Review of Unforgiven

This was the second film as part of an assignment for my screenwriting class. I had seen the film before when it was released back in 1992. I was thoroughly impressed with it then, and I still enjoyed watching the film even though I knew what would happen. I read the screenplay by Peoples which I thought was great.

The screenplay moves along quickly. It was 121 pages in length but it went by quickly. There was hardly a wasted page or word. The ending sequence where Eastwood shoots Gene Hackman and all the other gunmen was written very uniquely. It just gives very short directions as to what would happen. Munny shoots, shoots, shoots until there is a big cloud of smoke. I like the ending, perhaps, best out of all the sequences in the film. The beginning is great too.

The cinematography should be commended. The shots of the West are great. So are the shots of scenes taking place at night. It reminded of a Rembrandt painting. Very dark with just a little candlelight.

It terms of the meaning of the film or it's theme I think much could be written about. It is clearly a mythical story that has emerged out the fables about the Wild West. Whether these stories are true I don't know. I suppose a historian of the American West would know. At least in this movie there is no overt characterization of American Indians as totally evil and one sided. It is about respecting a woman, even though she is a prostitute when the law refuses to be fair. Munney acts as the mystery man in black set out to put things right, but for a price. So, it seems that it is a film about the mythological Wild West. There is little law and the law is decidedly arbitrary.

I really enjoyed Gene Hackman's character. I thought he played it very well. He exudes arrogance and one man justice. The scene where he exposes English Bob as a fraud, is aside from the beginning and ending the best scene in the film. The tension that rises quickly and falls is great. And Hackman pulls off his character exceptionally well.

Of course Eastwood puts in a great performance too. This was his last Western he has said, and so far, has kept to that promise. The shots of his grimacing, wrinkled, scarred face really bring out the anguish, torture, and hard life his character has had to endure. I thought some of the scenes where he pears out of his upturned collar where a little light reveals his sharp eye were very well shot.

The story is great. The characters are great. The film stands as a new direction in Westerns. Yet it still upholds the myth that the American West was, and to some degree, still is.