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(This film) is about as far from the fantasy mythos... as (the director) could get. No pin-point accuracy with 19th century technology, no desire to 'play fair' and face the enemy on even terms. If you can shoot him in the back... then do it.

............ Rob Smith ( from his review for the IMDb )

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(This film) offers us none of the grandeur of the Old West we've seen in countless movies before. Nobody dies quickly or easily, but messily, screaming and crying. There are no happy hookers, no lighthearted poker games, and no white hats -- there are only drunks killing one another in never-ending cycles of revenge. Searing and somber, (it) shatters every myth of the Wild West that Hollywood has ever thrown at us, and does it with an unmistakable ring of truth.

............ MaryAnn Johanson ( from her review for flickfilosopher.com )

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For someone who professes not to be the greatest fan of the Western film genre, I do have a habit of returning to them at intervals, and this week happens to be one of those intervals.

In my defense, all of the Westerns that I've reviewed to date have been sort of-- hell, more than 'sort of'-- unconventional, to say the least. The first one I felt obliged to call attention to was Robert Altman's stunning tone poem McCabe and Mrs. Miller, with it's brilliant acting work by Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, among other gifted aspects. Then during Buffy summer recess, I diverged into the offbeat but clever The Quick and the Dead by EvilDeadMeister Sam Raimi. Then come fall, just before the S6 Buffy resurrection romp came our collective way, I invoked the cinematic forces of darkness in Jim Jarmusch's jarring black and white meditation Dead Man.

As diverse as all these offerings are in terms of style and content and variation on the core Western themes, they do have one big whompin' commonality among them-- they deal in the serious implications and ramifications of Death, oh yes indeedy. And so knowing a good riff when I see one, I hereby keep up the slightly bent tradition with this week's Classic Movie, director/actor Clint Eastwood's revisionist (?) take on the genre in general and even on many of his own previous works, Unforgiven.

This Tuesday past, we have had the pleasure (or not) of seeing ME daring to take up the subject of what happens when a normally beloved and conventionally benevolent character goes over the edge and commits to a level of violence that seems grossly atypical for her. Not just dusting evil demons anymore, Willow Rosenberg is in hot pursuit of the man she feels had wronged her beyond civilized means, and she is out for blood-- his, and preferably as much of it as she can spill.

Warren is a murderer, of this there is no doubt. Buffy, however, will not bow to murdering Warren in return, because 'being a Slayer doesn't give me a license to kill humans'. Buffy Summers follows in the classic Superman tradition, which as Andrew once pointed out prior to falling completely under the evil sway of robo-tech-assassin Warren, means he 'wouldn't kill Lex Luthor, he'd just turn him in to the police, who would promptly park him in jail. Buffy's plan for Warren is pretty much the same.

Willow is in a fever, however, and is hellbent on revenge, her hatred so fierce that even Anya etiolates in response, and what with Anyanka having been the cause of some serious mayhem in her own demonic time, that's a whiter shade of pale for sure.

Unforgiven is about the opposite scenario-- a man now grown old in his middle age; once a drunken, violent gun-slinging assassin for hire or for the hell of it-- who has reformed thanks to the efforts of his dearly beloved wife, who sadly has recently died from the microscopically sized but no less fatal bullet of smallpox. The man, one William Munny (Eastwood), is coping as best he can with the terrible loss while trying to raise two young children and make a modest living from raising hogs. Unfortunately, the swine aren't bringing in the bacon for him, and one day there comes an offer that he'd prefer to refuse, but decides that he cannot. A young 'gunslinger' who has heard of 'the legend' comes calling, saying that there is a reward being offered for the killing of two cowboys who 'cut up a whore' in the frontier town of Big Whiskey. Munny at first declines, but fearing (quite reasonably) that he has his children to look after eventually accepts the 'Kid's' offer and takes up the cause of death-dealing once more. After looking up an old partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), who has also long since 'retired' from lawlessness, the three set out on their mission.

The contrast between the younger 'outlaw' and his eagerness to add to his 'badass' reputation, and the two old gunmen is striking. Despite the legacy of their previous lives, neither William or Ned seem particularly enthused about what they are setting out to accomplish-- it's just a job, they can use the money, and that's all there is.

Unforgiven is very unlike 'traditional' Westerns in it's depiction of the realities of violence, and about the nature of those who employ it as a tool. Nothing is ever simple, and what gets made plain over the course of the film's journey is that had some semblence of real justice been accomplished in the first place, the lives of so many additional people would not need to have been shattered. The rage of the friends of the injured prostitute is perfectly reasonable, but the solution they seek to provide just retribution only brings about still greater evils, the greatest of which is ironically the work of the town's lawman, 'Little Bill' Daggett, played with exquisite ferocious balance by Gene Hackman, who seems to be a master of wonderfully layered performances.

This film is often considered to be Clint Eastwood's finest work, and I certainly don't disagree. The very beginning and very ending of the film are perfect pictoral and thematic bookends, the cinematography is right on at all times in capturing the moody subject material, and the screenwriting by David Webb Peoples is masterful.

This is a fairly recent film, and many of those of you who are reading this have already seen it before, but I urge you to pay it a visit once again, since there has never been a time in the Buffyverse that is more in tune with the arc of this film than right now.

No one who is about to die in Unforgiven is saluting anybody. The only hands that are raised are those that are clasping wounds from which the lifeblood flows relentlessly.

Same as it ever was...

E. Pluribus Cinema, Unum,

OnM

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Technically tiny bullets:

Unforgiven is available on DVD. The film was released in 1992 and running time is 2 hours and 11 minutes. As previously mentioned, the screenwriting was by David Webb Peoples. Cinematography was by Jack N. Green, with film editing by Joel Cox. Production Design was by Henry Bumstead, with art direction by Adrian Gorton and Rick Roberts. Set Decoration was by Janice Blackie-Goodine. Original music was by Clint Eastwood (for 'Claudia's theme') & Lennie Niehaus. The original theatrical aspect ratio was 2.35:1, and the original theatrical soundtrack mix was Dolby SR, likely remastered to Dolby Digital for the DVD release. No information is available on any extras that may be present on the DVD. The review copy was on laserdisc.

Cast overview:

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

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The Question of the Week:

(You can only answer this if you have seen the movie.)

In the scene where one of the guilty cowboys offers the injured prostitute a horse, the 'finest one of the lot' as a way to help express remorse, he seemed to be sincere in his regrets. For a moment the viewing audience watches the expression on the woman's face, and wonders if she will accept. The point is rendered moot when the rest of the women react angrily and chase the cowboy and the horse away.

Should she have accepted the horse? Would she have? Might it have stopped the cycle of violence?

Post 'em if you've got 'em, and I'll see you next week, where if all goes as planned (the BtVS season finale not doing anything to undermine my current choice, that is) I'm going to be doing a review on one of my all time favorites, a great but slightly obscure film that represents the very first feature-length effort of a director who is rather supremely famous nowadays. Last year, it was Wim Wender's Until the End of the World. This year, there'll be yet another hero's personal apocalypse presented for your viewing enjoyment!

Stay tuned...

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