Unforgiven: A revelation in Western genre

I am not a fan of Westerns. I find the plots to be stale and drawn-out and the characters as dry as the landscape. I have always figured if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. However, my one exception is Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Produced in 1992, this western was made decades after the genre’s heyday. However, I feel as though it is one of the most compelling and powerful films the genre has to offer.

Unforgiven is directed by Clint Eastwood and seems to serve as a meditation on themes of age, repute, bravery, and heroism. Eastwood stars in the role of the ultimate badass anti-hero William Munny. In his youth, Munny is described to have been an infamous bandit, cold-blooded, trigger-happy killer and alcoholic. However, the film finds him a sober widower who has not held a gun in eleven years and who is currently raising two children on a pig farm in Kansas when he receives an offer for one last job from a young Kid, played by Jaimz Woolvett. 

The job requires a trip to Wyoming, where a group of prostitutes are offering a $1000 reward to anyone who is willing to kill two cowboys that disfigured one of them, Delilah Fitzgerald (Anna Levine), with a knife. Munny originally refuses to aid in the assassination but eventually agrees as he is in need of the money. On his way to Wyoming, Munny stops to recruit his old friend and partner Ned Logan, played by Morgan Freeman. And what a pair these two make.

The remainder of the film follows the various adventures and encounters of Munny, Logan, and Kid as they confront motifs of justice, shame and guilt, and courage and cowardice, as well as the many conflicts they have with the local townspeople and sheriff Little Bill Daggett, played by Gene Hackman.

This film is beautifully crafted in every aspect. The characters are unique and fully developed within themselves, but it is the magnificent intensity of the interactions and relationships that makes this film one-of-a-kind. There is a subtle beauty in the unconventional relationship between Munny and the disfigured prostitute, and the loyalty and love shown between two old friends, Munny and Logan, is potent and powerful in its    realization. 

One of Unforgiven’s greatest aspects in its cast of characters is the juxtaposition made between the protagonist and antagonist of the film. Unforgiven overturns conventions as it takes the man who would typically be perceived as the hero, and turns him into the despised villain. Similarly, it transforms the traditional morally corrupt bad guy into a sympathetic protagonist and captivating anti-hero. 

The sheriff of the small Wyoming town (Hackman) to which the assassins travel to confront their assignment enforces a strict policy forbidding firearms in his town. However morally sound this campaign against violence may seem, Little Bill couldn’t have a more skewed perception of moral righteousness and justice. 

Little Bill shows an immense lack of sympathy regarding the violence directed toward the prostitutes and treats them as less than human. He also particularly enjoys abusing his power as sheriff and has a hobby of viciously beating people; while he may not allow guns to kill in his town, he cares little whether or not his beatings kill. 

In contrast, the infamous Munny, who was known to kill for pleasure, drink heavily, and overall lead a crude, heartless outlaw lifestyle, has a greater sense of morality than the righteous Little Bill and assumes a position as a good guy after all his years of doing evil. 

Although he finds that he has lost his taste for cold-blooded murder, he has found new purpose for killing, and that is for the justice that would not otherwise be served for those disadvantaged, abused, and overlooked individuals of society.  He has a rugged sensitivity and regard for others, as well as vulnerability within himself behind his ultimate gun-slinging hard-ass exterior that easily wins over the audience’s hearts and favor. 

Overall, this film is definitely one of the greatest of not only the Western genre, but also one of the best classic American films ever made. It is the Wild West redefined and is certainty a film that deserves a place on everyone’s “to watch” list.