“It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.”
When it opened in the summer of 1992, I was unprepared for Unforgiven. Hoping for good ol’ Clint Eastwood shooting bad guys, I was bored waiting for Clint to man up. Obviously I was looking at it all wrong. I’ve seen Unforgiven four times since and the movie gets better with each viewing. It’ll never top Leone, but it’s so much better than other Clint Eastwood films I can’t even think of what my 2nd favorite might be.
Of course there are the performances by Eastwood, Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Saul Rubineck. That scene in the middle with English Bob in jail and Hackman demystifying the gunslinger mythology is the heart of the film. I really loved Morgan Freeman’s turn. He takes his shot, something he casually did a lot just a decade ago, and suddenly he can no longer fire his rifle. The sins of the past continue to haunt our characters. For the Schofield Kid, we’re there as his demons take form. The finale is as good as the jail scene. Two of the greatest western scenes in film history.
Clint Eastwood sets are known for their speed and economy, but the end results here give evidence that a lot more effort was made. Numerous scenes are perfectly shot and edited. There’s a care in the compositions, epic shots that remind me of Leone or John Ford. It has to be one Clint put his heart and soul into. His definitive statement on a genre he was a master of (along with John Wayne). With so few westerns, so few western stars it may well be the last great example the genre will ever produce. Even the Coen Bros. True Grit is but a patch on this film.
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