thegulls1 For some reason, this 'classic' popped up on my radar, perhaps whilst I was reading my Jimmy Stewart bio (Go figure). Anyway, Gregory Peck takes a role that might have better been for suited to a laconic & reflective Jimmy Stewart. He is the adventurous, Hemingway-like male author, Harry Street, reflecting on his life and loves while he convalesces from a nasty infection in his leg. Devoted wife (#3?), played by Susan Hayward attends to his wound patiently whilst the two wait for medical help to arrive, all in the shadows of the mighty Kilimanjaro.That's it. Harry marries pretty wives Ava Gardner & Hildegard Knef and mistreats both, but his career as an author takes off, allowing him a lavish lifestyle and to travel, as he pleases (with no consideration for his current wife). We see all this in a series of flashbacks. Peck plays a good role, I suppose: it's just that not much happens. There are bullfighting action, and battle scenes from the Spanish Civil War, but at a pedestrian pace. We frequently toggle back to hear frantic chat between Peck and Hayward, prompting my wife to holler, Just die, will ya?Pacing and script seemed to be lacking. I wonder why the Director chose to make such a lengthy (1:54) cut? The story could have been told in 1 1/2 hours easily, cutting oodles of empty, repetitious talk.

sheilamaclean30 I usually like old films and the title and cast of this one seemed a good bet. What a disappointment. Peck is grossly miscast - he's just not the gigolo he's portrayed, nor does he look like a man who's dying. Nor does 'Cynthia Green' convince me, even the name is too boring for the beautiful Ava Gardner. And the 'hunting' scene - sorry, standing in front of somebody else's adventure backdrop is again unconvincing as are the actual rhino shots, another time another place. The whole script is endlessly boring and I can't wait to get rid of it to the charity shop where I found it. And the 'Africans' - who are they kidding? 'What's he gonna do, sprinkle me with monkey dust?" Oh Lord, somebody please put him out of his misery and dismantle the set. The 'natives' did try to sound as though they'd learned their lines and that unconvincing chant with the luckless rhino head on a stretcher PULEASE! i don't know how painful gangrene is but Peck sure is bearing up well considering he only had his bandage changed but once and did he utter a sound when Hayward lanced the horrid green swelling? Nope, just looked his normal handsome self. Perhaps Humphrey Bogart might have managed this ponderously awful script better..but even he can't do miracles. The only one who deserved an Oscar was the hyena sniffing around the tent with a view to his next meal.

ebiros2 No, it's Benny Carter playing the sax at the bar/party. The movie is nostalgic in these ways. It really looks like the time that has gone by, but because of its simplicity, appears more vivid.Harry (Greg Peck) the writer has very bad infection in his legs in Africa by the Mt. Kilimanjaro. He's delirious and has regrets about his past love life. The movie goes from scene to scene about his past life occurrences. His life is not so bad, but something critical is missing. Harry's wound is symbolic of the condition of his heart.The conclusion seems to be that if you don't know what's worth dying for, you don't know what is worth living for. This enigma is slowly killing Harry. In the end it seems that what he has already is more than what he needs to go on.The transition Harry goes through is written beautifully, and in a stylish way. Harry couldn't find what he was looking for in Paris, but seems to have found it in Africa. Sometimes you need the right setting to see things in clear perspective.Harry in a way serves as our alter ego, as we get to live life through his perspective. The movie is great in that we can see shadows of our own life through his story.

evening1 I was surprised to find most of this film version of Hemingway's short-story classic so tepid.Gregory Peck's character is a handsome devil concerned first and foremost about himself. His life has been a quest for fame, yet all his adventures as a writer have provided him with fodder that hasn't added up to much.The women he bedded along the way were mere pretty, powerless distractions. As the doctor tells Peck after Cynthia has miscarried: "Don't you people ever talk?" When they do, they don't actually hear.The most meaningful part of this film was its portrayal of man as a self-deluded creature whose end can come suddenly and ridiculously, as hyenas and vultures lie in wait."Let's not kid ourselves," drawls the cot-bound Harry, who had fancied himself such an alpha male. "A door can open suddenly into nothing. And death has been standing there all the while." Yet the characters fool themselves till the end.A very depressive view of the human condition.