats in the theatre, occupied by the poorest of the poor. As the well-known 1930s-and-later screenwriter Jacques Prévert said when asked about the meaning of the title, "it refers to the actors (...) and the audiences too, the good-natured, working-class audience".

The Gods (band)

The Gods were an English group founded in 1965. The original bandmembers included Greg Lake, later of King Crimson fame, Mick Taylor (later with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Rolling Stones), Brian Glascock, and his brother John (later with Jethro Tull), future Uriah Heep members, keyboardist Ken Hensley and Lee Kerslake on drums, and Joe Konas.

Career

Taylor, Glascock and Glascock were schoolmates from Hatfield and had been playing together as The Juniors (or The Strangers), a band they formed in 1962. Also part of this band were Malcolm Collins and Alan Shacklock. They eventually signed with EMI / Columbia Records. Their first 7" single (Columbia DB7339) appeared in 1964 ("There's a Pretty Girl"/"Pocket Size"). In 1965, the line-up changed. Mick Taylor continued to play guitar and teamed up with Hensley (organ/vocals). They also added Konas (guitar/vocals) and changed their name to "The Gods".

In 1966, The Gods opened for Cream at the Starlite Ballroom in Wembley, London. A single (Come On Down To My Boat Baby/Garage Man) was recorded in early 1967 on Polydor Records. At this point the line-up included Mick Taylor, Ken Hensley, John Glascock, Joe Konas and Lee Kerslake.