Unforgiven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the 1992 film. For other uses, see Unforgiven (disambiguation). For the 1960 film, see The Unforgiven (1960 film)
| Unforgiven | |
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| Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
| Produced by | Clint Eastwood |
| Written by | David Peoples |
| Starring | Clint Eastwood Gene Hackman Morgan Freeman Richard Harris |
| Music by | Lennie Niehaus |
| Cinematography | Jack N. Green |
| Editing by | Joel Cox |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 1992 |
| Running time | 131 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $159,157,447 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Unforgiven is a 1992 Western film directed by Clint Eastwood with screenplay by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of a retired gunslinger who takes on one more job. A Western that deals frankly with the uglier aspects of violence and the myth of the Old West; it stars Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, Saul Rubinek and Frances Fisher.
Eastwood dedicated the movie to former directors and mentors Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. The film won four Academy Awards including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gene Hackman), Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. Unforgiven was inducted into the United States National Film Registry in 2004.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens with an introductory crawl: "She was a comely young woman and not without prospects. Therefore it was heartbreaking to her mother that she would enter into marriage with William Munny, a known thief and murderer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition. When she died, it was not at his hands as her mother might have expected, but of smallpox. That was 1878."
In 1881[1] Wyoming, in the town of Big Whiskey, a cowboy with the aid of a fellow cowboy slashes a prostitute's face for laughing at his small penis. The venomous local sheriff and former gunfighter, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), fines the cowboy and his friend seven ponies, payable to the prostitute's pimp and saloon owner Skinny. The other prostitutes, furious over the cowboys' lax punishments, conspire with each other to offer a $1000 reward to anyone who kills the two. Miles away in Western Kansas, the Schofield Kid (Woolvett) approaches a farm owned by William Munny (Clint Eastwood) and his two children, looking for a partner to do the hit. Munny, known in his youth as an infamous gunfighter, murderer and bandit, has since retired, having forsworn his criminal ways through the influence of his late wife. After initially declining the Kid's offer to join up and split the reward money, Munny reconsiders amidst his financial troubles and recruits a former associate and neighbor, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), as his partner before catching up with the Schofield Kid.
Back in Wyoming, English Bob (Harris) and his biographer W.W. Beauchamp get off a train and ride into Big Whiskey. English Bob ignores the sign that prohibits the possession of firearms and blatantly lies to a deputy about the revolver he carries in plain sight. Following a quick shave, he emerges onto the barber's porch and is confronted by five armed deputies and Little Bill, who remembers Bob from his gunfighting days. After disarming the gunfighter, Little Bill ruthlessly beats him in front of the townspeople, shouting ominous warnings about pursuing the prostitute's bounty. Little Bill then ridicules and insults the jailed English Bob for the benefit of his biographer. Finally, Little Bill deports English Bob with a warning that he will kill him should he return. The humiliated English Bob shouts and curses at the entire town and the American system as he is taken to the train station in a carriage.
After a long way through wet, frigid weather, Munny, Logan and the Kid enter a saloon for a drink and inquire about the reward. Feverish and sick after the long wet ride, Munny remains at a table while Logan and the Kid go upstairs to be serviced by the prostitutes. While waiting downstairs for his friends, Little Bill arrives and confronts Munny. A town ordinance prohibits guns — upon entering town that stormy night, Munny failed (or chose not) to see the warning sign posted alongside the road. Weak from his illness, Munny is in no condition to fight back as Little Bill brutally beats him in full view of the patrons. Munny manages to drag himself out of the saloon as Ned Logan and the Kid escape through a second-story window. The three partners retreat to a barn outside of town.
Munny retreats and is nursed by his friends and the prostitutes, and after recovering sufficiently from his injuries, the three men ambush and kill one of the two cowboys in a canyon. It is at that point that Logan realizes he can no longer stomach murder, and decides to head home. Munny and the Kid find the other cowboy and Munny allows the eager Kid to shoot the man in an outhouse outside the isolated cabin where he had been holed up for safety.
Logan is captured and brought back to Little Bill, who beats all the information he can out of him, inadvertently killing Logan in the process. Logan's corpse is put on display in an open coffin outside the saloon as an example of frontier justice. Outside town, the Kid is shaken by the murder he has just committed and admits that it was his first kill; he renounces his planned gunfighting career. He tries to justify his guilt by claiming "Well, I guess he had it coming." "We all have it coming, Kid," returns Munny.
One of the prostitutes brings the reward money to Munny and tells him of the death of Logan. This angers Munny who, breaking his vow of sobriety, drinks half a bottle of whisky. In fear of Munny's reputation, the Kid refuses his share of the loot. Munny takes the Kid's pistols and rides into town to confront the sheriff, after giving the money to the Kid to deliver his and Logan's share to Logan's widow and Munny's children.
