Review of Unforgiven (1992) by Bradley W — 25 Jan 2012

Unforgiven is one of the greatest westerns of all time and what I think started Clint Eastwood on the path of being one of the greatest directors of all time. It is the kind of western you don't see anymore, and its also a send off for all people who grew up seeing Clint Eastwood in westerns. It shows us a man who has given up a life of crime to enter a more fufilling life but there are some very deep themes in the characters and story that made this the perfect western, I just loved this.

The story follows Will Munny (Clint Eastwood) who used to be an outlaw in his younger years until he got a family and learned the error of his ways. A group of prostitutes put out a bounty of $1000 to kill a group of cowboys who deformed their friend. Bill needs the money so he gets his old partner and best friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to take on these men. But the twisted Sheriff Little Bill (Gene Hackman) will do everything in his power to prove a point to his town by finding Bill and Ned.

The plot of the film has something deep to show about how humans are inside. This man has given up everything in his past life for a family, and this trip starts to bring him back and that is a tragedy in a way. The characters all impressed me with how much they made me care about them and how much I knew about them just for watching this for two hours. Its a truly captivating and fun story that I loved.

The cast consists of some very old actors that I consider to be some of the greatest actors of all time. Clint Eastwood never fails as an actor and seeing as he directed as well its a surprise I loved his performance this much. Morgan Freeman may be my favorite actor of all time, he is so incredible and likable that I cannot imagine movies without him. Gene Hackman may have been the key to the films success, he is truly evil but he believes he is doing the right thing which is what made his performance and character so incredible. This cast may have been the best part of the film.

Unforgiven puts us into a classic western. It reminded me of some of the best westerns of all time such as my personal favorite western ever The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly because it had the same essense and Clint Eastwood. This movie is a story that will always remind me of the greatness of westerns, and I find it a bit cool that the greatest western actor has directed one of the greatest western films of all time, I guess he learned a lot.