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
White Hunter Black Heart fair fight. The film was entered into the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. The film received positive reviews with review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 29 out of the 33 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 88%. The consensus reads: ""White Hunter Black Heart" is powerful, intelligent, and subtly moving, a fascinating meditation on masculinity and the insecurities of artists." The film has grown significantly in critical stature, especially in light of the films Eastwood made immediately afterwards. Many of these, like "White Hunter, Black Heart", turned out to be self-reflexive and self-conscious works criticizing and deconstructing