The African Queen

Let's see... Oh right! I said I'd tell you guys about The African Queen!

Ok, it's an older color movie made in the... 50's, I'd guess... Give or take a decade.

Set in World War I, you find yourself in a missionary's church in Africa. The missionary and his sister are playing hymns for the Africans to sing to when you hear a whistle blow and see the steam coming. Friend or foe is unknown just yet, but when a white fellow hops off the steamboat, and comes up to the church, you can tell he's a friend, just by the way he acts.

He tells the missionary and his sister about the war that's going on (they had no idea), and they invite him to tea where he can tell them more. He left soon thereafter.

Shortly after his departure, several soldiers marched into town where they burnt the tribe members' huts -and the church- to the ground and herd all the natives elsewhere. The missionary and his sister can do nothing but watch, powerless against the soldiers' guns.

The next scene, you can see that the missionary has become delirious and dies in his bed. The same day, the man from the steamboat comes by to check in on them and sees the wreckage. He buries the missionary and offers to take his sister down the river. She agrees and away they go.

Along the way they encounter crocodiles, more enemy soldiers, part malfunctions, a broken propeller, leaches, rapids, waterfalls, and the Nazi's own steam boat, complete with a gallows.

Now if you can look past the fact that it doesn't have the latest computer graphics, it doesn't have any hot guys or girls in it, and it doesn't have any rated R scenes, you'll find that it's a really good movie about survival, boating, and just how much you depend on the person you're with when you're out in the middle of nowhere. (Buddy System!)

Later!

-Kj