Unforgiven
1992
*****
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, Saul Rubinek, Frances Fisher, Anna Thomson, David Mucci, Rob Campbell, Anthony James, Tara Frederick, Beverley Elliott, Liisa Repo-Martell
A retired gunslinger William Munny, now a struggling hog farmer with two small children, is drawn back into a life of violence when he agrees to kill two cowboys for a bounty. He is joined by his old partner and a young cocky gunman. Clint Eastwood's lyrical revisionist Western is one of the finest films in the genre. David Webb Peoples wrote his brilliant script in the late 1970s, but Clint waited until he was old enough to play the reformed killer who must face the moral and physical challenges of returning to his brutal past. The story strips down the Western myths and shows that there is no glamour involved in killing a man. The elderly cast is outstanding, and Gene Hackman earned a deserved Oscar for his performance as the nasty sheriff. The film won three additional Academy Awards for best film, directing, and editing.
