The African Queen - Bogart, Hepburn and the Little Boat That Could

The only movie matchup of screen legends Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen is a classic adventure movie and a grown-up love story, with a little bit of travelogue and a dollop of wartime propaganda.

Hepburn is a prim spinster with a spine of steel, and Bogart is the unkempt captain of a little supply boat, the African Queen, as the chaos of World War I reaches the remote villages of colonial Africa. Watching this unlikely pair survive a hair-raising river trip, attempt a daring wartime attack and fall into an affectionate, charming, late-life love makes for a splendid movie.

The plot

Rose Thayer (Hepburn) and her clergyman brother are missionaries along the Ulanga-Bora River in German East Africa in 1914, when war is declared. German soldiers kidnap the village men, burn their thatched huts and drive out the women and children. Her brother dies in shock and despair, his mind gone. Bogart’s Charlie Allnut rescues Rose from the ruins in the African Queen, intending to sit out the war somewhere safe from the fray.

But the determined Rose hatches a plan to take the shabby little boat down the wild river, past a German fortress, and onto Lake Victoria. Once there, she wants to torpedo a German warship patrolling the lake, using mining supplies aboard the African Queen. The astonished Charlie resists, arguing “there’s death a hundred times over” on the river.

Rose insists...and bit by bit, Charlie bends. They battle fierce rapids, make ingenious repairs to the old boat, flee insect swarms, and even brave huge leeches as they pull the boat through swamps.

Do they make it? I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it for you.

The players

At 52, Bogart delivered what might be his most relaxed, natural and powerful performance. No slick detective here. He’s a grubby, earthy man whose stomach rumbles uncontrollably at tea with the missionaries, and his face when Rose pours his beloved gin bottles into the river is a sight to behold. He’s coarse and funny, yet manly and utterly steadfast.

The rest of the cast consists primarily of Robert Morley, who gives a heart-wrenching performance as Rose’s broken brother. And of course, there’s the African Queen herself, a scrappy little 30-foot boat with a ragged canopy and a sputtering motor that Charlie always meant to fix, but never quite got to. By the end of the movie you’re cheering as much for the battered little boat as for Charlie and Rose.

The director

The bottom line

Just the Facts:

Year: 1951, Color

Director: John Huston

Running Time: 105 minutes

Studio: United Artists