Unforgiven (1992)
★★★½ — Unforgiven (1992)
Clint Eastwood had been directing since 1971's Play Misty for Me, but Unforgiven, released in the summer of 1992, is widely regarded as the film that cemented his reputation as a serious filmmaker rather than simply a star who also happened to direct. The script, written by David Webb Peoples (who had already drafted Blade Runner a decade earlier), had been sitting with Eastwood since the early 1980s, and he waited until he felt old enough to play the lead convincingly. Shot largely in Alberta, Canada, standing in for the American frontier, the film arrived at a moment when the revisionist Western had been dormant for years, and its commercial success (well over ten times its modest budget) surprised many in the industry. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
I watched this once as a teen and I remember loving it but after rewatching as an adult I found it somewhat lacking. Gene Hackman, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman make for a great ensemble cast. It's even got a great premise. A prostitute is injured by a patron so the others place a bounty on the attackers. Clint Eastwood plays a retired gunslinger with a ruthless and chequered past. It is a good film, don't get me wrong, but there's a middle section where Clint Eastwood is barely involved and it feels a little drawn out. It's like in pro wrestling matches where the beatdown of the heroes goes on a little too long.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1992 | Watched: 2025-04-13
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Clint Eastwood: Mystic River (2003) · Million Dollar Baby (2004) · High Plains Drifter (1973)
More with Clint Eastwood: Million Dollar Baby (2004) · High Plains Drifter (1973) · Hang 'em High (1968) · A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More western: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) · Rio Bravo (1959) · Ride Lonesome (1959) · The Great Train Robbery (1903)
