Other Titles • White Hunter Black Heart • Weißer Jäger, schwarzes Herz (1990)
Synopses for White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
1.
Unjustly overlooked in Clint Eastwood's oeuvre, this critical examination of the hubris of machismo predated Unforgiven by just two years and meditated on similar themes. Eastwood plays a macho movie director, in Africa ostensibly to shoot a movie, but more pressingly (to his mind, anyway) to bag an elephant. The story is based loosely on the true story of John Huston's behavior while making The African Queen; Eastwood's Huston imitation (the character here is named Wilson) will no doubt prove distracting to some--he drawls out vowels to the point of breaking--but he captures both the arrogance of and the magnetic force behind the man. The film boasts splendid visuals by cinematographer Jack Green, and the final scene--and Eastwood's performance therein--is nearly heartbreaking. --David Kronke
2.
When John Huston left for Africa to shoot THE AFRICAN QUEEN, he asked his friend, writer Peter Viertel, to come along with him, ostensibly to help him polish James Agee’s script. Eventually, Viertel wrote a fictionalized account of his experience with Huston in Africa, WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART. Almost 30 years later, Clint Eastwood made a film of that novel. Eastwood plays director John Wilson, a man clearly modeled after Huston. Wilson is a gregarious and tremendously engaging character, very different from the strong, silent image of Eastwood his fans have grown to know. At the same time, like many of Clint’s characters, Wilson is a man who lives by his own rules. He goes to Africa, far more interested in shooting an elephant on safari than in shooting his movie. His real obsession seems to be his image of himself as a man of action. Wilson is a rascal, somewhat admirable in his ideals, but he’s also selfish, stubborn, and irresponsible. Eventually, his pursuit leads to tragedy in Eastwood’s most scathing and powerful critique of the macho image he himself has built a career on. It’s perhaps the most complex and compelling work Eastwood has done as an actor.
3.
Clint Eastwood stars in and directs the colorful tale of a flamboyant filmmaker's flair for danger and adventure while on location in Africa. Based on Peter Viertel's novel inspired by The African Queen.
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