That night, Munny quietly walks into the crowded Greeley's Saloon. Inside the saloon, Little Bill has assembled a posse to pursue Munny and the Kid. Munny demands to see the saloon's owner while holding them all at bay with a shotgun. When Skinny, the owner, identifies himself, Munny shoots him with one of the two barrels. Little Bill curses Munny, as he states that Skinny was unarmed. Munny replies, "Well, he should have armed himself if he's gonna decorate his saloon with my friend".
Munny trains the other chamber of the shotgun on Little Bill, but the gun misfires and Little Bill commands the others to shoot Munny. A gun fight ensues where Munny kills three posse members outright and seriously wounds Little Bill and another deputy. Munny has a short encounter with Little Bill's erstwhile biographer, who is scared witless, yet amazed and admiring of Munny's cool dispatch of 5 armed men. Beauchamp leaves having finally, after false starts with English Bob and Little Bill, found the real western anti-hero he has sought to document in his penny pamphlets. Munny hears Little Bill cocking his pistol. Munny steps on Little Bill's hand and points the rifle directly into his face. Little Bill realizes what is to follow and states, "I don't deserve this...to die like this." Munny replies, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." Little Bill then says, "I'll see you in Hell, William Munny," to which Munny whispers, "Yeah", and shoots Little Bill dead. Munny heads to the door, shooting the last injured deputy without bothering to aim. After shouting threats of wanton violence through the open door to anyone who might be outside waiting for him, he leaves the saloon and rides away on a gray horse, unmolested by the frightened townspeople, who recoil in fear, glad to see him ride out.
The film ends with an epilogue that echoes its introduction: "Some years later, Mrs. Antonia Feathers made the arduous journey to Hodgeman County, Kansas to visit the last resting place of her only daughter. William Munny had long since disappeared with the children... some said to San Francisco where it was rumored he prospered in dry goods. And there was nothing on the marker to explain to Mrs. Feathers why her only daughter had married a known thief and murderer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition."
[edit] Response
Critical response was generally very positive. The film makes an appearance in the American Film Institute's 100 years, 100 movies. In 2005, Time.com named it one of the 100 best movies of the last 80 years. In addition, the film is 'Certified Fresh' by rottentomatoes.com, with a 96% approval rating among reviews. Many critics acclaimed the film for its noir-ish moral ambiguity and atmosphere. [1] They also acclaimed it as a fitting eulogy to the western genre. It was also admitted to the National Film Registry, and is one of the few westerns in the registry.
[edit] Academy Awards
| Award | Person | |
| Best Picture | Clint Eastwood | |
| Best Director | Clint Eastwood | |
| Best Editing | Joel Cox | |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Gene Hackman | |
| Nominated: | ||
| Best Art Direction-Set Decoration | Henry Bumstead Janice Blackie-Goodine |
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| Best Actor | Clint Eastwood | |
| Best Cinematography | Jack N. Green | |
| Best Sound | Les Fresholtz Vern Poore Rick Alexander (as Dick Alexander) Rob Young |
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| Best Original Screenplay | David Webb Peoples | |
[edit] Allusions
Unforgiven has several allusions to earlier Westerns. The opening scene, where Eastwood stands at the grave of his dead wife, is an allusion to John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
The character of English Bob, an assassin working for the railroad, may be a reference to the character of Frank in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, also employed by the railroad.
The scene in which Hackman tells Rubinek to pick up the revolver in the jail is an allusion to Once Upon a Time in the West, which has a similar scene in a bar, which again was itself an allusion to the film Shane.
Rubinek then asks Eastwood how he chose the order in which to kill five men, stating that Little Bill had explained to him that an experienced gunfighter always aimed for the best shot in his opponents first, when facing multiple opponents. Eastwood responds, "Is that right? I was lucky in the order...but I've always been lucky when it comes to killing folks". This is an allusion to The Outlaw Josey Wales, in which Eastwood's character instantaneously ranks his four simultaneous opponents by reading their faces in the manner of a poker player, similar to what Hackman had told Rubinek an experienced fighter should do.
Finally, the scene in the jail, in which Hackman's character is discussing how the most important attribute of a gunfighter is coolness under pressure rather than speed and accuracy (noting that it is difficult to be quick and accurate when an opponent is returning fire), mirrors the backyard shooting practice scene in The Shootist, in which John Wayne's character says essentially the same thing to a young Ron Howard.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ President James A. Garfield's 1881 assassination is discussed in the film, thus setting the year.
[edit] External links
- Unforgiven at the Internet Movie Database
- Unforgiven at Rotten Tomatoes
- Unforgiven at Box Office Mojo
- Unforgiven at Filmsite.org
- Unforgiven at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by The Silence of the Lambs |
Academy Award for Best Picture 1992 |
Succeeded by Schindler's List |
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