Day 151: Unforgiven (1992)

Movie #99 – Unforgiven (1992) - 131 min, cert 15.

William Munny (Clint Eastwood) is a retired gunfighter. He is widowed and scratches out a living for him and his two children farming pigs. When a young lad calling himself the Schofield Kid turns up out of the blue one day, asking for Munny’s help in hunting down a couple of outlaws, Munny tells him he doesn’t do that anymore and sends him on his way. After he’s gone, Munny rethinks his position, and, deciding he really needs the money, rides off in search of his old partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman). Together they go after the Kid and catch him up. The bounty has been posted by a group of prostitutes after one of their number was attacked with a knife by a customer, leaving her disfigured. They live in the town of Big Whiskey which in run by a fearsome sheriff named Little Bill (Gene Hackman) who comes down very hard on any trouble, administering savage beatings on any bounty hunters who show up.

This is another of Eastwood’s best films. Having watched this only 24 hours after Gran Torino, it’s hard to believe the two were made over 15 years apart as he hardly appears to have aged in between. Unforgiven is set at the end of the Wild West era, at a time when the gunslingers of legend were starting to die out or retire. The West is gradually being tamed, and men like Munny and Little Bill are a dying breed. Their stories are read about in pulp magazines. Our trio of would-be bounty hunters are all flawed – Ned doesn’t have the heart for it anymore, the Kid can’t see far enough to shoot anyone, and Munny himself struggles to ride his horse. Of course, when the chips are down, the fire of Munny’s youth returns to him and he takes on the corrupt sheriff and his men like Clint Eastwood of yesteryear, and it’s great to watch.

Clint Eastwood learned from the masters how to make westerns. He dedicates this film to the directors he studied under – Sergio Leone & Don Siegel, and you can see their influence all over this movie.

Score – 9/10. Eastwood rediscovers the glories of his youth.

Next up is a classic and personal favourite of mine, The Sting with Robert Redford & Paul Newman.