Review of White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) by Robert F — 20 Dec 2006

I would say this movie, based on a fiction novel by Peter Viertel about John Huston's hunt for an elephant before he goes on to film The African Queen is quite good. Granted, I've never read Viertel's book, but I am familar with John Huston and many of his films, including The African Queen. Clint Eastwood plays a fictionalized version of Huston but gets everything about the director down pat. This includes his vocalizations, his mannerisms, the way he walks hunched over and holds his hands with fingers extented and is always seen with a drink in one hand in a cigar in the other. He's a bit crazy, but the movie makes the great point that all great filmmakers are and that they can't budge to bend towards the studio's need for a happy ending. Clint Eastwood is great behind and in front of the camera, as usual. Jeff Fahey is very good in the supporting role as the writer who is brought along to Africa to finish the script while Eastwood goes on his obsessive hunt for an elephant. An obsession that turns into selfish morbidity and punishment, not only for himself but also the crew who's production he puts way behind. It also comes with a terrible cost. The film is a fine morality play about a man who gleefully seemed resigned to the fate that he was a bastard and doomed to burn in Hell. Eastwood completely losses himself in the role and it's the Eastwood we know, despite the common element of the overly macho persona. The film might have a limited audience. Most people may say what the Hell is this, but true Eastwood fans shouldn't miss it. A fine prelude to his masterpieces which were just around the corner for him in the 1990's.

Grade: B-.