Unforgiven is a 1992 Western film which was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with the screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging and retired gunslinger who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming. A dark Western that deals frankly with the uglier aspects of violence and the myth of the Old West, it stars Eastwood in the lead role, along with 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 (Hackman), Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. Eastwood himself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman. Unforgiven was inducted into the United States National Film Registry in 2004.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its “Ten Top Ten, “the best ten films in ten “classic” American film genres after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Unforgiven was acknowledged as the fourth best film in the western genre
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.
Another allusion to The Outlaw Josey Wales is shown at the beginning of the film, when William Munny is practising with his old revolver attempting (and failing) to hit a tin can placed on a fencepost for target practice. While in Wales, Eastwood’s character manages to hit a similar fencepost several dozen times in one session of practice, Munny gives up shooting after reparatively missing the can, and, in frustration, takes a shotgun out of his home and blasts the can to pieces.
Reception
Critical response was very positive, and 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. They also acclaimed it as a fitting eulogy to the western genre.
