UNFORGIVEN
Review by John Beachem
* * * * *
Directed by: Clint Eastwood Written by: David Webb Peoples
In the town of Big Whisky, Wyoming, a prostitute has just been sliced up by two of her clients. After the local sheriff, Little Bill (Gene Hackman), makes the attackers pay only by giving the prostitute's employer some of their horses, her friends take matters into their own hands. They pool their money and place a bounty of one thousand dollars on the two cowboys, and send word out far and wide. William Munny (Clint Eastwood) used to be a known thief and murderer. Now he tries to take care of his two children by running a pig farm out on the plains. He's approached by The Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvet), a young gunfighter trying to make a name for himself. The kid proposes that he and Munny go to Big Whisky and collect on the bounty. Munny has no desire to return to his old ways, but he's failing as a farmer, and he needs the money. So Munny agrees on one condition, his old friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) be allowed to join them. The three head for Big Whisky, The kid eager to make a name for himself, Munny and Logan haunted by ghosts from their murderous pasts.
There are some who will no doubt claim Clint Eastwood is biting the hand that fed him. They will say he is now slandering the genre that made him a star, and for that he should be crucified, stoned, hanged, or worse. I completely disagree. I don't believe "Unforgiven" is anti-western, I think Eastwood is simply showing a different face to the old west. Be forewarned, the face he's showing is a dark, depressing, and sadly realistic one. In fact, the entire movie is saturated by a sense of sadness. Watching the film on mute, you would still be able to feel the sense of emptiness Eastwood brilliantly conveys with his direction. Make no mistake, this isn't an action movie. It's a character study, and while the outstanding performances add a lot to the film's characters what really makes these people real is the way they are written. In David Peoples' ("Blade Runner") script, everyone is human. There are no superheroes nor villains, no one's perfect and no one's inhuman. Every character makes mistakes, everyone has a breaking point, and the sad fact of the matter is, there are no good guys. Oh sure, there are protagonists and antagonists, but you can understand everyone's motives and actions. In a strange sort of way, you won't want anyone to die, not even Little Bill. Yet you'll know, deep in your heart, that Bill Munny's words are true: "We all got it comin kid."
One of the best things about "Unforgiven" is the cast. While I'm obviously referring primarily to the three main cast members, Eastwood, Freeman, and Hackman, the entire supporting cast does a great job as well. To start with, we've got Eastwood, the king of westerns himself. Eastwood does an amazing job as a man trying to convince himself that he has changed his ways. The way he plays William Munny we think this character is really all his past characters (Josey Wales, the man with no name, even Dirty Harry) rolled up into one, trying to both atone for and forget the things he's done in the past. Then we have Morgan Freeman, playing a man too loyal and honest for his own good. Freeman brings remarkable depth and intelligence to every character he plays, and that has seldom been more true than it is here. Finally we have Gene Hackman, giving a performance the likes of which I've seldom seen. Hackman makes Little Bill into something much more than just another archetypal western villain. Little Bill is already written as having a sort of twisted sense of justice, and a dream to do nothing more than work on his house (this provides some of the film's few comic moments), but Hackman imbues the character with something more. It's hard to describe, and I know I can't do it justice here. This performance actually has to be witnessed to be appreciated.
You're no doubt wondering if there's any action in the movie. Yes there is, but not in the traditional sense. One of the things that most impressed me about "Unforgiven" was the way in which Eastwood could film excellent action scenes without glamorizing them. In fact, quite the opposite approach was taken. For example, there's a scene in which Munny shoots a man from some distance off with a shotgun. The hapless fellow crawls behind a rock, trailing blood behind him while his friends take cover. There's no pulse pounding music here, no war cries from the combatants, only the victim crying for water. Finally Eastwood shakes his head sadly and yells out at the man's friends, "Will you give him a drink of water for Christ's sake?! We ain't gonna shoot!" Even the giant, climactic shoot out at film's end is like this (oh come on, you knew there was going to be one). There's nothing glorious about the killing, each character simply does what they feel they have to do. It's a remarkable achievement by Eastwood, being able to film the movie in such a way, and a lot of it has to do with his use of the score, by composer and longtime Eastwood collaborator Lennie Niehaus. The score is haunting and powerful, but never lively or upbeat. I know that sounds bad, but it's remarkably effective. If a loud, uplifting score had been written for the gun fights it would have taken something away from them. By keeping the music low, or even completely unused during the fights, Eastwood makes them much more realistic and saddening.
When I first saw "Unforgiven" back in '92, I dismissed it as a good, if overrated, western about growing old. I saw it again about two years later and dismissed it again, but decided it wasn't about growing old, it was about vengeance and not being able to escape ones past. I watched it for the third time about a month ago, and I'm still haunted by it. There's something powerful and moving about this film that, try as I might, I can't put my finger on. It manages to interweave not only the two story arcs I described above, but dozens more into a film that has a rightful place on my personal 100 best of all time list. Those who shove the film away as just another western, or try to place a similar restrictive title on it do so at their own risk. Don't take this movie lightly, and don't ignore it or you're doing yourself a great disservice. I know it seems like a long film, running 131 minutes, but I was so involved I didn't even notice the time going by. I'd recommend "Unforgiven" to everyone, whether you like westerns or not, and give it a full five out of five stars.
Comments? Send to: johnbeachem@dependentfilms.net
Past reviews can be found at: http://www.epinions.com/user-elerad or http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?John+Beachem
* * * * * - One of the best movies of the year. * * * * - Great flick, try and catch this one. * * * - Okay movie, hits and misses. * * - Pretty bad, see it at your own risk. * - See this one only if you enjoy pain.
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