Year of Eastwood #4

White Hunter, Black Heart (1990)

Starring: Eastwood
Directed by Eastwood

You want to see Eastwood act? I mean beyond the swagger of his usual roles. Then check out White Hunter, Black Heart because this movie features Clint stretching outside of his usual comfort zone. From the very first scene, it hits you like a bag of marbles. Ok, so he’s still playing a macho character, he just plays it with an accent and the enthusiasm turned up a notch. It’s actually quite disarming. It’s hard to not be distracted at least for the first few scenes. I found myself thinking about it quite a bit while watching the movie. Most of the big movie stars have a persona we expect from each of their roles - Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson - when they veer from that character, the film usually suffers.

The film is a somewhat factual recount of the great American director John Huston’s obsession with hunting an African elephant - oh yea, he also just happened to be on location filming one of the all-time classics of cinema … The African Queen. Sure, the names have all been changed but we know what’s going on - we know who Kate is, we know who Humphrey is. I was disappointed that the film didn’t provide more insight into the making of the film, instead the whole production is merely a subplot. Kate and Humphrey are reduced to caricatures throwing out one liners. And there’s only occasional mention of the struggles that went into making the movie.

Instead the film is about Huston’s personal version of Moby Dick. His obsession with shooting an ivory-tusked whale. He sacrifices his friends, his career, his legacy to track down those pesky elephants. Clint bulls his way thru scene after scene, determined to conquer the one obstacle (or beast) that seems to be the ultimate prize. As is the case in these films, in the end he learns a valuable lesson - but at what cost? I'd say ... just about nothing. He still went on to direct a great film, made lots more money, and probably bought some fancy car to make up for the elephant he didn't shoot.