"Unforgiven" by Clint Eastwood: A Man's Story on Taking an Assassination Job One Last Time

Western movies or cowboy movies were a very popular movie genre and are known to be so versatile that they can be made into a comedy movie, drama movie, action movie, Biography, Documentary, and history movie. One such movie is "Unforgiven" directed by the famous Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood. Unforgiven is arguably one of the best movies of all time. Unforgiven gave Clint Eastwood an unprecedented Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Director. The film garnered $159.2 million when it was released in 1992. Adjusted for inflation, the $159.2 million in 1992 is worth $344.80 million today (2023).

I already watched a lot of cowboy movies in many forms, like comedy, action, action-drama, documentary, and spaghetti cowboy movies but I rarely see a cowboy movie such as a drama cowboy movie. For years I have seen some articles about Unforgiven and when I do see some articles I always want to see Unforgiven. Not just the articles, I want to watch Unforgiven because of Clint Eastwood and also because the title "Unforgiven" is very catchy.

Unforgiven was set in 1880 two years after the wife of William Munny died of Smallpox and left William two children, a boy and a girl. The opening of the movie portrays an impoverished William Munny. In just under twelve minutes of the movie, the narrative is set and portrays William Munny as a cold-blooded killer but also insuates that William Munny is not just any killer. He kills for money and to bring justice to those who are unable to defend themselves a term that we now call vigilante justice. In that twelve minutes, the movie successfully portrayed the good side of William Munny.

Unforgiven is very interested just like all the movies that I came to like and love. It has very interesting opening scenes, the poverty, the loneliness, the struggle to raise a family, and a quest to finally forget the past and never return to doing it again. But just like any movie I successfully guessed some parts of the movie.

The narrative of poverty and of needing to secure the future of the family by doing an assassination job is nothing new but quite very effective since the first twelve minutes of the movie got my approval. Clint Eastwood perfectly captured my imagination and he perfectly portrayed William Munny to be an impoverished family and is way past his prime.

I felt pity when Clint's William Munny fell to the ground while attending to his hogs and his kids' script did the job of portraying that William Munny left no choice but to accept an assassination job one last time.

The movie is never on one side by portraying the protagonists as good men or portraying them as very bad men. Also, the movie has done a great job by adding some innocence to the characters that William Munny is going to kill it is at that moment that I realized that the story has done a great job in winning the best picture.

The movie perfectly portrays the realities of life that even a murderer can be repentant during an assassination job just like what Morgan Freeman's character did.

What surprises me in this movie is that it just didn't center on the narrative of the prey and predator it added some elements with the character of Gene Hackman which completely surprises me and it is actually the first time that I have seen such narrative that goes three ways: the narrative of William and his friend Ned, the narrative of the prostitutes and the offenders, and the narrative of the sheriff portrayed by Gene Hackman.

Never in my imagination that a sheriff do such a thing even in a movie since doing so will only get him killed. But not with Unforgiven, Gene Hackman's character did something that even some cold-blooded killers can stay out of the sight of the sheriff.

Another thing that surprises me is the display of the corpse of the character of Morgan Freeman outside the sheriff's office. This is a thing, not a sheriff will ever do because a lot of laws will be violated in doing so.

The gunfight is also like no other that I have seen in a cowboy/western movie. No fancy gun stunts, no fancy shooting angles, just plain shooting at each other scene. Well, I can't argue with the gunfight scene on how a gunfighter would react because I have not experienced one and I have not read any account of a gunfighter on how he would react in such circumstances.

The movie itself then gave us an explanation of the gunfight scene on how it was done. The reason is pure luck, and William Munny reiterated that he is always been lucky when it comes to killing folks which is why he needed no fancy gun stunts and no fancy movement in the midst of a gunfight.

All in all the movie has done a good job with its script. I successfully guessed some parts of the narrative but it is okay. The twist regarding the character of Gene Hackman is something that I never thought of. The movie also got me on the edge of my seat while William Munny was leaving the place the scenes are still very intense.

No wonder Unforgiven has won Best Picture and Best Director. It is a must-watch for all who love to watch western/cowboy movies.

That is all for now guys, catch you up with the next one. Wishing you all safety, good health, and abundance.