THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The worst kind of sins to cope with are the ones that remain Unforgiven.
PLOT
The 1992 film takes place in 1880 Wyoming and follows a prostitute named Delilah (Anna Thomson) get slashed by a customer named Quick Mike (David Mucci) and his partner Davey Bunting (Rob Campbell) after laughing at his small penis. Rather than find a severe punishment, Sheriff Little Bill Daggett orders the two to sell their horses to the saloon’s owner Skinny DuBois (Anthony James), knowing that Delilah’s disfigurement will cause a loss of revenue. Enraged that there were no true consequences, the other consequences save up to put a $1000 bounty for whoever can kill the cowboys. The first one that answers the call is British born gunfighter ‘English Bob’ who arrives with biographer WW Beauchamp. By enforcing the anti gun law, Bill disarms Bob and savagely beats him to disparage anyone else from collecting the bounty. As he banishes him from town, Beauchamp stays out of fascination of the sheriff who debunks Bob’s tall tales of the Wild West. As Bob leaves though, a trio of people arrive for the bounty. A near sighted young man nicknamed ‘Schofield Kid’ arrives from Kansas with the company of retired outlaws William Munny & Ned Logan, the latter two are close friends. Similar to Ned, Munny retired from his dark past after marrying a wife of his own, abandoning the need of alcohol and vowing to never harm the innocent again. Since she passed away and needs the money to take care of his two children, William Junior & Peggy (Shane Meier & Aline Levasseur), he embarks on the journey and vows to not go back to his old ways. Upon arrival on a rainy night, Ned & Kid settle in at the saloon mingling with the prostitutes whereas Munster suffers a fever. Bill doesn’t know who he is when he meets him, but knows he’s arrived for the bounty, thus confiscating his firearm and kicking him out of the saloon. When Ned& Kid overhear the commotion, they leave out the window. By morning, Delilah and the other prostitutes take part in nursing Munny back to health. A few days later, he joins Ned & Kid to kill Davey after ambushing him & his crew. With Ned losing his mojo off of the fact he missed his shot, he chooses to head back to Kansas. That decision to head home results in him getting captured and flogged to death by Bill who demanded the whereabouts of his partners. Will & Kid don’t find out about what happened until after killing Quick Mike at an outhouse. As Will would be shocked of the news of losing his friend being told by one of the prostitutes, he breaks sobriety and vows his revenge. Before returning to the town, he tells Kid to go to Kansas and give his share of the bounty to his kids. As he returns by another nightfall, he finds Ned’s corpse displayed in a coffin outside the saloon, whereas Bill orchestrates a posse inside. Once walking in, he kills Skinny Dubois for displaying Ned and when his shotgun misfires, he quickly intercepts by shooting down Bill and several other men with a revolver. He encourages those who don’t want to die to leave before giving a final blow to Bill. As Beauchamp witnessed the gunfight, he asks Munny how he survived, only for him to reply it was all out of luck. As he leaves, he demands the town to give a proper burial for Ned and promises to come back if another innocent woman is ever harmed. The film ends in an epilogue revealing that after returning home, Will and his kids moved to San Francisco.
THOUGHTS
Clint Eastwood’s career has been defined thanks to the various westerns he starred in since the 60s, so you knew it had felt like an event knowing this one would be his last true one of its kind. As a director, he is able to give unlikely life to a captivating script by writer David Webb Peoples. It is so different from what was done before because through beautiful cinematography by Jack N Green, you get the sense on how foreboding the trail ends rather than find poignance and you feel the constant tension from start to finish. Eastwood has done more than a dozen of westerns, but I think this one has such an impact due to its bold way in saying to remember the difference between morality and self interest because if you don’t, then it is you that destroys society as you know it. As an actor, Eastwood makes William Munny the most unconventional protagonist in comparison to the past gunslingers he’s played because he is the most dignified due to how bad he wants to put the past behind him. He’s willing to collect a bounty solely off of the desperate need to take care of his kids who he doesn’t want to take the wrong path like he did. It is a surprise that a dangerous man like him was able to find love & solace with Claudia, but it is still a good thing he still found it because he was able to rejuvenate a moral conscience. And if he didn’t have it within, it came a good friend that was Ned. Morgan Freeman was quite likable as this character because he acts the most practical as in wanting to be his voice of reason. His presence is enough for Will to remain tame and without him, it was enough unleash the beast which he did for a good cause for once. Because both men are the only ones who direct themselves in morality, it ain’t a surprise to see others be motivated in self interest, which in turn is selfishness. Now it is easy to see that Schofield Kid is all about that since he wants the bounty pay more than he needs it, but Jaimz Woolvett is showing him he’s trying to be tough in a world he ain’t ready for. And when he took his first kill through Quick Mike, he realized the thrilling life of a cowboy ain’t for him, hence going back on what he had in mind. And even Richard Harris caught me off guard in showing English Bob as an arrogant guy in his line of work, who would showboat more than take action. That alone doesn’t make me feel remorse on Bill humiliating him because if you can’t back it up after talking the talk, you don’t deserve respect. Quick Mike & Davey may have started the story with their cruelty, but they are nowhere near of a menace compared to Little Bill. Gene Hackman earns his second acting Oscar through this performance because he’s so ruthless that he’s willing to do the bare minimum when people expect more but goes all in on expressing such authority when least expected. He proves it with each person he comes across and each decision he makes only sets in stone that he’s bound to fall so high. He’s all about keeping crime away from the town, yet he doesn’t treat the prostitutes as human beings which makes him the worst of people. That alone makes him the one to respect the least, but Saul Rubinek makes such a bandwagon out of Beauchamp that he is so fascinated of his lifestyle that he can’t help documenting a guy that backs up the hype. That all changes when William extracts revenge and makes clear whose story it was all along. With everything done to get what was wanted and needed, I do hope Munny found satisfaction in what was left of his life because second chances are not easy to achieve. This movie will always hold up for eternity, but even good stuff like this has moments I don’t think make sense to me. So for starters, I was surprised when Bill gets the jump on Bob but was he really working on his porch at the time or was he lying just to surprise everyone besides the audience? If that’s the case, I wish that was clarified. Also, why doesn’t he get the jump on Ned & Schofield by having his patrolmen chase them while he’s beating up Will? That would’ve prevented their job getting done. And why does Kid wait 12 seconds to move on to the other bathroom stall to kill the bounty? I know he’s nervous because this would be his first kill, but there was no need to wait that long once knowing the target wasn’t where he thought he’d be. Ignore these things, then you’ll still be in love with this movie as much as I have. In short, Unforgiven is among the ranks of being an amazing western for racking up the tension at every given moment and leaving you in awe on how the trajectory lands. If Eastwood’s westerns are what made you love movies, see his crown jewel.
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