Review of Unforgiven (1992) by Grant K — 29 Apr 2013

Friday, October 26, 2012.

(1992) Unforgiven.

WESTERN.

Dark, grim and straight forward criticizing the "Western" enviroment showing something that has never been seen before which is a combination of several themes including mistaken identity, drama, justice and retribution. From the start, a young helpless woman working at a brothel was brutally assaulted with a knife by one of it's customers, with two of them being tied up and tried by the lead Sheriff called Little Billy (Gene Hackman) who appears to be both judge and jury of a small little town, he lets both of them go for a price for some horses that they own, resorting the rest of the women working at the brothel unsatisfied by this decision, so they put up a $1,000 bounty on to the both of them without any of the sheriffs knowing about this. Soon after, another old professional outlaw by the name of English Bob(Richard Harris)then stops by into town with a historian writer by his side since he loves the "myth" about actual gunfighters and wants to preserve their legacy by writing about them. And as a result of ignoring the "no guns allowed" sign, Little Billy first rallies his fellow deputies to point several guns at English Bob all at the same time once stepping one foot outside after a shave, then after handing all his guns to the deputies, Sheriff Little Billy then gives him a serious beating before locking them both in jail, even though the writer is like totally unarmed and harmless. And if viewers were to 'measure' the two punishments side by side would know that theirs a 'double standard' here, and can be intrepreted as unethical, sadistic and unfair. Somehow and somewhere a passeby knows about this bounty too so he offers an ex-outlaw by the name of Will Munny (Clint Eastwood) to be a partner and he decides to get an old accomplice Ned (Morgon Freeman)to tag along as well. We, the viewers don't like Little Bill, and in some ways sypathize with Will Munny both are soon going to cross paths asking the question about when and how. Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Clint Eastwood and Best Supporting Actor for A Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman out of 9 nominations.

(This paragraph may contain spoliers).

I have to confess, this is kind of my second viewing since I hardly remember anything about this movie upon watching it when it first came out in 1992. And I liked parts of this film more than my brothers did since one of my brothers looked at the Eastwood character just as bad as the sheriff, but I on the other hand don't see it that way since when Will "said" he at one time used to kill women and children or anything that has walked, we the audience cannot judge him about that except for what we are shown to us on screen, and from the viewers point of view he seems to be more sympethitic than the sheriff whose just killed two innocent men because of a previous engagement while allowing other men who commit heinous acts to go free. We, the audience don't really know the whole story about how heinous Will used to be nor how he was before but do know that he used to drink alot back then until he settled down with a wife and kids- therefore we cannot judge him at all because his past is pure speculation. But as a result of watching many more Westerns from 1992 and then watching this one again, I couldn't stop thinking how similar the theme is to John Ford's other classic "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" starring John Wayne and James Stewart, and Eastwood's simplistic dialogue in "Unforgiven" throughout was usually saying "yeah" as part of a response which was usually the word actor John Wayne always said in much of his popular Western films. Was this final Western of Eastwood's a dedication to John Wayne films in general since he has never starred with him on any- you can decide!

One of my favorite all time lines was when Little Billy says "I don't deserve this!" and Will replies "deserving's got nothing to do with this".

3 out of 4.