White Hunter Black Heart *** (1990, Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, Charlotte Cornwell) – Classic Movie Review 6743

In his first star character role, aged 60, Clint Eastwood achieves a bravura sustained impersonation of wayward  legendary movie director John Huston who in 1950 sets out, distracted and obsessive, on a quest to shoot an elephant during the already tricky African location filming of The African Queen (1951).

White Hunter Black Heart is a clever and perceptive attempt to make poetic fiction out of fact, with a strong whiff of the real characters and Fifties film-making, but the screenplay and Eastwood’s direction are rather low on imagination and urgency.

The movie is worthwhile, though, for Eastwood in a character part and away from action for a change as John Wilson. Eastwood is a really good fit for this role and makes the most of it. None of the other actors gets much of a look in, though they are entirely adequate: Jeff Fahey as writer Peter Viertel (aka Pete Verrill), Marisa Berenson as Katharine Hepburn (aka Kay Gibson), and George Dzundza as producer Sam Spiegel (aka Paul Landers), all in fictionised versions with slightly or totally different names, which poses the interesting question of why they didn’t film the real story.

The screenplay by Peter Viertel, James Bridges and Burt Kennedy is based on Peter Viertel’s novel, a fictionalised version of the real-life facts with changed names.

Also in the cast are Alun Armstrong, Timothy Spall, Richard Warwick, Richard Vanstone, Mel Martin, Edward Tudor-Pole, Charlotte Cornwall, Norman Lumsden, John Rapley, Jamie Koss and Roddy Maude-Roxby.

White Hunter Black Heart is directed by Clint Eastwood, is a Malpaso and Rastar production, is distributed by Warner Bros, written by Peter Viertel, James Bridges and Burt Kennedy, shot by Jack N Green, produced by Clint Eastwood, scored by Lennie Niehaus and designed by John Graysmark.

Richard Warwick (1945–1997).

RIP Richard Warwick (1945–1997), who plays Basil Fields, British partner.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6743

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