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A Good Man in Africa
A Good Man in Africa
Directed by	Bruce Beresford
Screenplay by	William Boyd
Based on	A Good Man in Africa; by William Boyd
Produced by	John Fiedler; Mark Tarlov; Bruce Beresford
Starring	Colin Friels; Joanne Whalley-Kilmer; Sean Connery; John Lithgow; Louis Gossett Jr.; Diana Rigg;
Cinematography	Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited by	Jim Clark
Music by	John Du Prez
Production; companies	Polar Entertainment; Capitol Films; South African Breweries; Southern Sun
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures (United States); United International Pictures (United Kingdom)
Release dates	9 September 1994 (USA); 25 November 1994 (UK);
Running time	94 min
Countries	United States; United Kingdom; South Africa
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$2,308,390

A Good Man in Africa is a 1994 comedy-drama film, based on William Boyd's 1981 novel A Good Man in Africa and directed by Bruce Beresford. The film starred Colin Friels, Sean Connery, John Lithgow, Joanne Whalley, Diana Rigg and Louis Gossett Jr.^[1]^[2]

Plot

Morgan Leafy is a British diplomat living in Kinjanja, an African nation which has recently become independent from British rule. Arthur Fanshawe, a new diplomat eager to leave Africa, learns that Kinjanja sits on top of a huge oil reserve. Unfortunately, Morgan is too preoccupied with alcohol and women to know what to do with the oil. To make matters worse, a woman is struck by lightning on the British compound, creating a tense political situation with the Kinjanja government.

Cast

Colin Friels as Morgan Leafy
Sean Connery as Dr. Alex Murray
John Lithgow as Arthur Fanshawe
Diana Rigg as Chloe Fanshawe
Louis Gossett Jr. as Prof. Sam Adekunle
Joanne Whalley as Celia Adekunle
Sarah-Jane Fenton as Priscilla Fanshawe
Maynard Eziashi^[3] as Friday, Leafy's Houseman

Reception

The movie received mixed to poor reviews. Roger Ebert said that he felt uncomfortable during the film but praised the performances of Connery, Lithgow and Gossett.^[4] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post said that although the film "held the possibility of being a welcome departure from the ordinary [...] ordinary is what it rises to at its best."^[5] Janet Maslin of The New York Times opined that "a good book is the basis for "A Good Man in Africa," but its mordant humor has curdled badly on the screen," adding:

Although William Boyd, the author of these gimlet-eyed observations of colonial antics in Africa, adapted his own novel and also served as one of the film's producers, "A Good Man in Africa" now has none of the cunning that it had on the page.^[6]

The film's director, Bruce Beresford, did not remember the film fondly:

God, that was horrible. That was the worst film experience I ever had. It was cast wrong, the crew was all strange. We were filming in the wrong place. We filmed in South Africa, it was set in West Africa. Which is like shooting in Alaska when it’s set in New Orleans. And I realized that although the novel that it’s based on is terribly funny, it was very anecdotal. It had no narrative. I think on about the second day I realized it was never going to work, because the scenes don’t link. I thought, “I’m sunk! I’m never gonna get out.”^[7]