Unforgiven (1992)

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  • UNFORGIVEN
    DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY CLINT EASTWOOD
    MALPASO/WARNER BROTHERS



    Information From IMDb


    Plot Summary
    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. Unsatisfied 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. Written by Charlie Ness


    Cast
    Clint Eastwood ... William 'Bill' Munny
    Gene Hackman ... Little Bill Daggett
    Morgan Freeman ... Ned Logan
    Richard Harris ... English Bob
    Jaimz Woolvett ... The Schofield Kid
    Saul Rubinek ... W.W. Beauchamp
    Frances Fisher ... Strawberry Alice
    Anna Levine ... Delilah Fitzgerald (as Anna Thomson)
    David Mucci ... Quick Mike
    Rob Campbell ... Davey Bunting
    Anthony James ... Skinny Dubois
    Tara Frederick ... Little Sue (as Tara Dawn Frederick)
    Beverley Elliott ... Silky
    Liisa Repo-Martell ... Faith
    Josie Smith ... Crow Creek Kate
    Shane Meier ... Will Munny (Jr.)
    Aline Levasseur ... Penny Munny
    Cherrilene Cardinal ... Sally Two Trees
    Robert Koons ... Crocker
    Ron White ... Clyde Ledbetter
    Mina E. Mina ... Muddy Chandler
    Henry Kope ... German Joe Schultz
    Jeremy Ratchford ... Deputy Andy Russell
    John Pyper-Ferguson ... Charley Hecker
    Jefferson Mappin ... Fatty Rossiter
    Walter Marsh ... Barber
    Garner Butler ... Eggs Anderson
    Larry Reese ... Tom Luckinbill
    Blair Haynes ... Paddy McGee
    Frank C. Turner ... Fuzzy
    Sam Karas ... Thirsty Thurston
    Lochlyn Munro ... Texas Slim
    Ben Cardinal ... Johnny Foley
    Phil Hayes ... Lippy MacGregor (as Philip Hayes)
    Michael Charrois ... Wiggens
    William Davidson ... Buck Barthol (as Bill Davidson)
    Paul McLean ... Train person #1
    James Herman ... Train person #2
    Michael Maurer ... Train person #3
    Larry Joshua ... Bucky
    George Orrison ... The Shadow
    Greg Goossen ... Fighter (as Gregory Goossen)
    Buddy Beavers ... Extra


    Produced
    Clint Eastwood .... producer
    Julian Ludwig .... associate producer
    David Valdes .... executive producer


    Writing credits
    (WGA)
    David Webb Peoples (written by)

    Trivia


    * The script floated around Hollywood for nearly 20 years, during which time Gene Hackman read and rejected it, only to be later convinced by Clint Eastwood (who had owned the rights to the script for some time) to play a role.


    * Munny's children are named Will and Penny, possibly a reference to the film Will Penny (1968), in which a cowboy turns gunslinger to help out a widow and her children.


    * Saul Rubinek asks Clint Eastwood how he chose the order in which to shoot six deputies. Eastwood replies that he "got lucky." This is a sly reference to Eastwood's earlier film The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), in which Chief Dan George asks Eastwood how he chose the order in which to shoot four Union soldiers, and Eastwood responds with a lengthy explanation about their various holsters and the looks in their eyes.


    * The film was tentatively titled "The William Munny Killings".


    * Only the third western to ever win the Best Picture Oscar. The other two being Dances with Wolves (1990) and Cimarron (1931).


    * The final screen credit reads, "Dedicated to Sergio and Don", referring to Clint Eastwood's mentors, Sergio Leone and Don Siegel.


    * Although the score was arranged by Lennie Niehaus, the main theme was written by Eastwood himself.


    * Richard Harris was watching High Plains Drifter (1973) on TV when Clint Eastwood phoned him to offer the part of English Bob.


    * Clint Eastwood's mother toiled through an uncomfortable day (wearing a heavy dress) as an extra, filming a scene where she boards a train; but the scene was eventually cut, with her son apologizing that the film was "too long and something had to go." All was forgiven when he brought her to the Academy Awards and thanked her prominently in his acceptance speech.


    * The film was shot in 39 days, coming in 4 days ahead of schedule. The town had to be built very quickly, with a relatively short run-up time (2 months) to the start of filming; the construction period was used by the stunt coordinator to work on actors' riding skills and stunt choreography.


    * The train sequences were filmed in Sonora, California, as there remained an operational 19th-century narrow-gauge railway track in the area.


    * Several names in the script refer to characters in earlier Westerns. "Will Munny" is a variation of "Will Penny". Munny's children are named "Will" and "Penny." Little Bill Dagget's last name is borrowed from True Grit (1969) as is the name Quincy mentioned in the dialogue. Instead of an English Bob, there is a Mexican Bob in "True Grit".


    * One of the few changes that Clint Eastwood made to David Webb Peoples's original script was to remove the opening voiceover and replace it with text.


