Unforgiven

Rating:
Summary: A Strong Story
Review: Clint Eastwood stars as a retired gun fighter in perhaps his last western, "Unforgiven". Eastwood's character, William Munny, has settled down to become a farmer. He finds out about a reward that has been posted for a hit on two cowboys for cutting up a prostitute in a Wyoming town. He takes his friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) along and they meet up with Elroy "The Schofield Kid" Tate (Jaimz Woolvett) to do the job.

However, Sheriff Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) is determined to keep anyone from claiming the reward. He roughs up English Bob (Richard Harris), a gun fighter who has come to claim the reward to within in an inch of his life.

What follows when Will, Ned, and the Kid get in to town is unlike any western before. Instead of the hard, blood thirsty maniacs that villains are often made out to be in the western, the three men are variably old men looking for one last pay day and a young kid looking for a big score to get himself glasses and new clothes. There is one scene where Will and the Kid are talking after the Kid has shot and killed one of the cowboys. He says to Will, "I guess he had it comin'." Will says, "We all got it comin'." It is this scene which really shows the nature of what these men were about, the rationalization that goes with killing someone who has done a harmful deed and the realization that no amount of rationalization will make it right.

We also get a glimpse of what the west was like towards the end of its wild days. While no exact date is given for the movie's setting, it can be assumed from the ages of the men involved and the long history they have in the west, that the story takes place some time closer to 1900 than to 1870. The heyday of what we think of as the wild west occurred in the period from about 1865 to 1880. "Unforgiven" is set during a time when law and order was establishing itself on the once lawless area. Men like Will, Ned, and Little Bill were a dying breed.

It is difficult to get a true sense of what Eastwood was planning or intending to say with "Unforgiven". Serious movies are hard to enjoy when a movie is difficult to read. "Unforgiven" is not one of those films. It is a movie that is very enjoyable despite the lack of any obvious statement made.

Rating:
Summary: "We've all got it coming"
Review: Never a truer word has ever been said. Undoubtadly the best modern day western, Unforgiven tells the story of William Munny (Clint Eastwood who also directed), a once ruthless gunslinger who, along with his old partner Ned (Morgan Freeman) and the nephew of one of his old partners (Jaimz Woolvett), are out to collect a bounty on the men who brutalized a prostitute in the town of Big Whiskey which is run by the sly, deceitful, and brutal sheriff Little Bill (Gene Hackman). At first glance that seems to be the story of Unforgiven, but if you look closer there is something else there. For years, Will Munny tried to deny what he was; a cold blooded theif and murderer and killer of women and children. For years he tried to believe he was a changed man, but for all those long years there was something growing in this man, something that he couldn't outgun, his true nature. The scene where he is laying there sickly after being beaten by Little Bill, when he tells Ned about his vision of the Angel of Death, he was seeing himself; and now he will be unleashed in Big Whiskey when he is pushed to his limit. This is the incredible storytelling that most screen writers only wish they could come up with, and thanks to Eastwood's fantastic direction and incredible performances from him, Hackman, Freeman, and the late Richard Harris in one of his most colorful roles, make Unforgiven a true modern day classic. It would win the Best Picture Oscar along with Best Editing, and Eastwood would earn an Oscar for Best Director while Hackman would deservingly win for Best Supporting Actor. While this Special Edition DVD re-release may have some questionable extras (how about a commentary from Eastwood, Hackman, or even screenwriter David Peoples?), this is absolutely worth owning, even if you don't like westerns.

Rating:
Summary: buying this dvd would be a "wise policy, wise policy"
Review: wow what a great package. The documentaries and behind the scenes footage are great but the 2 specials on Eastwood are slightly repetitive but it's interesting to see Clint Eastwood talking about his movies--pretty rare for a relatively quiet actor. The Maverick episode I personally found a little boring but this 2 dvd set is well worth buying. great movie too...Gene Hackman plays an excellent sorta-bad guy.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant anti-Western
Review: Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning Western turns the genre entirely on its head. This west is a bleak moral vacuum, a place of anxious sized-obsessed men and violently determined women, where the creed of the cowboy gives way to the creed of the gangster. Villains aren't challenged to duels of skill, but slaughtered as they try to surrender. Virtually every man dies unarmed. The film could be enjoyed on a purely visceral level, but with its subplot about English Bob and his travelling 'biographer', screenwriter David Webb Peoples clearly has more in mind. His screenplay reflects on the Western as a myth-making genre, and suggests that the mythic conception of the American west is a fabrication woven from the exaggerated stories of braggarts and liars. His tale of Will Munny tells it like it probably was. It's a chilling world which has more in common with classical tragedy and the moral speculation of sci-fi. It's a world in which nobody wins, "we've all got it coming", and no one is forgiven.

