Doomed From The Start: Chud Film of the Month- The Stuntman/White Hunter, Black Heart

Got White Hunter, can't get a hold of Stuntman yet! Will keep trying.

I wonder if White Hunter, Black Heart is a slightly premature pick given that African Queen might be unknown to these young bastards. (But it's finally coming to DVD!)

Dislike the Stunt Man, but like white hunter. Peter O'Toole is the only good thing in Stunt man.

Love both movies, but will wait for both on Blu Ray. The standard DVD of The Stuntman is Godawful in terms of picture quality.

I've only ever seen the first 20 minutes or so of The Stuntman, mainly because I remember them being fricking awesome and I was very young (11?), so when that first sequence is over, I lost all interest.

White Hunter's a film that I saw more recently (still, I was about 16 or so) but that must have had a strong impact on me. The final 15 minutes or so I can recall almost shot for shot. I know i'm not adding much to the discussion here, so maybe I should try and track WHBH down on disc soon, but yes, certainly a different kind of film for Clint to have made (the 80s weren't very kind to him) and a helluva role.

Love that last shot. Am I right in saying the last line of the film is Clint taking a seat and saying, "Action"?

Ok, time for me to chime in....

I've not managed to find white hunter yet but I'm trying - i may have to buy it. I found the trailer on goodle vids and it looks great - and I'm no clint fan.


Now onto the Stunt Man. I couldn't finish it in one sitting, i just found it to be diabolically poor. I watched the first 80 minutes then went back for the last 40.
It picked up slightly in the last reel but I am really surprised that:

1. it even got made. For once I was with the studio.
2. it got nominated for oscars. oscarS, plural. Sure a nod for O'Toole but it's peter o'toole, he's fucking great and the only reason I weathered this film to the bitter end. Looking back at the 1980 oscars and all the great films that were also nominated, I'm left to wonder how they even scraped in.

Without O'toole this film would barely have left a stain on the porcelain, every scene without him is limp.

Burt / Cameron has no interesting features at all, can't act, can't even seem scared of the cops.
The Film they are making is like the worst kind of shit.
The stunts are appalling and feel badly done.
It feels like a 70s tv movie pilot (thanks Mario Tosi, 70s TV hack).
The edits are like bad TV, as if they got a student to do it.
Every emotional moment is a total fucking mess.

Now, I don't know if this is full of lots of Hollywood satire or stereotypes that I'm not familiar with:
the stuntmen are anonymous, disposable and interchangeable
the director is a mad brit
the starlet is a mental slut.
the hair and make up girl fucks everyone.
the writer is a fucking hack.
stick in a scene with loads of tits.
film making is hard.
water is wet.

Plus, I found it to be quite insulting to Stunt men - "find a bum, shave him, teach him to fall - bam - you got a stunt man." i don't fucking think so.

Barbara Hersey, nice rack, shame about the acting bitch - I doubt even she could watch that performance now. What was she doing? the starlet sleeping with the stunt man so he doesn't run away? What. The. Fuck.

speaking of which:

the big vietnam rant (should have been a classic buddy face goo - or spat on me whatever), turned into the world's shittest rant about an ice cream parlour. I repeat. what the fuck?! Plus he didn't even kill the guy. he just roughed him up - he's on the run from the cops for roughing up an ice cream man big fucking whoop. paint tins (barely) go flying as the stuntman blows another spot.

My next WTF is at the end so possible spoiler alert: i want my $1000? No. what for, jumping the gun on a stunt? it was so pointless, what a truly annoying cop-out ending! plus the second time they do the stunt - there were germans everywhere, cranes, trucks, all the usual location circus, the first time (in the first reel) when the car goes over there's no fucker anywhere to be seen except in the helicopter which only turns up after.

Now I have almost certainly missed out on something (i must have) but i CANNOT donate another 2 hours of viewing time to this POS. However in the interests of fairness I will watch the documentary (despite it being against my better judgement) but if it turns out to be Richard Rush sucking his own dick for an hour I will not be pleased. Richard Rush, who? fucking nobody. Look at all the other directors nominated that year.
David Lynch for THE ELEPHANT MAN
Robert Redford for ORDINARY PEOPLE
Martin Scorsese for RAGING BULL
Richard Rush for THE STUNT MAN
Roman Polanski for TESS

Does anyone here think, truly believe that this man and this film even belongs in the same sentence as those directors and films?

The other thing was the music, fuck could they only afford to pay dominic frontiere for 30 seconds of composition, i went to bed with that shitty circus jingle going around in my head - plus they used it for everything! Funny bit baba ba ba..... Emotional moment baba ba ba.... Exciting baba ba ba... sexy baba ba ba. Fuck me.

That said: Here's what I liked.

James Avery had 2 lines in the opening scene, this cheered me up quite alot and gave me a bit of hope as shredder seemed to be well under 300lbs.

Peter O'Toole seems to think he's in a different film from everyone else (i think he is), his easy, assured and thespian style clashes completely with everyone else's "acting" but even then the script lets him down, the film is his "baby" so he starts asking the stuntman for extra scene ideas? not fucking likely.

they used railsback's brother to play the original burt. I liked it when they used to do this because there was no cgi.

