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White Hunter Black Heart (1990)

tomatometer

85

Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 33
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 5

White Hunter Black Heart is powerful, intelligent, and subtly moving, a fascinating meditation on masculinity and the insecurities of artists.

67

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 3

White Hunter Black Heart is powerful, intelligent, and subtly moving, a fascinating meditation on masculinity and the insecurities of artists.

audience

54

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 5,571

My Rating

Movie Info

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 immortal 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

Sep 2, 2003

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

All Critics (33) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (6) | DVD (5)

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

October 27, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
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An intelligent, affectionate study of an obsessive American film director...

June 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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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.

August 30, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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A devastating portrait of self-deceiving obsession, and a notable improvement on Viertel's book in terms of economy and focus.

January 28, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment (1)
Chicago Reader
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The film is talky and often stilted. But Eastwood's compassion for the character, warts and all, feels genuine.

May 12, 2001 Comment
Rolling Stone
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One of the more thoughtful films ever made about the conflicts inside an artist.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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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.

October 27, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Clint Eastwood raises hell and finds his heart of darkness.

April 9, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Interesting, but a bit pretentious

March 16, 2007 Comment

Ably aided by a fine cast and Jack Green's no-nonsense photography, Eastwood constructs a marvellously pacy, suspenseful movie which is deceptively easy on both eye and ear.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

A fascinating character study about masculinity and the movies.

August 25, 2005 Comment
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

One of Eastwood's finest achievements.

January 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Slow-moving but gently engrossing.

March 17, 2004 Comment
Juicy Cerebellum
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for White Hunter Black Heart

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 takes of the same scene.John Huston was

June 11, 2011
cancercapricorn2002
David Ladd

Super Reviewer

Good drama like the making of The African Queen, but it's not real.

October 31, 2006
deano
Dean McKenna

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • White Hunter, Black Heart (DE)
  • White Hunter, Black Heart (UK)
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