    * Most of the rain in the film was specially created because Calgary, where it was shot, was experiencing a dry spell, though the snowfall that is featured when William Munny is recovering from his beating was unexpected (and unscripted).


    * To maintain the authentic atmosphere, no motor vehicles were allowed on the Big Whiskey set.


    * Production designer Henry Bumstead took only 32 days to have the Big Whiskey set constructed, the fastest in his lengthy career.


    * It took Clint Eastwood several years to actually get round to reading the script as his script reader had initially told him that it wasn't very good.


    * Clint Eastwood asked Gene Hackman to model his character of Little Bill Daggett on then Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates.


    * Writer David Webb Peoples credits Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Glendon Swarthout's novel "The Shootist" as two of the major shaping influences of his screenplay.


    * None of the participants, least of all Clint Eastwood and writer David Webb Peoples, actively set out to make an anti-violence film. It was a natural byproduct of the script.


    * The tavern in which the final scene takes place is called Greeley's. It is a reference to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley who who is often incorrectly attributed with writing the line "Go West Young Man." That line was actually written by John B.L. Soule.


    * Clint Eastwood said at the time that this would be the last movie that he would both act in and direct, but he went on to appear in all of the movies he has since directed, except Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Mystic River (2003), Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)_ .


    * The boots that Clint Eastwood wore in this film are the same boots that he wore in the TV series "Rawhide" (1959). These boots are now a part of Clint Eastwood's private collection and were on loan to the 2005 Sergio Leone exhibit at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, California. In essence these boots have book-ended Eastwood's career in the western genre.


    * The rifle Andy carries to arrest English Bob is a Winchester '66 "Yellowboy" with the fore-stock removed to resemble a first-model Henry.


    * Deputy Clyde's line about why a one armed man needed to carry three pistols: 'I don't want to get killed from lack of being able to shoot back' is sometimes attributed to lawman/gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok who usually carried two pistols around his waist, another in a shoulder holster, sometimes another stuck in the back of his belt, and usually had at least one Derringer hidden somewhere on his person. While working as a lawman, he usually carried a sawed off shotgun as well. Hickok also laughed at Ned Buntline's report about his killing 20 men with 20 shots saying that his theory was start shooting and keep shooting until the man you were shooting at was dead.


    * According to Clint Eastwood in a 2000 interview, Gene Hackman was very concerned about how they were going to show the violence in the movie, owing to the rising gun violence in American cities. Eastwood, a lifelong supporter of gun control, agreed to make the film as anti-gun as possible.


    * In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #68 Greatest Movie of All Time.


    * The following guns were used in this movie. 1. William Munny used a 1859 Starr revolver double action, a Smith and Wesson Schofield revolver, a 12-gauge double barreled coach shotgun, and later a Spencer rifle. 2. Ned uses a Spencer rifle. 3. The Kid uses a S&W Schofield, and earlier he uses a Winchester 1873 rifle. 4. English Bob uses a Colt 1873 "Peacemaker" Single action Army and a Bulldog .32 caliber pocket pistol. 5. Little Bill used a Colt 1873 "Peacemaker" Single action Army. 6. The Cathouse owner has a Colt 1851 single action revolver. 7. Andy the deputy uses a Winchester 1866 "Yellow Boy" made to look like a Henry rifle by removing the for-end. 8. The one armed law man uses 3 revolvers one a Remington 1875 and 2 Colt 1873 "Peacemakers". 9. Various people stick to the famed "peacemakers" and Winchester '73 rifles.

    Goofs
    * Anachronisms: The action of the film takes place in 1881. When the townspeople are forming a posse, they are discussing who will pay for expenses, and one of them says that the store won't sell them any more 30-30 shells unless they pay cash. The 30-30 was not introduced as a cartridge until late 1893.


    * Revealing mistakes: When English Bob is shooting the pheasants from the train, strings attached to the pheasants are clearly visible.


    * Anachronisms: Although pheasants were not introduced to the American west from Asia until the 1890s, they are present along the railroad tracks in 1880.


    * Incorrectly regarded as goofs: English Bob says that no assassin would dare hold a gun to a monarch. There were, in fact, six assassination attempts made against Queen Victoria, and they were well known at the time. He certainly would have known about them, though it should be mentioned that he was concerned with successful attempts (looking at a monarch causes the hand "to shake"). However, it should be noted that English Bob was mainly saying this to antagonize people and not necessarily because he truly believed it.


    * Continuity: In the shoot out between Will Munny and the deputies in Greely's Saloon, the blood stain appears on the shirt of the second deputy before he gets shot.


    * Continuity: At the first time in the saloon, Munny pushes the glass on the table until it touches the bottle. The next shots show the glass a little distant from the bottle.


    * Anachronisms: Belt loops are clearly visible throughout the film despite the fact that they were not invented until the 20th Century.


    * Revealing mistakes: English Bob is in jail and Little Bill is reading from W.W. Beauchamp's novel, but a sheet of script is taped onto the page and clearly visible.


