Unforgiven (1992)

Many people used to believe that the genre of western had outlived its usefulness, until the '90es enjoyed the great revival of the movies about those hard and cruel times, restless cowboys and clever sheriffs. The brilliant pleiad of new western movies was opened in 1990 by Dances with Wolves, which acquired great popularity and was rewarded with an Oscar. Two years later another wild-west masterpiece repeated its success. Thus, Unforgiven directed by Clint Eastwood, became the third western movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Some legends can never be forgotten. Some wrongs can never be forgiven.

Unforgiven is a cruel drama movie revolving around a retired assassin William "Will" Munny (Eastwood) who gave up the dirty business long ago and now lives on a poor farm mourning over his late wife and trying to make both ends meet to provide for his two children. One day Will receives an offer to commit one last murder for a good deal of money. In the best traditions of the genre the aging and reformed bandit refuses resolutely, but after short-time thinking he decides to accept the offer of a dashing youngster Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett). Together with another recruit and retired bandit Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) they are to inflict reprisals for some cowboys who disfigured the face of a prostitute called Delilah Fitzgerald (Anna Levine). But in the course of chase the avengers find out that their main opponents are not the Delilah’s offenders but the local sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), also a former gangster, and his supporters.

The movie was favorably accepted by critics and the immense work Clint Eastwood and his team had done was highly appreciated. The cult director and actor had been cherishing the idea of this western movie for long ten years waiting until he looked mature enough to perform the role of Will Munny. Eastwood has never tried to conceal his great admiration for personalities with steel nerves, strong both physically and morally. The protagonists of his movies are all representatives of this character type. His Million Dollar Baby, another Oscar-awarded movie of 2004, tells the story of Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a talented boxer with a hard fate, who prefers to die than to keep on living paralyzed and being a burden for her dear people. Eastwood himself plays Maggie’s coach. Morgan Freeman also starred in that successful movie.

The image created by Freeman in Unforgiven also deserves special attention. This gifted man is a great master of acting in supporting roles. His character Red from The Shawshank Redemption was even awarded with an Oscar. His latest significant works are The Dark Knight and The Bucket List.

Gran Torino released in 2008 is another strong and cruel movie directed by Eastwood. It’s also another movie where he starred in the main role. The image of aging and lonely avenger fighting for truth finds numerous parallels with the image created by Eastwood in Unforgiven.

Someone has drawn a curious analogy, that the history of the Wild West conquest for Americans is equal to the Trojan War legend for the Greek people. That’s why the genre of westerns will always flourish in the US cinema and will never be forgotten.