 Unforgiven is a modern classic that "summarizes everything I feel about the Western," director/star Clint Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times. This American Film Institute Top 100 American Movies selection rode off with four 1992 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman) and Editing (Joel Cox). Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty. Richard Harris is an ill-fated killer-for-hire. And Hackman is a lawman of sly charm...and chilling brutality. Unforgiven is "a Western for the ages" (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times). Storyline: The town of Big Whisky is full of normal people trying to lead quiet lives. Cowboys try to make a living. Sheriff 'Little Bill' tries to build a house and keep a heavy-handed order. The town whores just try to get by.Then a couple of cowboys cut up a whore. Dissatisfied with Bill's justice, the prostitutes put a bounty on the cowboys. The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as 'The Schofield Kid', and aging killer William Munny. Munny reformed for his young wife, and has been raising crops and two children in peace. But his wife is gone. Farm life is hard. And Munny is no good at it. So he calls his old partner Ned, saddles his ornery nag, and rides off to kill one more time, blurring the lines between heroism and villainy, man and myth. Written by Charlie Ness Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Greg Maltz on August 8, 2007 -- "I'm gonna hurt you real bad and not gentle like before." The line, delivered by Gene Hackman in his Oscar-winning performance as Sheriff Little Bill Daggett, conveys a heightened sense of urgency in the Blu-ray version of Unforgiven. Maybe it is a subtle change in expression or almost imperceptible nod or something else lost in previous versions. But whatever it is makes the Blu-ray the best vehicle for the colorful characters of arguably the finest western of the last 30 years. Most westerns explore two concepts: 1) might makes right and 2) you can't escape who you are. Unforgiven merges the two into a plot that exposes the brutal lawlessness of the frontier and shows that wickedness and justice, crime and punishment are relative and not always meted out by the appropriate authority. With rich symbolism--Little Bill's roof leaks with holes as big as the holes in his application of the law--and characters so strong they take on mythic qualities, Unforgiven won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1992. Most of that success is attributable to Clint Eastwood, who secured Unforgiven yet another Oscar as Best Director. He also handles the lead role of William Munny. Eastwood makes this role work so well, in part, because he uses it to draw his own gunslinger film career to a close. At several points in the film, William Munny answers, "I ain't like that anymore" to questions about his murderous past. He delivers the line as if trying harder to convince himself than his comrades. The fact that audiences around the world saw Eastwood in shoot 'em up western roles since the '60s lends credence and authenticity to his portrayal of Munny, even beyond the understated delivery and menacing facial expressions that became Eastwood's trademarks. Munny's partner, Ned (Morgan Freeman) provides the strongest link to the past--a past Munny thinks he's left behind. The appeal of Unforgiven lies in its ability to cut through the machismo of the genre and explore morality on many levels. In a world of horses and whores, lawmen and outlaws, cowboys and indians, the lines aren't always drawn so clearly as westerns pretend. Unforgiven introduces us to a variety of characters, each more viscious then the next. Each time we think we are watching the strongest gunfighter, someone comes along to prove us wrong. A great irony is on display throughout the film. The hero is an anti-hero who can barely mount a horse or shoot straight when the story begins. He is a murderer who found solace in a wife and kids, was forgiven for his sins, escaped his past for a time. All the western cliches failed during the movie. Even attempts to use a bottle in a bar fight--the oldest tricks wouldn't work. And in the end, the anti-hero was un-forgiven for his past. "It's a hell of a thing killing a man," Munny says, gazing off into the distance. "You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have." Yet even this acknowledgement doesn't stop him from meting out his own brand of justice. Previous versions of this film on DVD were not ideal. One reissue even split Unforgiven over two discs. The transfer onto Blu-ray is stunning, with almost no digital artifacts. As Little Bill might say, Blu-ray's imagery and power hit real hard and not gentle like the DVD. Cast Notes: Clint Eastwood (William Munny), Gene Hackman (Little Bill Daggett), Morgan Freeman (Ned Logan), Richard Harris (English Bob), Jaimz Woolvett (The "Schofield Kid"), Saul Rubinek (W.W. Beauchamp), Frances Fisher (Strawberry Alice), Anna Levine [I] (Delilah Fitzgerald), David Mucci (Quick Mike), Rob Campbell (Davey Bunting), Anthony James [I] (Skinny Dubois), Tara Dawn Frederick (Little Sue), Beverley Elliott (Silky), Liisa Repo-Martell (Faith), Josie Smith (Crow Creek Kate). IMDb Rating (07/25/14): 8.3/10 from 214,465 users Top 250: #107 IMDb Rating (10/23/09): 8.3/10 from 86,490 users Top 250: #110
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