Year of Release: 1992
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Frances Fisher, Jaimz Woolvett, Saul Rubinek, Anna Thomson, Rob Campbell, Anthony James, David Mucci
Genre: Drama, Western
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
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Synopsis and Review:
Actor/Producer/Director Clint Eastwood started the 90s with the diptych "White Hunter Black Heart" and "The Rookie", which were met with different levels of accolades, but quickly soared to new levels of accomplishment and critical recognition when "Unforgiven" premiered in August of 1992. The film focuses on the story of William Munny, a retired gunslinger, who now lives on a farm with his children. He's visited by a young admirer by the name of "Schofield Kid", who wants to pursue the bounty placed on two cowboys, who disfigured a young prostitute in a small town by the name of Big Whiskey. He enlists the assistance of a friend, another retired outlaw by the name of Logan. The three of them head for the small town, where the sheriff of the town, the sadistic Bill has already handled a British born gunfighter, and generally keeps the town under his thumb. While in the town's saloon, Bill beats and kicks Munny out, which still doesn't deter him from finding and killing the men whose bounty had originally started this whole odyssey. As his friend Logan, wanting to move away from this life, is killed by Bill, Munny plans out a comeback to Big Whiskey to exact his revenge.
"Unforgiven", much like some of Clint Eastwood's best Westerns, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Pale Rider", is a film peppered with some of his trademarks, but with a substantial difference this time around: unlike the other features, the central character, Munny, is a man who has had his fair share of violence and death, who primarily longs for a peaceful life with his children. The story has the mantle and heavy burden of mortality to it, as the central characters know and realize they're of a certain age, time is catching up with them, and they desperately want to break away from a path that still clings to them. It's also a film that unlike the lightness and adventuresome aspect of Lawrence Kasdan's "Silverado", goes for a grittier and toned down capture of the life of retired outlaws, with meek means of survival, and who simply have to make the best they can with what they have. It's a film with a certain melancholy and nostalgia in tone, with the right amounts of humor. Written by David Webb Peoples (who also wrote Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner", Richard Donner's "Ladyhawke" and Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys"), it is also perfectly and deftly shot, courtesy of Jack N. Green, and features all around indelible performances, including Eastwood, the terrific Gene Hackman (who won a series of awards for this role), Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris and Frances Fisher. A great film from a very prolific and talented film maker.
"Unforgiven", much like some of Clint Eastwood's best Westerns, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Pale Rider", is a film peppered with some of his trademarks, but with a substantial difference this time around: unlike the other features, the central character, Munny, is a man who has had his fair share of violence and death, who primarily longs for a peaceful life with his children. The story has the mantle and heavy burden of mortality to it, as the central characters know and realize they're of a certain age, time is catching up with them, and they desperately want to break away from a path that still clings to them. It's also a film that unlike the lightness and adventuresome aspect of Lawrence Kasdan's "Silverado", goes for a grittier and toned down capture of the life of retired outlaws, with meek means of survival, and who simply have to make the best they can with what they have. It's a film with a certain melancholy and nostalgia in tone, with the right amounts of humor. Written by David Webb Peoples (who also wrote Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner", Richard Donner's "Ladyhawke" and Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys"), it is also perfectly and deftly shot, courtesy of Jack N. Green, and features all around indelible performances, including Eastwood, the terrific Gene Hackman (who won a series of awards for this role), Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris and Frances Fisher. A great film from a very prolific and talented film maker.
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