Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

bigverybadtom Clint Eastwood tries acting out of his normal character in this movie, being as verbose as possible. Not knowing how director John Huston looked or sounded like, I cannot say how well Eastwood portrayed him, but Eastwood simply looked like Eastwood doing a lot of talking for a change.The plot has Huston in Britain, talking some backers into having a movie set in Africa actually located in Africa, rather than on unconvincing studio backdrops as had been done in the past. Then Huston is in Africa, having a run-in with a hotel manager and several other people, and worse yet, showing little interest in actually making the movie, but strongly desiring to shoot an elephant instead. As the title implies, the attempt to shoot the elephant winds up going badly.So what went wrong? Basically, the story moves slowly, and we don't really understand Huston or his motives. Why fight to have a movie set in an exotic location, and then show little interest in making this movie once there? There seems to be no real point to the story, and we feel dissatisfied in the end.

Michael Neumann Clint Eastwood's caricature of legendary moviemaker John Huston marked a change of pace at the time from the Malpaso Man's usual shoot-'em-ups. But because this semi-fictional of Huston's elephant safari during the filming of 'The African Queen' is so thinly disguised, all the coy name changes (Eastwood is "John Wilson") and character imitations seem pointless. The actor-director mimics Huston's distinctive voice and mannerisms with refreshing, unflattering candor, but is too relaxed to accurately capture the older filmmaker's irresponsible iconoclasm (when faced with a charging wild elephant one almost expects him to mutter, "...go ahead, jumbo, make my day.") It could have been a fascinating character study of silver screen illusions and obsessions, but too much of the film is marred by Eastwood's pedestrian direction (POV shots from a monkey?) and by Pete Viertel's self-promoting autobiographical screenplay, presenting himself (as 'The African Queen' co-writer "Pete Verrill") in a too transparently flattering portrait: honest, handsome, and (of course) a "brilliant" artist.

Petri Pelkonen Director John Wilson goes to Africa to make his next film.With him is a young writer named Pete Verrill.The making of the movie becomes harder when John develops an obsession of killing an elephant.Even though he knows it's not just a crime against nature to do such a deed, but a sin.Clint Eastwood, who turned 80 earlier this year, is the director of White Hunter, Black Heart (1990).The story is obviously based on the experiences of John Huston when he went to make The African Queen.Clint does a great job in the lead as John Hus...I mean Wilson.Jeff Fahey is terrific as Pete Verrill.Charlotte Cornwell is very good as Miss Wilding.George Dzundza is superb as Paul Landers.Eastwood, who still keeps working like crazy, has made better pictures than this.But still, it's pretty entertaining to watch this African adventure.

inspectors71 And I'm not talking painting. White Hunter, Black Heart is an irable failure, a film that tries vainly and unsuccessfully to peer into the complex genius of an artist. I call WHBH irable because Clint Eastwood could not possibly have believed this movie would be a commercial success, yet he made it anyway. It is an actors' movie, a film designed to allow the director and his crew to experiment with a serious subject-and consequential themes--without worrying about the commercial side of the production.The movie is a failure because even with all the hard work from cast and crew, we ultimately don't much care if the movie on screen, a thinly veiled African Queen, gets made. From Eastwood's character on down, there just isn't an emotional bonding that makes the viewer stick to the screen with an adhesive caring. Instead, we get two hours of Clint doing a more humorous than serious John Huston impression.I didn't enjoy White Hunter, Black Heart. I didn't hate it either. Instead, I observed it, the way I observe some impressionist paintings. I can see the use of color, the vibrancy of the brush strokes, the composition, but the whole never gels.A lot of work with no heart-felt payoff.