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    Unforgiven. Unforgiven Is Set in 1880 (Eastwood, 1992) - While It Has All The Ingredients of A

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    crismel_yparraguirre
    This review summarizes the 1992 Western film Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It discusses how the film subverts Western genre conventions by portraying morally ambiguous characters and focusing on the costs of violence. While it includes typical Western elements like cowboys and gunfights, Unforgiven stands out for having no clear hero or villain. The review praises Eastwood and Gene Hackman's performances as retired gunslinger William Munny and corrupt Sheriff Little Bill, while noting Morgan Freeman's smaller supporting role. It analyzes how the film's dark cinematography and dialogue reflect its somber exploration of violence and the fading Wild West era.

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    Unforgiven. Unforgiven Is Set in 1880 (Eastwood, 1992) - While It Has All The Ingredients of A

    Uploaded by

    crismel_yparraguirre
    47 views4 pages
    This review summarizes the 1992 Western film Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It discusses how the film subverts Western genre conventions by portraying morally ambiguous characters and focusing on the costs of violence. While it includes typical Western elements like cowboys and gunfights, Unforgiven stands out for having no clear hero or villain. The review praises Eastwood and Gene Hackman's performances as retired gunslinger William Munny and corrupt Sheriff Little Bill, while noting Morgan Freeman's smaller supporting role. It analyzes how the film's dark cinematography and dialogue reflect its somber exploration of violence and the fading Wild West era.

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    71294383 Movie Review

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    This review summarizes the 1992 Western film Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It discusses how the film subverts Western genre conventions by portraying morally ambiguous characters and focusing on the costs of violence. While it includes typical Western elements like cowboys and gunfights, Unforgiven stands out for having no clear hero or villain. The review praises Eastwood and Gene Hackman's performances as retired gunslinger William Munny and corrupt Sheriff Little Bill, while noting Morgan Freeman's smaller supporting role. It analyzes how the film's dark cinematography and dialogue reflect its somber exploration of violence and the fading Wild West era.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    47 views4 pages

    Unforgiven. Unforgiven Is Set in 1880 (Eastwood, 1992) - While It Has All The Ingredients of A

    Uploaded by

    crismel_yparraguirre
    This review summarizes the 1992 Western film Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It discusses how the film subverts Western genre conventions by portraying morally ambiguous characters and focusing on the costs of violence. While it includes typical Western elements like cowboys and gunfights, Unforgiven stands out for having no clear hero or villain. The review praises Eastwood and Gene Hackman's performances as retired gunslinger William Munny and corrupt Sheriff Little Bill, while noting Morgan Freeman's smaller supporting role. It analyzes how the film's dark cinematography and dialogue reflect its somber exploration of violence and the fading Wild West era.

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    Movie Review 1

    Movie Review

    The Western as a genre is usually filled with cowboys, gunfighters, ranches, forts,

    gang outlaws, saloons and the starkness of the wilderness. The society is usually sketched as

    uncivilized, where justice is based on code of principle instead of a logical bylaw. In some

    Western settings, the characters are usually caught between changes- hanging on their

    antiquated living while social or modernization occurs. Furthermore, the Western genre is

    generally attached with violence, brutality and yearning for the antihero persona. But the

    Western is more than that. Behind all those killing, the Westerns portray honor and sacrifice.

    One such Western film that has become a classic American film, even making it to the top ten

    of the revered American Film Institute is the Clint Eastwood- directed, produced and starred

    Unforgiven.

