Unforgiven (1992)

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Directed by Clint Eastwood.

Starring Gene Hackman, Jaimz Woolvett, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris.

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Dedicated to his mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood's 1992 Oscar-winner examines the mythic violence of the Western, taking on the ghosts of his own star past. Disgusted by Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett's decree that several ponies make up for a cowhand's slashing a whore's face, Big Whiskey prostitutes, led by fierce Strawberry Alice (Frances Fisher), take justice into their own hands and put a $1000 bounty on the lives of the perpetrators. Notorious outlaw-turned-hog farmer William Munny (Eastwood) is sought out by neophyte gunslinger the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett) to go with him to Big Whiskey and collect the bounty. While Munny insists, "I ain't like that no more," he needs the bounty money for his children, and the two men convince Munny's clean-living comrade Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to join them in righting a wrong done to a woman. Little Bill (Oscar-winner Gene Hackman), however, has no intention of letting any bounty hunters impinge on his iron-clad authority. When pompous gunman English Bob (Richard Harris) arrives in Big Whiskey with pulp biographer W.W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek) in tow, Little Bill beats Bob senseless and promises to tell Beauchamp the real story about violent frontier life and justice. But when Munny, the true unwritten legend, comes to town, everyone soon learns a harsh lesson about the price of vindictive bloodshed and the malleability of ideas like "justice." "I don't deserve this," pleads Little Bill. "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it," growls Munny, simultaneously summing up the insanity of western violence and the legacy of Eastwood's Man With No Name. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

This Town Deserves a Better Cla ...
by BigJeffLebowski in BigJeffLebowski Blog

hasn't rated it.

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"The Dark Knight, the most anticipated picture of the year for myself and innumerable others, has finally arrived following a trail of hype that would crush almost any film. But miraculously, just as Moses wielded his stone tablets, Christopher Nolan has handed us a true gift from the cinematic gods. His second Batman is so visceral, so propulsive, so maddeningly perfect in its execution that it should come with a warning; you do not simply watch The Dark Knight, you surrender your pulse to Christopher Nolan. And even if an intended triptych has been tragically cut short (as Mel Brooks might contend those aforementioned commandments were) what remains is wholly qualified to stand on its own not as a great Batman film, not as a great superhero film, and not as a great action film, but as one of the most distiguished pieces of filmmaking of its generation. This decade, more so than any other, has seen comic-to-film adaptations mature from vacuous thrills to serious art. Sam Raimi ... " [More]

BLOOD WORK
by Windbreaker in Windbreaker!

loved it.

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"Let's face it, you could do a lot worse than renting Blood Work. I know, I know... not much of an endorsement, but you know what? Blockbuster Online has spoiled me with all the free rentals exchanged in-store. After seeing the DVD case, I correctly guessed the outcome of the movie -- but that's not the point of Blood Work. It's the path to the finish line. Think Unforgiven Clint Eastwood -- still has a gun at his side, but might not have the reflexes to reach for it in time. " [More]

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an ...
by leeroy711 in Top 5

loved it.

"[/quote]As far as Eastwood and Redford go, I think they are both thought of first as directors and not actors. I like some of Redford, especially Quiz Show, and I loved Unforgiven but I don't really think they fit into this catagory because the y both have directed more in the past 10 or 15 years than they have acted. Mel Gibson is the next to make that transition. " [More]

3:10 To Yuma review
by leeroy711 in leeroy711 Blog

loved it.

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"*** stars (out of 5) Directed By: James Mangold Starring: Russes Crowe, Christian Bale, Logan Lerman, Peter Fonda & Ben Foster Language: English Synopsis: Benjamin Wade (Crowe), the legendary and feared outlaw and his gang have just robbed a well armed stage coach carrying the payroll for The Southern Pacific Railroads. The only men left alive was Wade's mortal enemy, bounty hunter Byron McElroy (Fonda) and a poor rancher, Dan Evans (Bale) and his son (Lerman) that happened onto the scene. Wade is caught in a hotel in Bisbee, Arizona and eager to make some much needed cash, Evans volunteers to join the posse that will put him on a train to the prison in Yuma. Unfortunately for the posse, Wade's right hand man Charlie Prince (Foster) finds out about the his incarceration and wastes no time hatching up a plan to liberate the paternal gang leader. Review: This film was a bit overrated. One review said it was the "best western since "Unforgiven". Th ... " [More]

3:10 TO YUMA
by Windbreaker in Windbreaker!

loved it.

