Best Of The West Collection - Unforgiven/The Searchers/The Wild Bunch (Box Set)

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...~ ~ Forget your John Wayne’s and your run of the mill Western movies that glamorise the Wild West. If you enjoy cowboy films, then take a look at this offering “Unforgiven” (1992), that shows you what life was really like in the pioneering days in America, warts and all. Directed by veteran Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood, who cut his teeth in westerns such as “Rawhide” on TV (1960’s), and spaghetti westerns like “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” from the 1970’s, this movie won no fewer than four Oscars, including Best Film and Best Director. Surprisingly enough for such an acclaimed actor/director, this was in fact the first Oscar of Eastwood’s long and illustrious career. ~ ~ The plot is simple enough. A cowhand takes offence... Read review

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Advantages: Good story, excellent acting support, cinematography, editing.
Disadvantages: overly long & too violent; unevenly paced, Bullet-proof Eastwood

...I've always been a great admirer of Clint Eastwood, more so for his unique directing skills rather than his rather staid acting abilities. "Unforgiven" is perhaps his zenith in both departments - a vicious story of life & death and what it is like to kill a man in cold blood with humility: no heroes, wise-cracks, ponchoes or chewed tobacco here! Compare "Unforgiven" to this rather overblown bloodfest where killing is just like collecting apples from a tree. There's no remorse, no concern, no pity, no nothing. Yes, revenge is nice after seeing your family & friends gunned down and then being betrayed by another so-called friend during the American Civil War of the late 1800s. And I don't doubt the real wild west was precisely that - wild, violent & totally unfair. However, Eastwood simply doesn't know when to stop or holdback... Read review

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Advantages: Direction, music, story
Disadvantages: Not suitable for very young

...lingering malevolent stare, grimaces and twisted lips usually foretelling a violent reaction. This reliance on body language and evocative music is one reason the films achieved such a worldwide success even in countries where they were badly dubbed or subtitled. Similar in many ways to the martial arts films that followed in the 70’s. The Good the Bad and the Ugly is a very important film and a true classic. It showed the world that the Spaghetti western had evolved from the innovative but still provincial niche of Leone’s previous films into a truly grand, epic genre. Later films such as ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’, ‘The Quick and the Dead’ and ‘Unforgiven’ all owe a massive debt to this Leone masterpiece and I don’t think it is to much to say that other classic of recent years such as The Wild Bunch, The Godfather or Bonnie And Clyde might... Read review

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