1951
Directed by John Huston
Yay! This is one of those joyous occasions where I get to review one of my favorite films of all time. Actually, come to think of it, this is pretty hard because I don't know if I can convey through my writing how good it is. Oh no! The pressure!
First of all, the mere fact that this is a movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn should be enough to convince you to watch it. I get more excited about that pairing than when modern romantic comedies have fifty stars in their casts.
Humphrey Bogart plays Charlie Allnut who is gin drinking, rough river boat captain. Katharine Hepburn plays a straitlaced spinster who convinces Charlie to use his boat to attack the Germans. Both roles are so unlike their usual characters that it is truly a thrill to watch them; it's like discovering the actors for the first time.
Of course, the goal of their journey doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that they are stuck on board together and forced to interact. I always love movies where two people who otherwise would never have a conversation are put together by circumstances. Great dialogue always comes out of this scenario.
There are some great adventure sequences, but like I said, at its heart, this film is a romance. And what a great romance this is.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
Bogart won his only Oscar for this film.
Huston hired locals to help with the movie but many would not show for fear that the filmmakers were cannibals.
#65 in AFI's top 100.
Bogart and Huston were the only ones that avoided getting sick during filming, mostly because they drank so much alcohol.
Lesson: Bring lots of booze when you go to the jungle.
ReplyDeleteI know this movie is pretty high on your list and with that cast it should be. Personally I have seen better from both. The real star here is the cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Bring him to the set and you have a stunner. Those pictures makes me want to go to Africa and I hate Africa.
It was stunning and I still get freaked out thinking about the leech scene. I thought they had good chemistry, but I guess Bogart has good chemistry with nearly all his costars.
DeletePlenty to be pedantic about here ("Small countries like Austria and Hungary" - does he mean the Austro-Hungarian Empire?) and it's interesting to see how special FX techniques that would have worked well in black & white suddenly look embarrassing in colour (EG: the model boat with model people on board).
ReplyDeleteBut, at it's heart it's a great film with a pair of great performances. As you say, both playing against type a bit; how many people would have thought to cast Hepburn and Bogart in those roles? Round of applause all round!
Yay! Agreed!
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