Peter Viertel Black Heart", which was made into a film starring Clint Eastwood in 1990. It is a thinly-disguised account of Viertel's experiences working with film director John Huston while they were making "The African Queen". The central character is scriptwriter Pete Verrill while the Huston character is called John Wilson. Film critic Pauline Kael wrote in 1999 that "White Hunter" was “still the best Hollywood novel I’ve ever come across — and it isn’t even set in Hollywood.” Viertel's opinion of the finished film was tempered by his idea that Huston himself would have preferred a portrayal with more sarcasm. Viertel's
Clint Eastwood in the 1980s Award for his lifelong contribution and the Best Director award for "Bird", which also earned him a Golden Palm nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was not a major commercial success, earning just $11 million. Eastwood, who claimed he would have done the film biography even if the script was no good, was disappointed with the commercial reception of the film, later saying that, "We just didn't seem to have enough people in America who wanted to see the story of a black man who in the end betrays his genius. And we didn't get the support through