    Unforgiven is set in 1880 (Eastwood, 1992). While it has all the ingredients of a

    Western film, somehow, it does not feel one. True, violence is depicted as vicious as it can

    get but unlike most Westerns, there is no good guy/ bad guy in the film. Everyone has

    personal imperfection but is striving to do their best in whatever they need to do. However,

    as the plot starts to unfold, they thy found themselves in situations where even their best

    intentions are not good enough. The film is full of moral ambiguity and the characters find

    themselves entangled with ethical complexities

    Unforgiven was released in 1992 and grabbed the Best Picture accolade from the

    Academy Awards electorate. As aforementioned, it stars Clint Eastwood as William Munny,

    a retired gunslinger who is starting a new life as a pig farmer (Eastwood, 1992). After his

    wife died, Munny befriended the company of whiskey. Then one day, Munny is approached

    by a young man who kills himself Schofield Kid [after the Schofield model of his Smith and

    Wesson revolver] in search of a partner to kill the man who sliced up a prostitute’s face

    (1992). It turns out that in Wyoming, a cowboy slashes a prostitute’s face for laughing at his
    Movie Review 2

    small genitalia (1992). The local sheriff fines the cowboy a mere seven ponies, making the

    other prostitutes aghast. They worked together to offer a $1000 reward for anyone who kills

    the cowboy (1992). Schofield Kid had heard about Munny’s previous world, saying that

    Munny has no “weak nerve, nor fear” (1992). He wants to split the reward money with

    Munny. He could not do it alone because as luck turns out, the Kid is blind as a bat. The hog

    farmer, who is now left to raise his two children, initially declines, saying that his wife has

    “cured” him (1992). Eventually, Munny agrees, asking the help of his friend and neighbor

    Ned before catching up with the Kid (1992). While are three are on their way, a gunslinger

    named English Bob arrives at Big Whiskey (where the slashing took place) with his

    biographer W.W. Beauchamp. The sheriff, Little Bill, beats him up, warning the townspeople

    that the same thing will happen to them if they go after the reward (1992). This is where it

    becomes interesting. Little Bill, the sheriff has an iron clad rule: no guns inside the city

    limits. He enforces this with brutal thumping. The film then plays out in classic Western

    language, with the shady sheriff and the outlaws in a face- off. One of the film’s advantages

    is its ability to reverse conventions. The sheriff is a man of justice yet h has a sense of

    vindictiveness that will make the viewer hate him. The typically good guy is transformed

    into a villain while the bad guy is turned into a compassionate protagonist. As the movie

    unfolds, the focus becomes less on the reward and more on their personal level, their need to

    straighten out things because; they have at one point in their lives, bumped into each other.

    Eastwood gave a commanding presence in the Unforgiven. His portrayal is so

    philosophical, a man sowing the seeds of his past to have a better future. Eastwood is in top

    form in this film, from his dialogues to the way he guises violence. Music is rather rare

    during violent scenes and so the punches appear more brutal, more realistic. And Eastwood is

    not alone. He is backed up by a stellar supporting cast. Hackman is daunting as Little Bill.
    Movie Review 3

    He is a legend in his own right. Hackman is able to effectively connect his purpose as a

    sheriff while satisfying his arrogant behavior. Even his way of saying ‘et it’ seem natural.

    If Hackman deserves a lot of praises in this film, the same cannot be said for Morgan

    Freeman who plays Ned, Munny’s friend. Freeman plays a buddy role. It’s as simple as that.

    It seems that his talent was underutilize is this one.

    The film, while tackling a dark subject, is also a dark film literally. There is an

    evident lack of light in the film, clouding the film in a sheet of despondency, of despair. It

    gives a reflection of the theme of the film. For instance, the opening shot, it shows a setting

    sun, a house, and a man at a graveside. It represents an era about to fade. The exterior’s

    usually highlighting the enormity of the land, apropos of the Western theme. In addition,

    daytime interior shows are prominently backlit, making the sun’s rays spill out onto the

    windows, resulting in dark figures. From the grimy, barren roads to the rickety structures, the

    visual representation offers a cue of the plot that is about to be dismantled.

    As stated earlier, the dialogue is crisp. When Little Bill is about to diet, he says, “I

    don’t deserve this. To die like this. I was building a house” to which Munny replies,

    “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it” (Eastwood, 1992).

    Unforgiven is dark and somber in nature but it provides another perspective on the

    Western era, illustrating the cost of violence is much more steep than anything else.
    Movie Review 4

    Reference

    Eastwood, C. (Producer). (1992). Unforgiven [Motion picture].

    United States: Warner Home Video.

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