Unforgiven

 

Unforgiven

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For other uses, see Unforgiven (disambiguation).

Unforgiven
Film poster by Bill Gold
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Produced by	Clint Eastwood
Written by	David Webb Peoples
Starring	Clint Eastwood Gene Hackman Morgan Freeman Richard Harris
Music by	Lennie Niehaus
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Editing by	Joel Cox
Studio	Malpaso Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	August 7, 1992 (1992-08-07)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$14.4 million[1]
Box office	$159,157,447

Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming. A dark Western that deals frankly with the uglier aspects of violence and the myth of the Old West, it stars Eastwood in the lead role, with Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris.

Eastwood dedicated the movie to deceased directors and mentors Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Hackman), and Best Film Editing. Eastwood himself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman. In 2004, Unforgiven was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film was only the third western to win the Oscar for Best Picture following Cimarron (1931) and Dances With Wolves (1990).

 

Plot

A group of prostitutes in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, led by Strawberry Alice (Fisher), offers a $1,000 reward to whomever can kill Quick Mike (Mucci) and "Davey-Boy" Bunting (Campbell), two cowboys who disfigured Delilah Fitzgerald (Levine), one of their own. This upsets the local sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (Hackman), a former gunfighter and now an obsessive keeper of the peace who does not allow guns or criminals in his town. Little Bill had given the two men leniency, despite their crime.

Miles away in Kansas, the Schofield Kid (Woolvett), a boastful young man, visits the pig farm of William Munny (Eastwood), seeking to recruit him to kill the cowboys. In his youth, Munny was a bandit who was notorious for being a vicious, cold-blooded murderer, but he is now a repentant widower raising two children and has sworn off alcohol. Though Munny initially refuses to help with the assassination, his farm is failing, putting his children's future in jeopardy. Munny reconsiders a few days later and sets off to catch up with the Kid. on his way, Munny recruits Ned Logan (Freeman), another retired gunfighter who reluctantly leaves his wife (Cardinal) to go along.

Back in Wyoming, gunfighter English Bob (Harris) and his biographer, W. W. Beauchamp (Rubinek), arrive in Big Whiskey, also seeking the reward. Little Bill and his deputies disarm Bob, and Bill beats him savagely, hoping to set an example for other would-be assassins. The next morning Bob is ejected from town, but Beauchamp decides to stay and write about Bill, who has impressed him with his tales of old gunfights and seeming knowledge of the inner workings of a gunfighter's psyche.

Munny, Logan and the Kid arrive later amid a rain storm and go to the saloon/whorehouse to discover the cowboys' location. Munny has a bad fever after riding in the rain, and is sitting alone in the saloon when Little Bill and his deputies arrive to confront him. Little Bill has no idea who Munny is, and after finding a pistol on him he beats him brutally and kicks him out onto the street. Logan and the Kid, upstairs getting "advances" on their payment from the prostitutes, escape out a back window. The three regroup at a barn outside of town, where they nurse Munny back to health.

Three days later, they ambush a group of cowboys and kill Bunting – although it becomes apparent that Logan and Munny no longer have much stomach for murder. Logan decides to return home while Munny and the Kid head to the cowboys' ranch, where the Kid ambushes Quick Mike in an outhouse and kills him. After they escape, a very distraught Kid confesses he had never killed anyone before, and renounces the gunfighter lifestyle. When Little Sue (Frederick) meets the two men to give them the reward, they learn that Logan was captured by Little Bill's men and tortured to death, but not before giving up the identities of his two accomplices. The Kid heads back to Kansas to deliver the reward money to Munny and Logan's families, while Munny drinks half a bottle of whisky and heads into town to take revenge on Bill.

That night, Logan's corpse is displayed in a coffin outside the saloon. Inside, Little Bill has assembled a posse to pursue Munny and the Kid. Munny walks in alone and promptly kills Skinny Dubois (James), the saloon owner and pimp. After some tense dialogue, a gunfight ensues, leaving Bill wounded and several of his deputies dead. Munny orders everyone out before stopping Little Bill from reaching for his pistol. Bill curses Munny before the latter finishes him with a final gunshot. Munny then threatens the townsfolk before finally leaving town, warning that he will return if Logan is not buried properly or if any prostitutes are further harmed.

A brief epilogue states that Munny was rumored to have moved to San Francisco, where he prospered in dry goods.

 

Cast

• Clint Eastwood as William "Will" Munny
• Gene Hackman as Little Bill Daggett
• Morgan Freeman as Ned Logan
• Richard Harris as English Bob
• Jaimz Woolvett as The Schofield Kid
• Saul Rubinek as W. W. Beauchamp
• Frances Fisher as Strawberry Alice
• Anna Levine as Delilah Fitzgerald
• David Mucci as Quick Mike
• Rob Campbell as Davey Bunting
• Anthony James as Skinny Dubois
• Tara Frederick as Little Sue
• Beverley Elliott as Silky
• Liisa Repo-Martell as Faith
• Josie Smith as Crow Creek Kate
• Shane Meier as William Munny Jr.