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I picked up the H and K set from Anchor Bay over a year ago and really treasure it now. Kinski is my favorite actor and I am intrigued by Herzog. I wanted to know of some other films that I should viddy by the two, separate from one another. I guess I already have plenty of suggestions on Herzog, though you may make them anyways, as far as the best ones to see. But Kinski was in so many films, what are his best ones apart from the ones Herzog directed?

Edit: I need releases I will be able to find on VHS and DVD in America.

I like Kinski in two Spaghetti westerns: notably in The Great Silence (out from Fantoma, possibly OOP?) and in A Bullet for the General (Anchor Bay). The Great Silence is the larger role, with Kinski quite iconic as the bad guy, and his role in Bullet seems somehow to prefigure a little of his Cobra Verde character. Plus, Bullet for the General (Quien Sabe?) was a big favorite of Fassbinder's, who dedicated an early film to Bullet's two lead characters.

If you haven't already bought the Anchor Bay Herzog box (non-Kinski), it's also had a price drop at DDD. With the pending 20% off deal, it's going to be a veritable steal and the best opportunity to see some of the masterworks (Strozsek, especially).

Don't forget the two best-known films that Kinski appeared in: Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More (Kinski is the hunchback that Lee Van Cleef lights a match off of) and David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (Kinski plays the political dissident in chains during the train segment).

In fact, the first time I saw Zhivago was when I was a little boy -- long before I knew who Kinski was. But his brief appearance in that film was so vivid I remembered it for years -- and still do, apparently.

Reviving this dormant thread to ask what people think of Kinski Paganini (1989). The Dvd just turned up here and I had never heard of it. It was the last film he made and he wrote, directed and starred in it.
Paganini's lust and art and demons stand in for Kinski's own, while his family members have significant roles.
Apparently the released version was 82 minutes) while Kinski's version was nearly 3 hours.

Has anyone seen this?

I've never seen it, though I've read it's thought to be nearly unwatchable and generally awful. Herzog has some interesting insights into it on the Cobra Verde DVD commentary, notably that Kinski wanted Herzog to direct it, and that Kinski was already so far gone by this point.

Coincidentally, I was reading about Kinski Paganini tow days ago and I searched for a DVD, which I found a few: a German edition and a Finnish edition, both of the 95-minute version and the German contains the 88-minute cut also, as well as a comprehensive making-of, an interview and the Cannes press conference, which must surely be a hoot.

tryavna wrote:David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (Kinski plays the political dissident in chains during the train segment).

"Liar! Lickspittle! Bureaucrat!!"

Greatest portrayal of an Anarchist in film history.

I second, The Great Silence, which I consider the greatest spaghetti Western outside of Leone.

Andrzej Zulawski's, The Main Thing Is to Love (1975) features some quintessential Kinski moments, but there's no english-subbed DVD, to the best of my knowledge.

The 1967 heist film, Grand Slam is on DVD and is good fun.

More english-friendly Kinski DVDs HERE.

Person wrote:I second, The Great Silence, which I consider the greatest spaghetti Western outside of Leone.

It's between The Great Silence and The Big Gundown, for me.