The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)

A short, sharp portrait of Walter Steiner, a carpenter by trade who happened to be one of the great ski flyers of his era. Herzog films him chasing a world record at Planica in 1974, and the flights themselves are some of the most beautiful sports footage you will see. What makes it Herzog is the unease underneath: a man so gifted that the sport itself starts to look dangerous for him, and a crash the film does not look away from. At under an hour, it is the quickest way into his early nonfiction.