Classic Movies: Unforgiven (1992)

By Jason Haskins

I'm never going to forgive Clint Eastwood for this damn movie. Eastwood might have been reaching the peak of his directorial pursuits (this, of course, being pre-Million Dollar Baby era) and some thought he was going to slow down as an actor, which he had hinted towards around the time that Unforgiven came out in 1992, but Eastwood created his finest masterpiece. One that literally closed the book on the Western genre. Sure, there have been some good Westerns since including HBO's series, Deadwood, but none have come close he sheer significance of Unforgiven's drive to push new boundaries for the genre as well as undercut all of the clichés and make something so powerful.

Eastwood stars as gunslinger William Munny who comes out of retirement to go on a killing with a younger man and an old friend of his for the men responsible for chopping up a prostitute's face. His past is shadowy and he no longer has the guidance of his dearly departed wife to keep him in line. Moral ambiguity follows suit and while this is all happening, the town's sheriff played excellently by Gene Hackman, must keep these assassin's out of his town after smelling out the prostitutes' plans--which includes stopping Munny and anyone else coming to cash in on the bounty.

The story isn't just fantastically written with a myriad of interesting characters that Eastwood exquisitely paces well into the story--it's also surrounded by depth that sets it apart from many other Westerns. It's not just a clean-cut story of bad guys versus good guys or what's right or wrong. The story slowly burns exposing all of the intricacies of humanity especially in this time period of the late 1800s. There are still plenty of great Eastwood moments and one-liners especially near the end of the film when all hell breaks loose, but at the same time this amount of high-impact storytelling doesn't mar the plot down or make the over 2 hour running time any less manageable--it makes it that much more enjoyable.

Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman costar in the film with some appearances by the late Richard Harris as English Bob, another hired gun that Hackman's character has to deal with. Hackman actually won an Academy Award for the film, much deservedly so, as he is like electricity on the screen--unpredictable and without a common tether. He totally invigorates every scene he's in and gives this chilling dastardly performance that's one of the best of his entire career. Eastwood himself does a tremendous job as well--easily providing the best self-directed performances ever captured on screen. There's definitely a reason Eastwood had been sitting on this film for years. He was waiting for the prime time for him to be able to handle it in front of and behind the camera and he succeeded on all fronts.

The movie does boast a long running time, which I can assure you is actually very well-paced and never leaves you feeling bored, and it also has a lot of violence and language in it if that's an issue, but it's an overwhelmingly complex and insanely well executed movie that everyone has to see at least once in their lives. Many people don't like Westerns for some odd reason and all of those people need to watch Unforgiven. I think that it contains all of the elements that make the genre so special, but it advances beyond them and goes off the beaten track to give us an amazing spectacle full of excitement, intensity, and outstanding visuals.

© Jason Haskins, 2011

5 out of 5 Stars