Unforgiven

Rating:
Summary: DVD is pan and scan and lacks features
Review: I enjoyed this movie quite a bit (I had never really seen it before) but the DVD production is very poor. This is a pan-and-scan version of the film (not widescreen) and there is very little additional information about the film included on the DVD (no Director's commentary for example). What is perhaps most annoying is the extremely limited scene access provided - you can basically only choose to start in 12 different parts of the movie.

Rating:
Summary: sombre western
Review: The image most people have of a classic western movie is of a ruggedly handsome hero on his horse, galloping effortlessly; guns at his side blazing in the afternoon sun as a constant reminder to any villain who would dare cross his path of their imminent end. In Eastwood's celebrated western the "hero", William Munny, has none of these attributes. Instead all we have is an aged killer, notoriously known for his crimes, content to live the rest of his life on a small farm in the praries with his childern, wizened by the memory of his dead wife. Gone are the days of shoot-em-ups at the O.K Corral with his friend, played by Morgan Freeman. Gone are characters who are quick to pull the trigger. Eastwood replaces adventure and daring, with stark realism and I believe this is the film's legacy. And with the haunting score by Eastwood himself and Lennie Niehaus, and the beautiful cinematography the movie remains as one of the most memorable westerns to this day.

Rating:
Summary: a review of Unforgiven
Review: In the movie, a prostitute gets her face cut up for giggling about the size of one guy's um, manhood. The sheriff, Little Bill (Gene Hackman) decided that the two men responsible for the crime should pay the brothel's owner a couple of horses since the prostitute won't be able to work anymore with a cut up face. The other prostitutes are upset that the men are not punished more severely. One of the prostitutes, Alice gets the other girls to put their money together as a reward for whoever kills the two. The "Schofield Kid" (Jaimz Woolvett) gets William Munny (Clint Eastwood) interested in killing them for the money. William had been a ruthless killer back in the day but since getting married and giving up whisky, he became a gentle pig farmer. He does not want to go at first but he has two children and he is poor. He knows he can use the money to provide for his children. He leaves his two very young children home alone in their cabin and then gets Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to go with him. English Bob (Richard Harris) along with his biographer W. W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek) also want the reward. Gene Hackman gives a great performance in it. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film. There is a good funny scene where Bill insults English Bob by mispronouncing the title of the book about him by calling it the 'The Duck of Death" instead of the "Duke of Death" and tells Beauchamp the 'true' version of one of the stories in the book about English Bob. It was also very nicely shot. If you like Westerns, you'd probably like this one.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgivable
Review: I fail to see why Clint Eastwood won an academy award for this picture because, IMO, "Unforgiven" is Eastwood's worst film. It's slow, dull, choppy, and unlike those great spaghetti western classics, this film lacks drama and action. If you liked "For A Few Dollars More" or "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", chances are you aren't going to like "Unforgiven" because it's long on dialogue and short on action.

Rating:
Summary: unforgiven
Review: I found Unforgiven one of the most over rated movies in Hollywood history! I am well aware of all the oscars that it has recieved but that just shows, as usual, the politics and clout that Eastwood has with this organization. The direction and character development is typical Eastwood(cardboard) and this very long movie had several places that dragggged on into boredom. Sergio Leone and Don Segal did far BETTER with directing Eastwood in Westerns. I must point out that anyone I know who saw Unforgiven came away completely baffeled about what made this movie notable! It must be noted that I enjoy Eastwood, the actor, and think that he should stay in front of the camera.

Rating:
Summary: Eastwood, Freeman and Hackman better than the movie
Review: I'm not entirely taken in by Unforgivin. Certain parts are just spectacular, like the Gene Hackman/Richard Harris prison scene. But the whole is less than the sum of the good parts. I like it but I don't love it. Unforgivin is the jewel in Clint Eastwood's crown. An excellent acting and directing performance. Clint was always a good director. Here, he hits the nail right on the head. His character is grim, tired and haunted. Sort of Dirty Harry gone to seed. I've never seen Morgan Freeman in any movie that wasn't improved by his presence. On of the best actors in all of Hollywood. Gene Hackman is unnerving as a small town sheriff. A pious, vicious bully. More cunning than intelligent.

Unforgiven makes valid points about the dangers of romanticizing violence and revising history to entertain the masses. We live in a permissive culture. Most Americans have seen literally thousands of people killed on television and in movies. Most of what we think we know about American history, especially the old west, we've learned from tv and westerns like the ones Eastwood starred in in the 60's. Most of what we've learned is false to the point of silly. Unforgivin explores our casual acceptance of movie violence as common and even laudable. Eastwood has often played remorseless vigilante characters; the hero cheered on as he blows away scumbags with cool one liners. But are they all scumbags and how heroic is our hero? In Unforgiven, Eastwood, our hero, is a former murderer. Most of the men who die in Unforgivin aren't killers.

