I don’t care if this picture is shot in black and white, or sepia tone, or we have to make the whole damn thing in animation. Pete and I are going to Africa.
-Clint Eastwood in White Hunter, Black Heart.
Starring, Produced, and Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Co-starring Jeff Fahey, George Dzunda, Marisa Berenson, and Charlotte Cornwell.
Written by Peter Viertel & James Bridges and Burt Kennedy.
Music by Lennie Niehaus.
Edited by Joel Cox.
Cinematography by Jack N. Green.
Co-Produced by Stanley Rubin.
A Warner Bros. release.
Preceded by Pink Cadillac.
Followed by The Rookie.
Of all the great pictures Clint Eastwood made in his lengthy career – this is the one I love the most and it is probably one of his least seen pictures.
When watching this movie, you are seeing Clint Eastwood, the actor, at his best, and you are seeing Clint Eastwood, the director, at his near best.
As a lifelong John Huston fan, when I heard that Eastwood was making a film based on Pete Viertel’s novel White Hunter, Black Heart, I could not wait.
Viertel was a terrific screenwriter who worked with John Huston, his good friend on the making of Huston’s classic The African Queen in Africa.
Viertel would also write a book on his friendships with Huston, Hemingway and Gary Cooper called Dangerous Friends.
Viertel wanted to tell the story of that experience, but tell it as an adventure story, so he wrote it as historical fiction – he changed Huston’s name to John Wilson, changed his own name to Pete Verrill, and wrote a wicked cool book.
Eastwood’s film has a faithful screenplay by James Bridges, who would go on to become a good director himself (The Paper Chase, 1973; The China Syndrome, 1979 ).
And this was not just a “Clint Eastwood film.” Eastwood was playing John Huston, who he greatly admired. He would have to give a real performance, not just a movie star turn – and that he did.
Once, during an interview I was doing with Anjelica Huston, I asked her opinion on Eastwood’s portrayal of her dad – “Clint came to me beforehand with all kinds of questions, including questions about how dad walked and talked and if he had any particular physical ticks. I was surprised somewhat by the depth of his commitment to getting his portrayal right – and he did, he got the odd cadence of my dad’s speech down perfectly. He walked with that loping gait that dad did. I think he was awesome in the role.”
Eastwood shot the film in Zimbabwe – and the African locations make a big difference in this. His supporting cast is superb, with the underrated actor Jeff Fahey perfectly capturing Peter Viertel’s counterbalancing character to John Huston’s (Wilson’s) wild man. Another underrated guy, George Dzundza, is also perfectly cast as producer Paul Landers, based on buccaneering producer Sam Spiegel (On The Waterfront, 1954; Lawrence of Arabia, 1962).
While this is the story of making The African Queen in the Belgian Congo – it is also the story of Wilson’s/Huston’s obsession with big game hunting and bagging a “big tusker” (elephant) – an obsession that almost derailed the picture and almost killed him. It is an interesting story, a fascinating set of characters, and a look and feel that is not common in Clint Eastwood films, though the attention to physical detail of The Outlaw Josey Wales and White Hunter, Black Heart shows that the same guy directed both.
For me, a Clint Eastwood fan and a John Huston fan, this movie is just fucking delicious – especially the performance of Eastwood as a devil-may-care filmmaker in Africa on location. You can see in Eastwood’s performance that he knew he was nailing the character and loving it. If you haven’t seen White, Hunter, Black Heart – seek it out – it’s damn good.
“Hope, hell, I’ll die broke in some downtown Los Angeles flophouse – and I won’t be bitter. I’ll have contributed five or ten damn good pictures. They’ll even name a special Academy Award after me, and do you know what? All the wrong guys’ll get it.”
John Wilson/Clint Eastwood
White Hunter, Black Heart.
