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Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, George Dzundza, Alun Armstrong, Marisa Berenson ... see more see more... , Timothy Spall , Richard Vanstone , Jamie Koss , Catherine Neilson , Richard Warwick , Boy Mathias Chuma , Geoffrey Hutchings , Christopher Fairbank , Norman Lumsden , Charlotte Cornwell , Conrad Asquith , David Danns , Eleanor David , Anne Dunkley , Myles Freeman , Martin Jacobs , Norman Malunga , Clive Mantle , Roddy Maude-Roxby , Alex Norton , Edward Tudor-Pole , John Rapley , Andrew Whaley , Bill Weston , Mary Selway , Mel Martin

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 immo... read more read more...rtal 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, Rovi

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54% liked it

5,623 ratings

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85% liked it

33 critics

PG, 1 hr. 52 min.

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Release Date: September 14, 1990

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DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003

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Flixster Reviews (175)

  • cancercapricorn2002
    June 11, 2011
    cancercapricorn2002
    There is a theory that a truly great film director has to be obstinate and uncompromising to any opinion or advice anyone else on the film set would have, reasonable or not.Think about a director like Stanley Kubrick who was such a perfectionist that infamously required over 100 ... read moretakes of the same scene.John Huston was another prime example, a man whom most people cited as being very difficult to work with. Paul Newman once described him as an "eccentric's eccentric."Yet somehow he managed to make great films like "The Maltese Falcon" to be admired by many for decades to come.



    When he was scouting for locations in Congo and Uganda for the shooting of his famous 1951 classic, "The African Queen," he had brought along Peter Viertel to Congo and Uganda as a script doctor to accompany him.Viertel eventually published a fictionalized novel based on the experience called, "White Hunter, Black Heart."The account was a brutal, unflattering portrait of a director who got distracted from actually making a film in Uganda to indulge in his infatuation with hunting down an elephant.



    Bringing this novel to the big screen would seem of no interest to Clint Eastwood, who, before this film, had completed playing Dirty Harry Callahan in "The Dead Pool" from 1988.That is perhaps why audiences could not buy him directing himself playing a character based on Huston in "White Hunter, Black Heart" from 1990.That is a shame because the movie marked a significant shift in Eastwood's career from playing gruff, no-nonsense antiheroes like Dirty Harry and The Man with No Name to deconstructing that very persona in the movies he has directed himself in.Eastwood has been quoted as saying that he personally hates violence and his directorial efforts since then have attempted to present an anti-violence argument.



    For Eastwood to play a larger than life legend like John Huston (the character's name has been changed to John Wilson in the film) must have required some courage.It is a daunting challenge for an icon to play another icon and some may be a little jarred by Eastwood's imitation of Huston's swagger and mannerisms in the opening scenes.But it handsomely pays off in a complex performance that takes his typical gruff, do-as-he-wants persona and deprives it of the masculine heroics.



    The beginning scenes of the movie feel a little disjointed and do take a while to take form.We first see Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey), the Peter Viertel counterpart, meet Wilson in his large mansion in London to discuss the script and write the final draft.The various scenes work well freestanding, including one where Wilson stubbornly insists on his need to shoot in Africa for authenticity in front of the film's producer, Paul Landers (George Dzundza) and the financiers.Yet somehow the expository moments of Wilson taking Verrill under his wing to lavish dinners lack cohesion.



    Once they move to Congo and Uganda, the film takes shape into a journey of obsession.Wilson becomes entranced with the thought of killing an elephant, despite repeated warnings that they are already behind schedule on the film's shooting.Verrill serves as the crucial observer and the voice of reason.Not that Wilson really ever cares to listen, until it may be too late.



    There is a scene early in the film that immediately lets us know that this is not going to be any kind of exciting action film or safari adventure.Wilson is mad at a British man who is being racist at a Ugandan waiter and picks a fight with him.We first see him winning until the tables quickly get turned and he gets pummeled to a pulp.This sets up the rest of the film, which strips away the heroics and the potential for cathartic release of violence found typically in Eastwood's action pictures.



