Unforgiven (1992)

Tagline: It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man.

Unforgiven movie storyline. Actor / director Clint Eastwood’s magnificent Western masterpiece. Circumstances force a retired, poor, notorious ex-bounty hunter William Munny (Eastwood), now a hog farmer, to resume his former occupation. In the 1880s frontier town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a prostitute’s face has been brutally slashed by vicious cowboys, and her fellow co-workers have raised a $500 bounty.

Joined by former sidekick partner Ned Logan (Freeman) and aspiring, cocky gunfighter ‘The Schofield Kid’ (Woolvett), they journey to the town to confront the corrupt, sadistic and autocratic Sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett (Hackman), who has denied justice to the brothel’s women. In a deadly and bloody showdown, Munny’s nihilistic past is graphically brought back.

Unforgiven is a 1992 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and written by David Webb Peoples. The film portrays William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had turned to farming. The film stars Eastwood in the lead role, with Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris. Eastwood stated that the film would be his last Western for fear of repeating himself or imitating someone else’s work.

About the Story

The town of Big Whisky is full of normal people trying to lead quiet lives. Cowboys try to make a living. Sheriff ‘Little Bill’ tries to build a house and keep a heavy-handed order. The town whores just try to get by.Then a couple of cowboys cut up a whore. Dissatisfied with Bill’s justice, the prostitutes put a bounty on the cowboys.

The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as ‘The Schofield Kid’, and aging killer William Munny. Munny reformed for his young wife, and has been raising crops and two children in peace. But his wife is gone. Farm life is hard. And Munny is no good at it. So he calls his old partner Ned, saddles his ornery nag, and rides off to kill one more time, blurring the lines between heroism and villainy, man and myth.

Eastwood dedicated the movie to deceased directors and mentors Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. The film won four Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Director for Clint Eastwood, Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman, and Best Film Editing for editor Joel Cox. Eastwood was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman. The film was the third Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture, following Cimarron (1931) and Dances with Wolves (1990), and followed by No Country for Old Men (2007).

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, Frances Fisher, Anna Levine, Beverley Elliott, Liisa Repo-Martell
Screenplay by: David Webb Peoples
Production Design by: Henry Bumstead
Cinematography by: Jack N. Green
Film Editing by: Joel Cox
Set Decoration by: Janice Blackie-Goodine
Art Direction by: Adrian Gorton, Rick Roberts
Music by: Lennie Niehaus
MPAA Rating: R for language, and violence, and for a scene of sexuality.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: August 7, 1992