Rating:
Summary: Eastwood, Freeman, Hackman, and Harris: Their Best
Review: For me, this is one of my top 10 favorite films of any kind. It's got a poetic, epic quality and the performances are amazing. I'm sure some viewers will find it too long, and the action comes in relatively bursts. I'd compare Unforgiven to Kurosawa in its scope.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgiven - 1992's Best Picture winner!
Review: Unforgiven is clearly among the top westerns ever made. This movie is simple, dark and yet highly complex in its superb script and the outstanding performances by all concerned. Few westerns will draw you into the lead characters as this one does. Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and the sorely missed Richard Harris all deserved awards for their collective performances. What is a western without Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman!

The premise:

Welcome to Big Whiskey Wyoming, where in a small "billiards" saloon, a cowboy gets angry at a whore and, with the help of his buddy, cuts her face up. The other "women" of the establishment, pool their money and start telling everybody that they're offering a reward to whoever kills these two young cowboys. This is precipitated by Gene Hackmans character Little Bill, who essentially doesn't punish them for their crime.

Clint Eastwood plays William Munny, who in his earlier days was every bit one of the worst, meanest gunslingers in the west. Some ten years prior to the events at the beginning of this fine film, William Munny met his wife Claudia, who turned this serious gunslinger into a family man, unfortunately for him and his little children, his wife died three years prior. He is now a poor pig farmer, with two little children.

The son of one of his old riding buddies has heard about this reward and seeks out William Munnys assistance in tracking down these unpunished criminals. After some hesitation, he seeks out his friend Ned, played by Morgan Freeman, one of the finest actors of our day. The three of them head north to seek out the reward.

What follows is clearly a movie that while, for the better part is melodramatic; it is that melodrama that is gripping. All those who received accolades for this fine film, richly deserved those accolades.

This exceptional film that graced the silver screen so beautifully and then the home theater, deserves a hallowed place on ones DVD rack and is perfectly well suited to repeated viewings. I highly recommend this masterpiece to any and all, even those who may not find themselves interested in westerns will find this film highly compelling. {ssintrepid}

Rating:
Summary: One of the best westerns ever made........
Review: Clint Esatwood's masterpiece of film making give's us a look into the world of the charactor that he brought to life in the 60's,70's, and 80's. Basically the lead, William Munny,is no different than the Man With No Name that Eastwood gave us in his hayday. We get to see life after gunfighting.
Eastwood's Munny is an ex outlaw who goes out for one last run when a bounty is put on the head's of two cowboy's who one attacked a prostitute and cut her face. Morgan Freeman plays Ned Logan one of
Munny's partners who knew him befor Munny met his wife and changed his ways (In the beggining of the film we find out that Munny's wife has passed away).
The bounty is placed by the working girls of Big Whiskey a small town run by a ruthless and very nasty sheriff named Little Bill played by Gene Hackman (Hackman would win an Oscar for the role). We see just how nasty Little Bill can be when English Bob (Richard Harris) wounders into town looking to collect the bounty.
Eastwood showed real courage by not being afraid to show his charactor as both older and flawed.
One of the best thing's about this film is that you get to see the human side of all the people involved. Littler bill building a house and Munny raising pigs show just how diverse the charactors are.
This film won four Oscars including Best Film Editing, Supporting actor, Best Director (Eastwood) and Best Picture. Eastwood himself was also nomminated for best Actor. If you have never seen this film don't just rent it or see it on tv go out and buy it, you'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful, hero-less western
Review: There are no heroes in Unforgiven. Just the living and the dead. Critics hailed this as a "revisionist western," but if you look back over Clint Eastwood's entire career, you see that Unforgiven is just par for the course. Eastwood's westerns have always been brutally violent, but unglamorously so. From the vicious lynching that opens Hang 'Em High, right on through to Unforgiven, Eastwood has unflichingly looked at violence and seen in it our desperation to live. He rarely has music over violence. Punches are often soft and wet sounding, instead of always sounding like whipcracks. It is brutal. It is difficult. It hurts. So, while I don't sing the praises of this movie for any innovation, I do praise it for two things. First, it embodies and summarizes Eastwood's examination of the Western and American violence. Second, for the absolutely incredible performance of Gene Hackman as Little Bill Dagget. Hackman's performance is one of the best pieces of acting ever captured on film. David Webb Peoples' script is obviously a big part of that performance, but Hackman's portrayal of the man for whom brutality is a mere tool, who wants only peace, order, and to finish his house, is amazing. His character is the only one that has figured out that being a dangerous man IS dangerous. He is the only one of the dangerous men in this film to have found a way out. Or so he believes.