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"I hate when DVD boxes say things like "best western since Unforgiven". But 3:10 To Yuma is one of the best westerns since Unforgiven. " [More]

FilmCouch #18
by paul in paul on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"Sympathy for the Devil: Summer blockbuster season starts today. It will rise and fall on whether or not the villains are convincing. Kevin and Paul believe it all boils down to answering one question: What makes the bad guys do mean things? Download FilmCouch #18 or subscribe in the iTunes store (search for “filmcouch” or click here to launch iTunes) and a new free episode will download every Friday. Under discussion: Unforgiven The Godfather Star Wars Scarface Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Paul " [More]

Violence in movies...
by Dr_Gor in Violence on film

loved it.

"There are certain movies that are all about the violence! (insert your favorite horror movie here) And then there are some which are more 'drama' but with at least one or two really violent scenes for an 'attention-grabber' . In other words, in some cases the violence helps to tell the story, and in other cases, the violence IS the story... here are some examples... The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and ALL of the Clint Eastwood westerns ... Up to, and including, Unforgiven ... ALL of the Bruce Lee movies and most of the Steven Segal movies and Jean Claude Van Damme and Don 'the dragon' Wilson and Jeff Speakman , etc ... No. My favorite violent movies are the ones about real warriors... THAT is what it's all about! Movies like The Warriors and The Wild Bunch and The Magnificent Seven and The 13th Warrior and 300 are excellent examples of movies which are all about the violence... not to mention the Kill Bill ... " [More]

Top 5 westerns
by paul in paul on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"UnforgivenOnce Upon a Time in the WestHeaven's GateMcCabe and Mrs. MillerThe Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Originally posted on:Schwinnfender " [More]

What is a great man?
by quint in An inordinate number of peppers

liked it.

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"The Mountain Men tries to answer the age old Hollywood question: what is a great man? Charleton Heston is our great man in training, Brian Keith is the sidekick inspired beyond his own capabilities. That ring of inspiration leads men to good or ill based on the fragility of their own character. In this case, an Indian chief and his ragged band of Blackfoot are inspired against the antique mountain man, recollecting on the world as a place where all the endless beaver the land ever offered are born again into a single pond deep in the mountains, sacred and guarded. Paradise.Here is Adam and his rescued squaw, Eve, racing against all chance to regain that secret innocence. Endless streams of Indians, brave and foolish, race into the rifles of reluctant wisdom. It still has those old western pretenses intact. Given the date of its release, that seems almost a wilfull contrast to the darker tones that the spaghetti western had provoked. Still five years before Cormac McCarthy's Blo ... " [More]

Re: FilmCouch 18: Sympathy for ...
by porcupine in FilmCouch

loved it.

""There are "bad guys" in some movies that have almost the exact same characteristics as "good guys" in other movies." This is interesting to me. I think we touched on it in the podcast, but there are many different ways to blur the good guy/bad guy line. This month we're seeing Hollywood's big budget take on that idea in the form of a set of heroes that includes a pirate, an ogre, and a normally nice guy who starts wearing black and acting like an asshole. Ultimately, i think movies like American Beauty and Unforgiven do a much better job of provoking thought on the subject. Another one to look out for is Day Night Day Night, which opens in limited release on Friday. Also on Friday the new FilmCouch comes out, where we feature an interview with the director, Julia Loktev. I think the film is amazing, and it sheds new light on this whole discussion. If it opens in your town, go see it. Or a least be sure to check out the trailer. If you can't get it to work on Spout, cl ... " [More]

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Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

Appearing two years after Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning megahit Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven helped spur a mini-revival of the moribund genre in the 1990s that included Posse (1993), Tombstone (1993), and Sharon Stone's "Man With No Name" turn in The Quick and the Dead (1995). Written by David Webb Peoples in 1976, the script was bought by Clint Eastwood in the early '80s, though he waited until he was old enough to play psychotic antihero William Munny as a grizzled veteran of a bloody past, rather than someone closer to the younger Eastwood of Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy and Don Siegel's Dirty Harry (1971). Upon its release in August 1992, seven years after Eastwood's previous western Pale Rider, Unforgiven was praised as an uncompromising revisionist masterpiece, showcasing Eastwood's visual command of western landscapes and locations and his perceptive yet critical view of the genre's mythology and his own place in its "machinery of violence." After deliberately pacing the reemergence of Munny's pathology, Eastwood shrouds the climactic shoot-out in cinematographer Jack N. Green's dark shadows and heavy rainfall reminiscent of film noir, rendering Munny's return to Eastwood's lethal star form unsettling in its victory. Unforgiven became an unexpected serious hit in a season of popcorn movies, eventually grossing over $100 million and reviving Eastwood's star standing after a series of late '80s flops. After winning several critics' prizes, it became one of only a handful of westerns to win the Best Picture Oscar; Eastwood's status behind the camera was finally acknowledged with a Best Director statuette. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Tags: best-of-clint , gruesome , Dirtyharry , Best-Picture , Best-Supporting-Actor
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