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)