This movie has a lot to say about America. About the Western genre. About our voyeuristic love of violence. And it says it well. It leaves you with much to consider. That's much more than you get from most mainstream Hollywood fare.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Western of all Time
Review: This movie is the anti Western, it looks at all the westerns before and says, no it's not like that. If you like dramas or action movies this is a must see.

Rating:
Summary: "We all have it coming, Kid." A True Classic Masterpiece
Review: "Unforgiven" is much more than a breathtaking Western, it's an amazing film altogether. With elements of drama and film noir, this is a picture that shows us that there are some demons you can never put to rest, no matter how hard you try.

Clint Eastwood stars as William Munny, a once notorious and violent killer and thief. If Munny didn't like you, chances were that you wouldn't live long enough for him to tell you so. However, that was in the old days. Now, he's just a quiet and tired farmer who is a devoted father still in mourning of his dead wife. He's been straight for years and is trying to put all of his demons to rest, but you still get the feeling that no matter how hard he tries, he will always be haunted. An opportunity comes to him in the name of 'The Schofield Kid.' He gives him a chance to be his partner and have him help on a bounty. Knowing that the money could help his family out, Munny finally decides to take the Kid up on the offer. He also brings with him Ned Logan; an old friend and partner. Little Bigg Daggett is the Sheriff in town, and the thing he hates most are assassins. He will do anything in his power to take care of them and make sure they do not succeed on their killing. The last remaining part of the film stands out the most and is so well executed that it catches you off guard.

This really is a great film and it surprised me like I would've never expected. I don't like Westerns all that much, but this isn't your typical Western. That is probably why I enjoyed it so much. There is so much story and character development. You really are able to sympathize with Munny, despite his dark and violent past. You want him to be able to get on with his life and forget the past, although you know deep down that things will never be put to rest, and agreeing to go on this bounty only increases the chance of Munny returning back to his old ways. This isn't a Western where the line between good guys and bad guys are clear and the storyline is simple; good guy kills bad guys and gets the girl in the end. No, you won't find any of this here. In this story there are no clear good guys or bad guys, just regular people. This is a real story with real characters that you can feel for. There is a huge issue of morality that takes place, which is something you don't see much in Westerns.

Not only does Eastwood do a terrific job in acting, he also does an amazing job as director. He's a man with vision, and who more qualified to direct a film of this magnitude. I don't think the film would had been as successful had it been done by someone else. The cast is also outstanding. Morgan Freeman really does his role justice. Gene Hackman spreads fear inside of you as the mean and tough Sheriff. Richard Harris also deserves mention for his part as well. (He is sorely missed. He was a very gifted actor.) Everyone really did great in their roles and really knew how to bring the film together.

This new DVD edition really does the movie justice. Though it may not have the most special features, the one feature that stands out the most is the new digital transfer that really makes the picture look crystal clear. The sound is also very impressive as well. Special features included are as follows: Audio commentary by Film Critic and Eastwood Biographer Richard Schickel, Eastwood film highlights, awards list, trailer, and 4 documentaries.

"Unforgiven" is really a spectacular film that deserved the Academy Awards for "Best Picture" and "Best Director." And it is a true masterpiece in my eyes. I think anyone who is a lover of films should give this one a try. Remember, you do not have to be a Western fan to enjoy this, because I am certainly not one. Some people may be disappointed in the lack of action or shoot-outs, but the film is about so much more. It's about morals and trying to put the past to rest. It's also about accepting who you are and that there are some things you will never be able to change, no matter how hard you try. This will end up being one of my favorites in no time. I was very surprised, indeed.