    * Revealing mistakes: When William Munny wakes up from his fever after being assaulted by sheriff Little Bill he sits outside the shack and talks to Delilah Fitzgerald. You can see the blue sky behind the house through springs in the wood revealing that it's not the same house/shack as in the first shot and the fact that it's a scene-set.


    * Anachronisms: Several of the characters, including Little Bill and William Munny, are seen sometimes wearing shirts that button all the way up the front. This is incorrect for 1880/81, when men's shirts were still of the pullover variety, with or without a collar, and a small buttoned placket at the top.


    * Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the bar room shootout scene, many pistol shots are fired. The foley sound is correct. When Munny fires the rifle to kill Little Bill, the foley sound adds the classic "rifle shot" sound, with obvious echoes. In the enclosed barroom, there would be no echoes of the shot, just a loud bang.


    * Continuity: When given back his Spencer rifle by Bill (around the 95th minute), Ned's grip on the rifle jumps between shots.


    * Factual errors: The 38 star flag shown has the stars incorrectly offset (like today's 50 star flag). In fact the flag then had the stars aligned with two missing in the 2nd and 4th rows.


    * The Schofield Kid shoots Quick Mike three times in the chest. However, when Fatty runs out to check on him, one shot shows Mike with a bullet wound in his forehead.

    Filming locations
    Alberta, Canada
    Brooks, Alberta, Canada
    Calgary, Alberta, Canada
    Drumheller, Alberta, Canada
    High River, Alberta, Canada
    Longview, Alberta, Canada
    Red Hills Ranch, Sonora, California, USA
    (train sequence)

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 4 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Unforgiven is a 1992 American revisionist Western film 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.
    A dark Western that deals frankly with the uglier aspects of violence and how complicated truths
    are distorted into simplistic myths about the Old West, it 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.



    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).


    In 2004, Unforgiven was added to the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress
    as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".



    Unforgiven in my opinion is one of the best 'recent'
    Classic Westerns.
    Brilliantly acted, Directed and produced by the man himself,
    and he even wrote the movies, main music theme!!
    It has everything a great western should have.
    Clint's co stars, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and Richard Harris,
    all turn in, solid performances.
    Only the 3rd ever western, to win
    a Best Picture Academy Award.
    That in itself, says it all.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited once, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Morgan Freeman was great as was Richard Harris, Gene Hackman did a mean sheriff and I did not feel sorry for the cowboy who cut the girl. His character did not seem so evil later in the film but only a mad man would do what he did.

    Greetings from North of the 49th

  • This is also a favorite of mine. I remember how odd it seemed to see how bad Clint was with a gun in the beginning of the film. Kind of threw you off, being use to his Man with no name character. Gene Hackman was great playing a bully sherriff. It didn't bother me one bit to see him "taken care of" by Clint in the end. This makes me want to take it off the shelf and watch it again!

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Favorite lines from the movie:

    William Munny to the Schofield Kid after the kid kills Quick Mike:
    "You kill a man, you take away all he ever has and all he ever will have"
    Munny to the crowd in Greelys:
    "who's the s.o.b. who owns this shithole"
    After Munny kills the saloon owner:
    Little Bill: "you just killed an unarmed man"!
    Munny: "I guess he should've armed himself, then".
    Munny standing over Little Bill after shooting him:
    Little Bill: "I don't deserve this. I was building a house".
    Munny: Deserves has nothing to do with it".

  • I guess im going against the grain on this one. I watched it the first time and liked it. I watched it a second toime and I didn't like it. Why? I don't know? but maybe watching it a third time, will make up my mind for me.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

  • Yup have to agree didnt do much for me ! I prefer a good old honest western you can watch with your mum. Modern films are far to realistic if you know what i mean:teeth_smile:

  • Watched Unforgiven again!
    With Clint at his most menacing best,
    but also Gene Hackman as the nasty Little Bill,
    and Morgan Freeman as Ned, meeting a grisly end.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • I watched it in the cinema when it came out and to be honest was disappointed with the movie. I thought it was slow, dark and dreary and a sad last hurrah for Clint as a western actor.

  • i also watched this in the cinema and enjoyed it,but on 2nd viewing it didnt hold up.first richard harris should have had a bigger part.it was a dark,moody film.the gunshot sounds are so different than the gun sounds in older westerns.i was 20 when this western came out and i enjoyed it then,but 17 years later it dont appeal to me anymore.i dont know why.

  • I enjoy it now as much as when I first saw it. I thought it was a great change of pace for all involved, and impressive on all fronts.

  • Thought Unforgiven was very good but, it wasn't a typical Clint Eastwood western we've all come to know and love. Sure, he was a killer and a gunman but, now he was older, more settled down and we had to wait till the end for the old Clint to rise up to avenge his friend Neds death and that was classic Clint. I aboslutely love it when he's standing in that saloon with everybody just staring at him and he asks, "who's the one that owns this shithole", then proceeds to blow the guy away when the guy owns up to it. Then when Gene Hackmans, Little Bill, says, "you just shot down an unarmed man" and Clint replies, "well, I guess he should've armed himself, then". That's classic.