Unforgiven

It's good! I have to say I'm a little surprised to see just how highly regarded this is, given I had - somehow, evidently - never even heard of it until scheduling this Clint Eastwood watchathon of mine - all of the latter's other well received I had/have heard of, but not this. I don't check reviews etc. until after I view films and my jaw kinda dropped when I saw the 4.1 average rating, I won't lie. That makes it sound like I think <em>'Unforgiven'</em> is bad, which I absolutely, most definitely do not. I honestly just found it to be a solid but unspectacular western flick from 1992. I really enjoy Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman as actors and they are all good value in this. There is also some neat cinematography, while the production is well paced. Happy for all involved that this did do bits with awards et al., even if it is a tad unexpected for me - what do I know!

_**“It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man”**_ In 1880-81, Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a prostitute’s face is cut up by an offended patron. When the big, tough sheriff (Gene Hackman) goes soft on the two cowboys responsible, the vengeful women collect their assets for a “whore’s gold” reward to attract a hit man. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play old pardners who are interested in teaming up with a young kid (Jaimz Woolvett) to earn the money. Saul Rubinek plays a maker of Western legends while Richard Harris is on hand as the deadly English Bob. Directed by Eastwood, "Unforgiven" (1992) is a downbeat Western with a bit o’low-key humor. It’s marred by a pall of ugliness and darkness, but it has grim realism in its favor. It’s all about what it takes to kill/abuse people and the ramifications thereof. Munny (Eastwood) is haunted by it, the hardened Sheriff leads by it, Ned (Morgan) discovers he just can’t do it anymore, English Bob relishes it for celebrity status while the ‘Schofield Kid’ is just testing his mettle. Frances Fisher and Anna Thomson lead the female cast with the latter playing the scarred prostitute. Liisa Repo-Martell stands out as the young blonde. There are a few more. There are several iconic scenes, but two moving ones come to mind: When the 'Schofield Kid' experiences an unexpected breakdown. And when the scarred girl shows honor for Munny's faithfulness to his beloved wife (even though she finds out later the wife had passed away; nevertheless Munny was still faithful to her). It's almost as if she marvels at the nobility of a man who refuses to be a faithless adulterer. Munny was really rehabilitated by his beloved and it was only a certain person's death that brings back the cold killer, albeit this time an agent of fearsome vengeance. The film runs 2 hours, 7 minutes, and was shot in Longview, Alberta, Canada (the town of Big Whiskey) and other areas of Alberta, as well as Red Hills Ranch, Sonora, California, for the train sequence. GRADE: B+

This movie directed by Clint Eastward is one of my big three. Three westerns I am willing to watch multiple times when the opportunity arises. (The other two are Once Upon a a Time in the West and The Good the Bad and the Ugly.) All three of those movies are gritty, but not necessarily realistic. The Wild West didn’t see many Gun fights where a gunman outshoots four or five guys facing him. And yet, if we saw a movie gunfight where they are shooting pistols at each other and missing all over the place, that might seem unrealistic to us. Movie magic. So Eastwood plays a former ruthless bad guy who we root for now, and Gene Hackman plays a good guy lawman who is cruel and easy to root against. The dialogue is excellent, such as what Bill Munny says after her shoots a bar owner. There is some humor, as usual for his movies, especially concerning the bragging Schofield. I could go on and on, but you may be one of those lucky ones who hasn’t seen it and still has it to look forward to.