Timely Classics: Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven' (1992)

Welcome to Timely Classics, a new series where we review classic films that somehow correlate with the films currently at the multiplexes! This week, with Clint Eastwood's Sully gracing movie screens, we take a look at Eastwood's 1992 Best Picture winner, Unforgiven!

A hot, dusty street in a ramshackle western town. Two men emerge from the surrounding buildings and walk to the middle of the road. They turn to face each other. Both wear guns on their hips. After a few seconds, the men go for their firearms. Half a second later, the action is over. The victor knocks back a whiskey in the saloon, while the loser lies in a pool of his own blood.

...If you're familiar with westerns, the above scene is one that you've seen before. The "showdown in the street" has been a well-loved trope ever since the genre came into being. 

However, like most tropes, this scene doesn't paint a complete picture. You see, while the dead man's story has ended, the victor has to go on living. How does a person deal with having killed a man, or many men? How does it affect him psychologically? How does his fame as a shootist affect the way he lives his life? 

Clint Eastwood's 1992 film Unforgiven tackles those kind of questions head-on. In so doing, it made itself into a western like none other. While many other westerns deal in white-hatted heroes and black-hatted baddies, Unforgiven's characters are shrouded in shades of gray.

Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) and William Munny (Clint Eastwood), two former gunfighters (and our main characters).

The seeds of Unforgiven were planted in 1976, when David Webb Peoples wrote a screenplay titled The Cut-Whore Killings.  However, there was no immediate interest in the screenplay.

That changed in the early 1980s, when Francis Ford Coppola (of Godfather fame) became very interested in the story. He began to develop the script under the less-lurid title The William Munny Killings. In fact, Coppola was so interested that he had begun casting considerations, pursuing John Malkovich to portray William Munny. Coppola eventually cooled on the project, though.

However, all hope was not lost! It turned out that Clint Eastwood had also gotten hold of the screenplay, read it, and really liked it. However, Eastwood wasn't as fast on the draw (get it?) as Coppola. Eastwood wanted to make the film, but not in the 1980s; Eastwood decided to hold off until he was old enough to play Munny. By the early 1990s, Eastwood apparently decided he had aged properly. 

Unforgiven (as the film eventually came to be known) was released in 1992. It went on to become only the third western (after 1931's Cimarron and 1990's Dances With Wolves) to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. 

From left to right: dime-novelist W.W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek), sadistic sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett (Gene Hackman), and hired assassin English Bob (Richard Harris).

The film begins with a text scroll that introduces us to William Munny. The scroll tells us about Munny's sordid reputation as a cold-blooded assassin, a man who didn't just kill fellow males but also stooped to murdering women and children. However, the scroll informs us that Munny married a Christian woman who helped him reform. It also tells us that Munny settled down as a pig farmer. Once this context is established, we're launched into the film proper.

A quiet evening in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, is shattered when two cowhands assault a young prostitute, repeatedly cutting her face and body. The woman's fellow workers become incensed when "Little Bill" Daggett (Gene Hackman), Big Whiskey's sheriff, lets the cowboys off easily. The prostitutes decide to take matters into their own hands, offering a thousand-dollar reward to any gunslinger who kills the offending cowhands.

Munny is unaware of the job until he's visited by the "Schofield Kid" (Jaimz Woolvett), a cocky young man who boasts of the many men he's killed. Munny is initially reluctant to take the job, but financial issues persuade him to take it. Along the way to Wyoming, Munny visits his old partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), who agrees to ride along. 

We're shown just how brutal "Little Bill" can be when English Bob (Richard Harris), an assassin for hire, arrives in Big Whiskey with dime novelist W.W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek) in tow. Little Bill proceeds to humiliate Bob, kicking him in the street and taunting him in prison. Eventually, Bob leaves Big Whiskey in disgrace, while Beauchamp stays behind with Little Bill.

Munny, Ned, and the Schofield Kid come across one of the marked cowhands, but Ned can't bring himself to kill again. He sets off for home while Munny and The Kid finish the job. However, when Ned is nabbed by Little Bill's men,  Munny knows that he has to go to Big Whiskey.

One of the more reflective moments in the film. Left to right: Clint Eastwood, Jaimz Woolvett.

Unforgiven begins where most westerns end. The killing is over, and Munny, Ned, Little Bill, and Bob have established their reputations. The film draws its uniqueness in showing how a life of violence and death have affected each man. Munny is trying to put his past behind him, but it keeps cropping up. Ned is doing the same, but he's more well-adjusted than Munny. English Bob has parlayed his reputation into a way of life, entertaining dime-novelists and killing Chinese laborers for the railroad company. Little Bill wants to settle down and turn Big Whiskey into a law-abiding town, but his brutal streak and pride have turned him into a dictator. By presenting gunfighters post-battle, Unforgiven is able to show us well-drawn characters of the sort we've rarely seen.

Speaking of characters, one of the most compelling things about Unforgiven is how there are no good or bad guys in this tale. Each of the characters have their good qualities, but they also have a dark side that make them extremely interesting. Little Bill's intentions to settle down and civilize the tough town seem good, but his methods are all wrong. Munny's trying to stay away from killing, but his murderous side is still there, waiting to be awakened. There's nobody who I would feel entirely comfortable rooting for. That's one reason that I think Unforgiven is a great film.

The credit for the aforementioned strengths has to go to David Peoples, the screenwriter. Clint Eastwood is famous for being a writer's director, and, apparently, this film was no exception. Eastwood changed almost nothing in the translation from script to screen, and I'm glad he didn't.

William Munny's farm (and some beautiful cinematography)!

Okay, okay. The film is great on a story level; we've established that. How about the technical aspects? I'm glad you asked, because they're great, too!

If I had to pick one technical category that was the most invaluable, however, it'd be the cinematography. Jack N. Green had worked with Eastwood many a time, so it's probably safe that the two operate on the same wavelength. That unity is obvious in Unforgiven. Green does a great job coordinating lighting and color to the mood of the film. He shoots most of the movie with a washed-out, muted color scheme, which corresponds perfectly with the film's somber vibe. However, Green does vary the visuals to match the tone of specific scenes. For instance, he shoots the final showdown with very little lighting, making the scene look like film noir. The opening and final shots of the film are shot in warmer tones. All the better to ease the audience into and out of the dark story!

Unforgiven was the film that permanently placed Clint Eastwood on the all-time list of important filmmakers. And... what can I say? Eastwood deserves to be on the list, even if for Unforgiven alone. This is a fantastic film, and it deserves all the praise it gets. See it, if you haven't already!