The African Queen

John Huston, 1951 (7.6*)

AFI Top 100

Part adventure, part romance, this was a fun (but lightweight) jaunt through Africa on a steamboat run by drunkard Humphrey Bogart (his only Oscar® for acting), who rescues stranded and moralistic missionary Katherine Hepburn, who has better ideas for his steamboat: use it to blow up a German patrol boat on Lake Victoria.

This preposterous plot occurs during World War I. Apparently the whole cast and crew were struck with dysentary on location in Africa, but not Huston or Bogart, because, Hepburn claimed, "they were so loaded with alcohol that it killed all the bugs". 4 nominations, One Oscar®, Bogart's