Little Dieter Needs to Fly

1997 · directed by Werner Herzog

Rating

84/100

Hit

yes

Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), directed by Werner Herzog, rates 84/100 — a hit. See how its director, cast and crew rate across their careers.

Cast

• Werner Herzog
• Dieter Dengler
• Eugene Deatrick

Crew

• Peter Zeitlinger — Director of Photography
• Glen Scantlebury — Editor
• Joe Bini — Editor
• Rainer Standke — Editor
• Werner Herzog — Writer

More from Werner Herzog

1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) — 98/100 · hit
2. Lessons of Darkness (1992) — 88/100 · TV film, not counted
3. Stroszek (1977) — 83/100 · hit
4. Grizzly Man (2005) — 82/100 · hit
5. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) — 81/100 · hit
6. Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) — 81/100 · hit

How these numbers work: Methodology