White Hunter Black Heart (1990)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers (WGA):

Peter Viertel (novel)
Peter Viertel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

An adventure in obsession...

Plot:

A thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.

Plot Keywords:

Director | Africa | Elephant | Monkey | Tarmac

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	John Wilson
Jeff Fahey	...	Pete Verrill
Charlotte Cornwell	...	Miss Wilding, Wilson's Secretary
Norman Lumsden	...	Butler George
George Dzundza	...	Paul Landers
Edward Tudor-Pole	...	Reissar, British Partner
Roddy Maude-Roxby	...	Thompson, British Partner
Richard Warwick	...	Basil Fields, British Partner
John Rapley	...	Gun Shop Salesman
Catherine Neilson	...	Irene Saunders
Marisa Berenson	...	Kay Gibson, Film Star
Richard Vanstone	...	Phil Duncan, Film Star
Jamie Koss	...	Mrs. Duncan
Anne Dunkley	...	Scarf Girl in Nightclub Show
David Danns	...	Bongo Man in Nightclub Show

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Spain:T | Iceland:L | West Germany:12 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Norway:10 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Malpaso Productions

Trivia:

The main character portrayed by Clint Eastwood is based on legendary director John Huston.

Quotes:

John Wilson: Wake me up if we crash into the mountain. I wouldn't want to miss that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Tatort: Märchenwald (#1.576)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

SATIN DOLL

Too bad about the beginning of the movie

I must admit that Clint Eastwood was the main reason why I watched this movie. I'm already quite familiar with his work as an actor and as a director - even though I still haven't seen his biggest success "Million Dollar Baby" yet - and overall I can enjoy his work. Does that mean that I love all his movies? No, certainly not, but most of the time, he's the one who saves the movie, even when it isn't all that good. Knowing that he directed this movie and played a major role in it, only made it more interesting for me.

"White Hunter Black Heart" shows how the world famous movie director John Huston is planning on making a trip to Africa, where he will shoot his next movie. But despite his reputation of being a good director, he is also a very difficult man to work with. He doesn't want to make any concessions towards the producers and to make things worse he is also more interested in shooting the biggest elephant possible than shooting his movie and there is nothing or no-one who can bring him to other ideas...

Overall this is a good movie, although I must say that the beginning didn't do it for me. At first I had the feeling that the characters weren't all that real. They felt too much like caricatures, almost making this movie feel like a comedy, which it certainly isn't. That's also the reason why I wasn't exactly thinking about giving this movie a very high rating. But I always make that final decision at the end of the movie and I admit that the end of the movie was a lot better than the beginning. Not only was it very clear that John Wilson felt himself more at ease in Africa than in England, his reactions after the hunt also showed that this wasn't yet another typical type of quiet tough guy without any human emotions that Clint Eastwood plays so often. I really appreciated that in this movie. What I also liked was the entire 'behind the scenes of a classic movie' idea. OK, if you regularly buy a DVD, then you know from the extra's how a movie is shot. But that's how it is done today with all the modern techniques, camera's, lighting equipment. They didn't have all that in the fifties and it's nice to see how it was done back then.

Overall this is an enjoyable movie that offers some good acting and an interesting story. If the beginning had been more believable, this might well have become one of my all-time favorites. Now I give it a rating in between 7/10 and 7.5/10.