Alex Rocco is always good ham value, but not as a cop! He's the most perfect looking loser gangster guy in the history of film, why make him a cop?????? And why does he seem to swallow the burt/lucky crap like it's candy, it's pathetic.

The ending left nothing to chance or consequence and ended in EXACTLY the way i hoped it wouldn't.

My thoughts.

1. Have the cop actually try to solve the crime.
2. Shave 40-60 minutes of non o'toole time.
3. Hire a decent editor.
4. Have Burt / Lucky / Cameron have some kind of identity crisis / memory lapse so that even he thinks he could be a stunt man - this would have been a big stretch for railsback who seems to have gone on to have the most mediocre career in history.
5. try to instill some kind of idea of what the fuck the film-within-the-film is about. "it's my anti-war film" oooh insightful.
5. HAVE A FUCKING POINT.

Thanks for the suggestion though, they can't all be winners. Let me know if you feel I'm missing something vital / obvious - I must be.

Incidentally, this isn't trolling or anything - it's my view that these Doomed threads should be about discussing the films. If we loved them all, the discussion would be rather one-sided.

Also, Judas, this isn't an attack on you or your tastes / choice - I'm glad you suggested it and I'm glad I've been able to see it and comment on it.

I've just read a few reviews and the like (I recall a suggestion that one should see the stuntman before reading any reviews) and I do have to say that the opening sequence with the dog licking his own balls was quite good although I would like to point out that it could also be seen as a metaphor for the rest of Mr. Rush's film.

It looks like truffaut was keen on it as he had been asked to direct it and that he had directed another, earlier film based on the source material. - It does have that European feel to it in some ways - however - i tend not to like some of those ways...

I still can't get a hold of The Stuntman, but was able to watch White Hunter today.

Eastwood is incredible in it. Such a powerful performance suited for a man of his stature. Was also very impressed with Jeff Fahey, never knew he had it in him.

The story is good, loved the portrayal of a man consumed by his passion and being blinded by it. I did have some nitpicks though. I think the technical aspects of the film are not very good. It looks cheap and the score doesn't cause great impression. Also, the attack of the elephant on Kibu is terribly directed and makes the film look like a b-movie.

What really elevates the film is Eastwood. He really reminded me a lot of Dr House, wonder if Laurie used this character to base his at all.
The speech to the blond racist bitch was terrific.

And the last shot is very very good. So much emotion portrayed with so little. His voice breaking up was a great touch.

Overall a really enjoyable experience! Thanks Judas!

Gentlemen,

Last night I had the good fortune to watch "White Hunter, Black Heart" I found it to be rather good fun.

First a few provisos:

1. I'm not very familiar with the work of John Huston (whom I believe the film is based).
2. I'm not overly fond of Mr. Eastwood, generally, i prefer his work as a director than as an actor.

nevertheless I pressed on and the rather simple story (simple is best) unfurled, opening, unexpectedly in the british countryside we are treated to Clint's first attempt to act, rather than his usual constipated yet menacing wince. It quickly becomes clear that Mr. Eastwood should be behind the camera rather than in front as his attempt to blend in at society functions falls rather flat. In fact the main thought I had throughout the film is that this is the film Peter O'Toole should have been in, he would have been a riot - and as for the mental/ physical breakdown in the desert - O'toole wrote the fucking book.
Getting his ass handed to him in a drunken bar fight, o'toole would have been superb - seeing clint lose a fight (to mike from casualty no less) seems just plain wrong.

Determined to enjoy the forced effervescent to-and-fro between clint and fahey (i looked up mr fahey's career and it seems that our paths have never really crossed and yet based on the utterly forgettable greasy spineless beatch role in this one hopes that we do not meet again), i found myself wondering what is their relationship, and why should I care?

Once we arrive in Africa we quickly establish Clint's quirky nature as he disses (in what could be one of the most weak and generic disses) the anti-semitic blond (you're an ugly bitch) steady on you KERAZZZY guy!

Then we are treated to the inevitable British colonial mistreatment of the locals sequence by Clive Mantle, this is embelished with a double portion of American processed cheese as Clint (representing the paradise of racial equality and harmony that was 1940s southern USA) stands up for the underdog in a drunken dust up that was just puzzling in it's spectacular anti-climax.

"He's mad, he's absolutely mad!" "You're mad!!!!!!" just by saying it over and over does not gloss over the fact that clint's character wasn't mad, he didn't even seem particularly eccentric, the fake britsh accent was an interesting stab at "slightly not-quite completely normal" but at no point did I feel he was going to get a gun and start killing folks or start slapping people with his cock.

Some of the safari sequences were beautiful but (and again no disrespect to clint) if you fly a plane over africa with a camera out of the window, you're going to get some decent shots.

