Unforgiven is without a doubt Clint Eastwood's masterpiece. Even though Mystic River is another, Unforgiven is Eastwood's finest. The film takes place in Big Whiskey, Wyoming in 1880. Over a period of 2 weeks, William Munny sets out to find two cowboys who cut up and murdered a whore. Will is a widowed man with two kids and strives to lead the life with lack of wanting to kill mothers and children as he did when he was a vicious gunfighter and heavy drinker. He's a hog farmer and is not very good at it. That is until a visit from a young gunfighter made him not want to become useless for pigs. Schofield Kid's persuasion wanting him to tag along to find the two cowboys who cut up one of the whores of Big Whiskey, Delilah and who ever killed them would get reward money, would eventually gets to Munny's head and think of his children. That kind of an offer wasn't made by the sherrif in town. Gene Hackmen plays "Little Bill", an unreasonable sherrif who is full of himself and no one else. He originally had planned to just whip the cowboys and let them be on their marry way, but the whores gathered all their earnings of the week and offered the reward. Munny sets to find these violators but not without his partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) of years ago. Schofield, Munny, and Ned travel to Big Whiskey to find the cowboys, but along the way, Ned and Munny find out that Kid is blind as a bat. In the meanwhile, Little Bill tries to build a house of his own and fails one night it is raining cats and dogs, he tries to gloat about himself to an author, who was left alone because his other focus was driven out of town for carrying a pistol in Big Whiskey. In this town, no one is allowed guns on their person. And now that Delilah is cut up, the owner, Skinny, thinks that he's going out of business because of way she looks. On their journey to Big Whiskey to confront the owner of the whore house, the three western musketeers find one of the cowboys and shoot him the stomach. Ned was going to shoot but his mind couldn't handle the pressure and possible consequences that may come of not killing in so long and what it feels like to have feeling. Munny takes the shot and they go on their way. Later they ride farther and find the other cowboy and Kid shoots him 5 times in the chest while he's in the outhouse. The real cold blooded killer finally comes into town one last time. Now the first time they came to the Billiards bar, Will had become very sick and Ned was off with a whore. Little Bill confronts Munny who tells him a fake name because even though he stays quiet, there are people on the hunt to kill William Munny, the cold blooded killer of women and children. Well, Munny told Little Bill he didn't have a gun (Big Whiskey omits the use of guns) but he really did. Little Bill tells Munny if he doesn't get out of the town, he'll shoot him because he very damn well knows that this person is William Munny. Will and Ned escape before Bill could catch them and Ned rode on home after Will got stitched up from being punched in the face by Little Bill's no so little fist. But Ned never made it home. After riding back out to the bar to confront Little Bill one last time, one of the whores rode to check to see if he and Kid were alright then she brought some horrible news. Ned has been beaten to death, Little Bill whipped him down to the core. Will now plans on killing Ned's murderer. Unforgiven tells and teaches a very important lesson to those who seek vengence. Seeking vengence is the only way to get yourself in the most unforgivable situations. We all know the more the pain burns inside, the urge to kill becomes worse. Killing may finish the job. but the satisfaction of confronting an opposite person seals the deal without any liability. Killing is too easy. This film is the winner of 4 Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. Unforgin\ven has everything that it requires to be one of the best films of all time. First of all, the director is one of the most influential auteurs on this earth. He has spent many years in the film industry, not only as a director but learning about the profession of directing while acting. And while he acted, he directed many of his films he starred in as well. Being in so many western films and tv shows, Clint built up enough knowledge about the compostion, plot and storyline, and charaterizion to create the best western that killed all the westerns...literally. Gene Hackman on another hand won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Clint offered him the role because in Gene's other films such as The French Connection and his supporting role in Bonnie and Clyde made it easy for Clint to choose who would be the perfect "Little Bill". Gene is cunning and persuasively arrogant in his roles and that's exactly who Little Bill is. Unforgiven won an AA for Best Film Editing and Best Picture because the compostion of the story and continuity of the editing is great. The whole story in general is the most original i have ever seen and Clint Eastwood is a great visualizer. He sees the most depressing ideas and sorrowful moments as a piece of art. |
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