White hunter, black heart
DVD - 2010 | Kazakh
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Add a QuoteSome quotes including “The London story in the early '40s... ” in IMDb but not the ones below:
You're wrong, kid. It's not a crime to kill an elephant. It's bigger than all that. It's a sin to kill an elephant. Do you understand? It's a sin. It's the only sin that you can buy a license and go out and commit. That's why I want to do it before I do anything else in this world. Do you understand me? Of course you don't. How could you? I don't understand myself.
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And Clint loves the word "swell":
What have you been up to?
- Skiing and sitting in the sun.
Isn't that swell?
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Do you really like it?
-Well, darling, it's swell.
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Isn't this just swell... dining with a beautiful lady right in the middle of Africa?
You see, we're gods, Pete. Lousy little gods who control the lives of the people we create. We sit up in some heavenly place and decide whether they live or die... on the merits of what happens to them in reel one, two, three, et cetera. And then we decide if they have the right to live. And that's how we arrive at our ending.
-Well, that's what you say, John. But I say I'm a swell god. I say they should live because of everything they've gone through together. This world doesn't necessarily have to be a hopeless and rotten place, John. We're not all destined and doomed to die of radium poisoning. Now, I might be completely wrong... but that's what makes me a swell god.
That makes you a flea on an elephant's ass.
Things are always good if they're left simple.
-No, not always.
Always. That's what creates truly important art, is simplicity.
-John, there are no rules to art.
There are hundreds of rules. Hemingway understood that. That's why he always reduced life to its simplest terms. Whether it's courage, fear, impotence, death. People's lives just sort of unfold, and things just happen to them one thing after another. They were never bogged down with that nonsense of subplot... that we sweated over in the past. Stendhal understood that. Flaubert. Tolstoy. Melville. Simplicity is what made them great. No, Pete. Don't complicate it. You'll just be wasting your time.
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Well, Pete, there's an old saying: "God makes a man before he kills him."
-I've heard it, John. I've heard it. But I don't think it applies in this case. You're beating the audience over the head, John. People don't go to see pictures to be lectured to.
"There's been silence for hours now. She's sitting on the back, reading the Bible. He's still working on the engine. Finally he says, 'Miss, I'm sorry I got drunk. I apologize. What more can a man do than say he's sorry?'
She says, 'It's not only your drinking I'm upset about. You promised to go downriver. '
He says, 'Miss, listen to me and understand. There's death a dozen times over down that river. '
She says, 'You promised. '
He says, 'I'm taking the promise back!'
Silence. She picks up the Bible, starts reading again, completely ignoring him. Now he can't take the silence any longer.
Finally he says, 'All right, miss. You win... which I'm sure the crocodiles will be happy to hear. Down the river we go. "'
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How many chances does a man get?
-That's never a reason to do something wrong.
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What are the drums saying?
-They're telling everybody what happened, that's all. The bad news. It always starts with the same words.
- What are they?
White hunter. Black heart.
Summary
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Add a CommentIn the background of the African wilderness, Clint Eastwood plays John Wilson who acts loosely based on the legendary filmmaker John Houston who actually filmed "The African Queen" in 1950.
This film turns out a fascinating entertaining piece despite a sad terrible accident.
SPOILER ALERT!
I watched part of the end of this movie years ago and it just tore my heart out.
When John finally tracks down the elephant he decides to take mercy on it and not shot it after all; for which the elephants shows it's appreciation by killing one of his young guides.
Oh the anguish! The whole village wails in morning has the boy's body is brought home. John is torn with guilt because if he had shot the elephant the boy would be alive. I couldn't take it; it was just too tragic. So I leave this warning in case someone is sensitive.
Good for subject matter. The discrimination shown was only a drop compared to what happened then.
Watched this because it is an obscure Eastwood film he produced, directed and acted. His verbal bantering with the script writer and the on location wild life footage made the film memorable, regardless of the aggressive dogmatic screw-you-all opinions. Per wiki:
...based on the 1953 book of the same name by Peter Viertel. Viertel also co-wrote the script with James Bridges and Burt Kennedy. The film is a thinly disguised account of writer Peter Viertel's experiences while working on the classic 1951 film The African Queen (by the cigar chomper director John Huston,) which was shot on location in Africa at a time when location shoots outside of the United States for American films were very rare.
Much as I love the only living hollywood genius, this is tripe; boring, boring, boring.
I think this is one of the more interesting Eastwood films out there- it definitely plays with the character of the strong, silent type he usually portrays in films. Here he is playing the director John Huston while he is filming The African Queen- Huston is one the best American directors- but that doesn't mean he was a ' nice guy ' ( in fact he was known to be a bit of a bastard and a bully- just look at Ray Bradbury's comments abut working with him )- and this film delves into the directors demons in harrowing detail- think of it as Eastwood's art film.
I'm a big Clint fan. When I saw this in the library listing, I wondered how I missed seeing this movie. Now I wish I had avoided it. It was a disappointment for me.
I would differ with reviews that say that Eastwood is a good director and a not very good actor. He is good in both roles, but in this movie he is poor at both.
Fakey acting, strained plot and awkward directing. I don't think I've seen all of Clint's movies and I hope this is the worst one. If they're any worse than this one, it's going to be a blow to my admiration for Eastwood.
As to the viewers who may find this movie difficult to watch because of the way indigenous people in the story were treated - maybe the title should be a dead giveaway that the movie was going to involve the locals getting the bad end of the stick.
I can be of some help for the hot house flower movie fans.
If violent crime makes you wince, don't see The Godfather (the title is a tell).
Casablanca? A minority man is forced to play a song on a piano by his dour boss, one of the 1%. Stay away from that one.
And 12 Angry Men - the title tells it all - a dozen males get really upset. Nobody in this town likes to see that happen.
Eastwood is not the greatest actor, great director but acting not so much, but this is bad.
This movie was entertaining and interesting but not one of my favorite for this year. Not too bad---good performance. Very predictable but still entertaining.
White Hunter, Black Heart ---- (DVD - 2010) ---- This is a good illustraition of Hungry People being, put down and used. ---- Most of the show was hard to watch ---- Because of the mistreatment of all that were not. ---- It is good info portrayed by a great cast. ---- Enjoy! ---- RichardPaul(Finished 1- 2014)