Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, George Dzundza, Alun Armstrong, Marisa Berenson
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Something of a sleeper in its 1990 release, White Hunter, Black Heart is one of Clint Eastwood's most engaging films. It is based on Peter Vietel's novel about the location shoot of John Huston's immortal The African Queen. But the focus is never on Bogie and Hepburn. Egomaniacal director John Wilson (Eastwood) is far more interested in killing an elephant than in making a movie. His old friend and scriptwriter Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey) and his producer, Paul Landers (George Dzundza), are on hand to try and talk him down from this pursuit. Eastwood's verbose, outlandish performance will be particularly remarkable to fans who tend to think of him as the soft-spoken tough guy. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
Review
Though in many ways a departure for Clint Eastwood both as an actor and a director, White Hunter, Black Heart explores a subject close to his heart: the Hemingway-inspired tough-guy artiste, a tradition that stretches beyond the film's ostensible subject, John Huston, to include Eastwood-mentor Don Siegel, and in some respects Eastwood himself. Despite their obvious physical differences, Eastwood's performance instantly evokes Huston while stopping safely short of a mere impersonation. He makes his character extremely appealing without hiding his flaws. As a director, Eastwood keeps the film moving along in a way that allows its more difficult themes -- colonialism, self-destructive bravado, racism -- to emerge naturally without seeming in the least heavy-handed. Though he fashions himself a rebel against the hypocrisies of English propriety, the evolution of Eastwood's character is the realization of his own implication in what he hates. By the film's unforgettable conclusion he recognizes, like Marlow in Heart Of Darkness, that Africa is too much for him. Also worth noting: Hunter features a solid supporting performance from, of all people, direct-to-video fixture Jeff Fahey. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Timothy Spall - Hodkins; Richard Vanstone - Phil Duncan; Jamie Koss - Mrs. Duncan; Catherine Neilson - Irene Saunders; Richard Warwick - Basil Fields; Boy Mathias Chuma - Kivu; Geoffrey Hutchings - Alec Laing; Christopher Fairbank - Tom Harrison; Norman Lumsden - Butler George; Charlotte Cornwell - Miss Wilding; Conrad Asquith - Ogilvy; David Danns - Bongo Man; Eleanor David - Dorshka; Anne Dunkley - Scarf Girl; Myles Freeman - Ape Man; Martin Jacobs - Dickie Marlowe; Norman Malunga - Desk Clerk; Clive Mantle - Harry; Roddy Maude-Roxby - Thompson; Alex Norton - Zibelinsky; Edward Tudor-Pole - Reissar; John Rapley - Gun Shop Salesman; Andrew Whaley - Photographer; Bill Weston - Riding Double; Mary Selway; Mel Martin - Mrs. MacGregor
Credit
Tony Reading - Art Director, Mary Selway - Casting, Arlene Phillips - Choreography, Stanley Crea Rubin - Co-producer, John Mollo - Costume Designer, Clint Eastwood - Director, Joel Cox - Editor, David Valdes - Executive Producer, Lennie Niehaus - Composer (Music Score), Frank Strayer - Songwriter, Paul Engelen - Makeup, Peter Robinson - Camera Operator, John Graysmark - Production Designer, Jack N. Green - Cinematographer, Roy Button - Production Manager, Clint Eastwood - Producer, Peter Howitt - Set Designer, John Evans - Special Effects, Roy Field - Special Effects, Peter Handford - Sound/Sound Designer, George Orrison - Stunts, James Bridges - Screenwriter, Burt Kennedy - Screenwriter, Peter Viertel - Screenwriter, Duke Ellington - Featured Music, Johnny Mercer - Featured Music, Peter Viertel - Book Author
The story centers on world-renowned film maker John Wilson (Eastwood), who travels to Africa for his next film bringing with him a young writer chum named Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey). While there he becomes obsessed with hunting elephants while neglecting the preparations for the film. This leads to a conflict between the men on several levels, most notably over the idea of killing for sport such a grand animal. Even Wilson concedes that it is so wrong that it is not just a crime against nature, but a "sin." Yet he cannot overcome his desire to bring down a giant bull, a "tusker" with massive ivory tusks. Wilson's final realization that his is a petty, ignoble pursuit comes at a late point and with a tragic price, as the local expert guide Kivu (Boy Mathias Chuma) is killed protecting him from an elephant Wilson decides not to shoot.
The film is a thinly disguised account of writer Peter Viertel's experiences working with John Huston (the Wilson character) while he made the film The African Queen, which was shot on location in Africa at a time when location shoots outside of the United States for American films were very rare.
Production
The film was shot on location in Zimbabwe. Some interiors were shot in and around Pinewood Studios in England. The small steamboat they used in the whitewater scene is the same boat Humphrey Bogart's character captained in The African Queen (1951).
Critical reception
The film received positive reviews with review tallying website rottentomatoes.com reporting that 14 out of the 16 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 88% and a certification of "fresh".[1]