    Why is Wilson so bent on bagging an elephant?When Verrill finally confronts him, he does give an answer, which I won't reveal, except to say that it does not make his obsession any more comprehensible or justifiable to Verrill, Landers or anyone else. The buried implication is that a deep obsession by nature obliterates any sense of motive or purpose, if it ever existed at all.



    "White Hunter, Black Heart" is not quite up there with Clint Eastwood's great films like "Unforgiven" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" but it stands as one of his most interesting and ambitious efforts.It also serves as a key to understanding Eastwood himself, who has made a prestigious, highly personalized career from bucking his familiar character trends of yesteryear while working almost completely outside the normal Hollywood studio system.He has indeed continued to build an impressive resume as a filmmaker and he will perhaps also be remembered as a legendary director, just like Huston.
  • deano
    January 16, 2008
    deano
    Good drama like the making of The African Queen, but it's not real.
  • oakman67
    March 25, 2012
    oakman67
    A very good film directed by and starring Eastwood as a veteran director out to make his masterpiece in Africa and is out to catch an elusive animal. Thinly based on fact, Eastwood commands the screen and the cinematography is superb and again he uses music to its ultimate effect... read more. A very good film somewhat overlooked but one of his best efforts.
  • TurkishStain
    March 12, 2009
    TurkishStain
    I'm not so sure about this one. Clint is at the top of his game and delivers a bunch of classic lines but the rest of the movie is a bit iffy. I was slightly engaged and never really thought about turning it off, that's probably a good thing. Pretty decent.
  • manly500usa
    January 8, 2008
    manly500usa
    he world famous movie director John Huston has gone to Africa to make his next movie. He is an obstinate, contrary director who'd rather hunt elephants than takes care of his crew or movie. He has become obsessed with one particular elephant and cares for nothing else.
  • MovieGuruDude72
    August 16, 2007
    MovieGuruDude72
    More a stroking of someone's ego than anything else. It's amazing how Eastwood went from this mess to Unforgiven just a few years later.
  • tombowling49
    March 18, 2007
    tombowling49
    A highly under sored Movie, in which should have had better reviews-this show is highly under rated. Based on a true story, Eastwood portrays the better of his film making. In this film he really shines in a new side of him...Don't mis judge this movie by its cover.
  • ztruk2001
    December 20, 2006
    ztruk2001
    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 Af... read morerican 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-
  • BrodyBabe82
    May 5, 2006
    BrodyBabe82
    The movie itself is rather dull, at least the story is. It's more of a character piece. And Eastwood delivers one of his best performances.

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Critic Reviews

Richard Schickel
October 27, 2008
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine

Especially for those who have pegged Clint Eastwood too quickly as a masculine traditionalist, White Hunter, Black Heart is a movie to conjure with. Full Review

Variety Staff
June 30, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

An intelligent, affectionate study of an obsessive American film director... Full Review

Janet Maslin
August 30, 2004
Janet Maslin, New York Times

This material marks a gutsy, fascinating departure for Mr. Eastwood, and makes it clear that his directorial ambitions have by now outstripped his goals as an actor. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
January 28, 2004
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A devastating portrait of self-deceiving obsession, and a notable improvement on Viertel's book in terms of economy and focus. Full Review

Peter Travers
May 12, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The film is talky and often stilted. But Eastwood's compassion for the character, warts and all, feels genuine.

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

One of the more thoughtful films ever made about the conflicts inside an artist. Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

A self-aggrandizing epic reeking of man scent. Full Review

October 27, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

An ambitious and intriguing project that never amounts to anything more than the sum of its parts--a trait shared by many of Eastwood's other major project as an independent filmmaker, Bird. Full Review

Rob Gonsalves
April 9, 2007
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

Clint Eastwood raises hell and finds his heart of darkness. Full Review

Lori Hoffman
March 16, 2007
Lori Hoffman, Atlantic City Weekly

Interesting, but a bit pretentious

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