Unforgiven DVD > Reviews > I've always been lucky when it comes to killin'

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	just like the old days .  .  .
Disadvantages:	nothing at all

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Frequently hailed as the best western in over twenty years (at the time of its relese anyway), Unforgiven is a classic, brutal revenge story set in the old western outbacks of the developing United States of America. If you had to name one living actor associated with the slowly fading Western Genre, you would of course think of Clint Eastwood. Unforgiven is a comebak for the aforementioned genre and the west has never looked much better. Walking away with four Oscars back in 1992, not only reviecing unaminous critical acclaim, it resparked the western genre and provided that hollywood can be daring and exciting amidst all of the family friendly popcorn flicks.

Set in the late 1800s in the small town of 'Big Whisky' Unforgiven plays out a simple, but very effective formula. The film opens with a typical cowboy individual getting his money's worth from one of the bar's prostitutes. This however is not your regular passionate encounter with a beautiful woman as it concludes with her face being cut up as she gave an innocent giggle at the cowboy's "tiny pecker". The cowboy (and his friend - his way with another girl in the next room) are restrained and the sheriff is called. The sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (played by the ever exceptional Gene Hackman) a cold, relentless character and a shoddy carpenter I might add, gives the two men a light punishment for what they did. As a result of this, the other prostitutes save their money and put out a $1,000 bounty on the two men in the hope that someone will finish the job that the sheriff never finished.

Meanwhile, out in glorious countryside we come across a small farm owned by Mr William Munny (The gritty and meanacing Clint Eastwood). Munny was never the simple farmer we see here. During his youth, he was a cold, heartless highway villain who had killed "women, child and just about everything that walks or crawls at one time or another". Although now getting on a bit and still somewhat grieving from the recent death of his wife, he is not like that anymore. However that is soon to change as a young, mysterious man known as "The Kid" approaches Munny with a proposition upon hearing that Munny is the best their is. The proposition in question is the $1,000 bounty for the assassination of the two cowboy's responsible for cutting up the prostitute. At first Munny declines but then changes his mind. He leaves his two young children on the farm and goes to see his old partner in crime Ned (Morgan Freeman) to ask if he'll tag along. They ride post haste to catch up with "The Kid" and after some negotiation, decide to split the money three ways.

Meanwhile back in Big Whiskey, the infamous bandit "English Bob" (played with great class and notority by the late Richard Harris) comes into town and blatantly ignores the "No Firearms" laws. This pushes Little Bill Dagget's temper to the edge and a savage public beating ensues. Bob's biographer WW Beauchampm (Saul Rubenik) who was with him at the time, is taken under Dagget's wing and he begins to start writing about him instead.

Each charater in this film goes under some kind of personality transformation or metamorphosis.
William Munny goes from being a self rehabilitated man to brutal killer. "The Kid" goes from cockey youth to coming to terms with the feelings of actually taking someone's life away from them by shooting them. Ned goes from, refined markman, to not being able to kill. Sheriff Dagget goes from being firm but unfair, to being brutal and unforgiving. And English Bob goes from being a notorious and patriotic ("Anyone can shoot a president" speech is most insightful) to being a emotional wreck.

Out of these, the most shocking is that of William Munny. He has been sober for many years as his wife had set him straight, but a brutal turn of events leads him to search answers at the bottom of a whisky bottle and ultimately leads to one of the most tense and breathtaking shootouts in any western film. After the torture and death of someone dear to him, Munny steps into the bar where Dagget's posse are all situated. Munny at first appears as only a silhouett in the entrance of the bar holding a double barrel shotgun coldly in on hand. He wears a long brown trenchcoat and a matching western hat as if he is some kind of western grim reaper. Faced with impossible odds and the rain pelting down outside and the thunder and lightning only enhancing the tension even more...

This is the best example of the talent of Eastwood's direction (yes he directed this also) and it is no wonder that he won an Oscar for Best Director. Other Oscars included Best Supporting Actor: Gene Hackman, Best Editor: Joel Cox and Best Picture.

The performances from the four leads (Eastwood, Hackman, Freeman, Harris) are all outstanding. It's not becuase of witty one liners or lots of screaming and shouting, it becuase of its simplicity and dryness. Eastwood for example forever has an emotionless tone of voice, that goes for his facial expressions too, but that's why it works. If you hated yourself for the awful things you had done in the past, you'd probably sound like that too. The same goes to Hackman, although he portrays a little more enthusiasm, that gives the impression that what he does is amussing to him and has not come to terms with the death that his line of work entails. Or it could be that because of the line of work he does (being the town Sheriff) he shrugs gratuitous violence off with a smile. Don't get me wrong, he is serious about what he does, he just handels it differently and thouroghly deserves his Oscar.

Morgan Freeman is superb as Munny's accomplise and best friend Ned. He is the only character out of the main four that has any real humanity and that is quite refreshing. Richard Harris as Enlish Bob was a personal favourite of mine, maybe because i'm English... His character is the most flamboyant and melodramatic and Harris plays it splendidly and for once is not type cast as a typical hollywood 'Brittsh Villain' with all the charm and sauveness that goes with it. English Bob is not charming, he is not sauve, he is a 'for king and country' kind of person and makes constant remarks on how superior England is to America and how anyone could shoot a president but if you tried the same to a king, the mere presence of soveriegnty would inspire the fear to make you surrender. Classic stuff.

Eastwood's direction pays great homage to classic films with his camerawork being simple rather than hollywood style conciousness and in the end an overall well crafted film. Instead of your frequent music video style cuts that are quick and never give you enough time to register what is going on, the camera dwells on certain things from time to time. This increases both the tension and again that'classic 'feel' to the film that other films lose, "Young Guns" for example.
This in part is the work of editor Joel Cox, whose magic on the cutting room floor earnt him a gold statue also. This is not the first time they have worked to together, they worked on Dirty Harry vehicle "The Enforcer" (also directed by Eastwood) therefore due to their professional experience together it no doubt made the joint vission of the picture much more clear and easier to achieve, and it shows.

The film doesn't boast many special effects, bloodbags and squibs I suppose, but do you need anything else? If the film went under copius CGI rendering the overal impact would just diminish to a half hearted attempt at entertainment. The guns don't posses that typical hollywood effect of 'muzzle flare' (the yellow flame that bursts out of the end of the barrel everytime a shot is fired). Guns in real life, don't have muzzel flare (if you watch the news where 9 times out of 10 there is a report on Iraq where we see coillition forces raiding a building with terrorists inside. Their rifels do not have muzzle flare)

The soundtrack is mainly of accoustic guitar, a nice touch. It enhances the western atmosphere and it is used in all the right places. In this film, instead of using music to build tension, it uses silence, pure silence, an old fashioned techniquethat goes against cliche.

BOTTOM LINE
Unforgiven is gritty, relentless and brutal. Desptie being a film made in the go-go ninties, it doesn't feel like it. Eastwood slowly tightens the tension to an unforgettable and rewarding climax that is finely tuned with a simple and powerful script. There is no reason why it can't be enjoyed by anyone, it is not liable to offend in any way but I think it is more of a man's film. One of the greatest westerns ever made.

CERTIFICATE : 15
TIME APPROX : 126 minutes

CAUTION :
Some strong violence

If you liked this, try : -
The Wild Bunch - another classic western with an unforgettable, bloody climax.

< DarkMark

Watch this, or i'll never forgive you