We garnish this film with a pair of Britain's finest actors, (alun Armstrong and Tim Spall I'm looking at you) but we have a gulf between the 40s thespian-style eccentrics and Clint, left looking like a complete dullard - Tim Spall was 10000x more mad than Clint and he wasn't even trying to be.

Next, I must echo the sentiments expressed elsewhere regarding the quality of the film, it did seem to be rather a rushed and cheap affair - i know filming on location in the congo must be a bit of a pain - but Huston did it in the 1940s and made one of the most important films of all time, which looks amazing even now. Clint and crew did it in 1990. That's 1990. Not even 20 years ago - the year of dances with wolves and total recall.

the elephant mauling would have been particularly hard to film and I imagine that today we would have been treated to a tusk going through his fucking eye or something but I respected the way that it was done very simply and "off camera" to be tasteful and to allow our own minds to fill in the blanks - that said, for what was the pivotal moment of the entire film (not that the film pivoted on it) it was completely blown - we had very little knowledge and sympathy for Kevu before so it made it hard to give a shit afterwards - the fact that clint had known him for a week (10 days tops?) hardly lent gravitas to him being so sad "If only I had the balls to shoot that elephant, some african servant would still be alive today..." hardly a moral, or even a point to the film.

One of the main things I failed to engage with was Clint's hard on for killing an elephant - I'm not a posh brit or an american so I don't have killing stuff for no reason hard-wired into my head so every time Clint was on safari i found myself thinking "leave the elephants alone you mind-numbingly sane dick".

As you may have noticed, I refer to Clint as Clint throughout this posting as Clint is Clint and could never ever be anyone but Clint, try as he might (and if that was his best attempt then I feel sorry for Clint); I'm not sure, but i believe this might be the very dictionary definition of being a completely shit actor...

And what was up with his coughing fits???? That went absolutely nowhere! At no point was there a "I have cancer, jeff fahey" or "I want to die in africa, jeff fahey" and as we well know, John Huston did have emphysema but went on to make and appear in shit films well in to the late 1980s so what was the point?

I imagine that (from what I've read) John Huston was a real madman, a true hollywood maverick and eccentric, Clint offers us a safe and sanitized version of the man. However, on the whole I did enjoy it, I know i was rather scathing again (sorry) but i did think that it could have been much better. Clint had been directing films for TWENTY years at that point, including some classics.

Judas, some good selectin' there - especially as they were 2 that I had not seen (or even heard of), it's now up to you to select someone for July (if you haven't already).

You are turning into one of my favorite chewers Adam!

Thank you gentlemen, your appreciation is greatly reciprocated - I find that this, our quiet corner of the sewer is one of my favourites - we seem to be largely under-the-radar of most trolls and haters. The fact that you two are probably the only chewers that bother reading my indulgent and perspicacious "reviews" is more than sufficient reason for me to keep doing it.

White Hunter, Black Heart is awesome and terribly underrated in Clint's oeuvre. Love the fight, and the speech he tells the racist bitch.

The Stuntman is strange strange strange. I still like it though, and the theme by Dominic Frontiere is fabulous. I got it at K-Mart waaay back when it came out in '02. It was the 2 disc numbered out of a 100,000.

The only way I can think to describe The Stunt Man is audacious. As said above, you're either taken by the the whole bloody affair or you aren't. The humor is dark, biting and the heart is pitch black. Peter O'Toole is so gleefully devilish, that it makes the almost palpable darkness fun.

Have to disagree with the criticisms of Barbara Hershey. I thought she was fantastic; the second best thing besides O'Toole.

Can anyone find (and link) Pauline Kael's famous raving review? I'd love to read it again.

The Stuntman
As a fan of Freebie and the Bean, I found this kind of disappointing. Rush clearly has a talent for staging elaborate destruction scenes that would make Michael Bay jealous but here, we're left with a story that's lacking and an uncharismatic leading man. I'm reminded of that other film about stuntmen, Hooper. O'Toole is the saving grace of the film, the shot of Eli Cross stepping out of the helicopter with the camera pointed up at him from a worm's eye POV is an amazing shot, it makes Eli look like a colossus, which he is.
Railsback big scene with Hershey should've been somewhat moving but Railsback makes it almost camp, the fact that Hershey actually ends up falling even more in love with Railsback instead of running a mile while's in the middle of a psychotic episode is just plain ridiculous.
I really liked Frontiere's old timey sounding score, it was fun.

White Hunter, Black Heart
The spirit of Ernest Hemingway hangs heavy over this film, John Wilson is exactly the kind of man Hemingway would probably love. The film reminds of hemingway short story about a married couple that go to Africa to go hunting.
It wouldn't be an Eastwood film without a punchup, even if he get's his ass kicked. Eastwood's having a ton of fun in this film, I liked his little tic of sketching on a notepad when he's seriously pissed off at someone, his scene with the anti-semitic woman was wonderfully done. Jeff Fahey was solid but his role didn't really require much heavy lifting, the rollcall of british thesp's in this film was nice. For some reason Paul Lander's accent reminded me of Zoidberg.
The last shot of Wilson calling action while barely holding himself together was completely moving.