The movie is well-written, acted and shot and deeply felt.

It's as if White Hunter, Black Heart had opened up the gap that exists in any Huston film between the playful surfaces and the depths beneath.

Eastwood's subject is wasted lives and wasted talent; Wilson's charisma and Hollywood's money prove irresistible, and their sheer power brings noteworthy results-but they emerge from a needless vortex of ruin.

This remains one of Clint Eastwood’s more unusual -- and thus most interesting -- pictures.