Unfortunately the dialogue is a bit too saccarine to resonate. There are some genuinely dreadful faux-western tin-eared lines and conversations. Eastwoods character's apologizing to the prostitute for hurting her feelings comes to mind. Very 90's. 1990's. The acting by the actresses playing the prostitutes is dreadful and their charcters are wholly unbelievable. Such intelligent, independent, prideful and resourceful women don't exist in most whorehouses and certainly not a bunch of them all in one whorehouse in the middle of Wyoming in 1880. Not a single woman who isn't a whore gets so much as a single line of dialogue. Maybe thats meant as an ironic comment on the guy-flick-no-girls-aloud Eastwood and John Wayne westerns of decades ago. Only wives and whores need apply. Most of the minor character acting needs help and the scenes and scenery are unremarkably filmed. The movie gets by mostly on plot, main character acting, inference, and tone. Eastwood, Hackman, Freeman, plot and message good; almost everything else either ok or just plain bad.

Rating:
Summary: Best Western...? Dare we say it?
Review: Thus far,the pinnacle of an fascinating career....let it go further in this direction......Deserved all honors after repeated viewings. A turn in recent films, as Clint becomes anti-hero turned hero...This SEXY man has more to come.

Rating:
Summary: Another Masterpiece from Clint Eastwood
Review: There are no smart tricks here, no easy pulling of the heart-strings, no oh so sentimental glorification, no playing to the Oscar gallery, no self serving dialogue, no vanity, no egoism and no cop-out.

Clint Eastwood has become probably one of the most gifted, thoughtful and quality directors around. This film is characteristically understated and overhwelmingly brilliant. Every scene has been carefully constructed, every shot has more intelligence in it than quite a few directors would invest in a whole film. Clint Eastwood could make the worst of plots seem quite plausible. With a solid story as told in Unforgiven, the direction of Clint and the great acting by all concerned, this film takes the genre into a completely new dimension.

The soundtrack too has been carefully thought out and uncharacteristically, for most directors, actually goes with the film. Rather than just being a hastily arranged collection of commercially inspired afterthoughts the music complements the creation of the moods, the ambiental settings and the acting.

Couldn't have wished for a better movie!

... . ... .END

Rating:
Summary: Great as a film, not just a Western
Review: "Unforgiven" contains a gritty realism and psychological insight that is distinct in any film, not just in Westerns. In this sense, the film is a tremendous accomplishment for Clint Eastwood as an actor and a director. Eastwood plays a gun fighter whose career has largely subsided as the civilizing process has begun to displace the frontier mentality in the American West. Eastwood is hired by some prostitutes to settle a score with an abusive client. He and his party gun down the person but in the process they run afoul of the town's sheriff (masterfully played by Gene Hackman) who has legally sanctioned gun fighting of any sort. When Eastwood's partner is killed by the sheriff's posse, Eastwood returns to the town and single-handedly confronts them. The battle that ensues is somewhat unrealistic (Eastwood kills several men including the sheriff) but makes sense on a symbolic level. The untrammeled spirit of the frontier confronts its civilizing nemesis and wins even as it becomes an extinct phenomenon. The intense realism and Eastwood's subtle, understated performance are what make the film work. So much of the film is presented in a plain understated fashion, that by the time we get to the symbolic conclusion we still believe it is real.

After the gun battle, Eastwood pours himself a whiskey with his back to the door and his unloaded shotgun under his arm as the terrified survivors of the posse hide between buildings outside. When he is ready to leave, Eastwood shouts a warning that he will kill anyone he sees and if he is opposed, he will kill the individual and his wife. He leaves the bar, mounts his horse and rides off into the darkness in full view of the terrified posse.

Eastwood's departure is more than just a finale for the film. As he rides into the darkness he takes with him the individual will to settle disputes with violence. The defeated and humiliated posse survives with its mandate to expropriate the individual's recourse to violence. Eastwood may have won the last gunfight, but even he cannot prevent the elimination of private justice and the state's consolidation and ownership of violence.

Rating:
Summary: Best Western Ever
Review: This is the best western movie, or even the best movie i have ever seen in a long time. A simple story told in the most affectionate way. Clint Eastwood is his best in this movie in a role that he perfected. It's a must-see for western fans, Clint Eastwood fans and if you're not, this movie will turn you into one. Do not miss this one !