THE UNFORGIVEN
DIRECTED BY JOHN HUSTON
PRODUCED BY JAMES HILL/ HAROLD HECHT/ BURT LANCASTER
JAMES PRODUCTIONS
UNITED ARTISTS
Photo with the courtesy of lasbugas
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Burt Lancaster- The Unforgiven
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
Odd Western about racial intolerance focuses around Kiowa
claim that the Zachary daughter is one of their own, stolen in a raid.
The dispute results in other whites' turning their backs on the Zacharys when the truth
is revealed by Mother. Murphy plays Cash, the hotheaded brother who reacts violently
to learning his "sister" is a "red-hide Indian."
He leaves the family but returns to help them fight off an Indian raid during
which Hepburn kills her Kiowa brother, thus choosing sides once and for all.
Written by rita.richardson
Full Cast
Burt Lancaster ... Ben Zachary
Audrey Hepburn ... Rachel Zachary
Audie Murphy ... Cash Zachary
John Saxon ... Johnny Portugal
Charles Bickford ... Zeb Rawlins
Lillian Gish ... Mattilda Zachary
Albert Salmi ... Charlie Rawlins
Joseph Wiseman ... Abe Kelsey
June Walker ... Hagar Rawlins
Kipp Hamilton ... Georgia Rawlins
Arnold Merritt ... Jude Rawlins
Doug McClure ... Andy Zachary
Carlos Rivas ... Lost Bird
Writing Credits
Ben Maddow (screenplay)
Alan Le May (novel) (as Alan LeMay)
Original Music
Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography
Franz Planer
Trivia
Before filming began, director John Huston and star Burt Lancaster took actress Lillian Gish out to the desert to teach her how to shoot, which she would have to do in the film. However, Huston was astounded to discover that Gish could shoot more accurately, and faster, than both he and Lancaster, who thought themselves expert marksmen. It turned out that early in her career Gish was taught how to shoot by notorious western outlaw and gunfighter Al J. Jennings, who had become an actor after his release from a long prison sentence for train robbery and was in the cast of one of her films. She found that she liked shooting and over the years had developed into an expert shot.
Audrey Hepburn was seriously injured when she was thrown by a horse between scenes. Hepburn, who was several months pregnant, spent six weeks in the hospital healing from a broken back, and when she returned to the set, was able to complete her role wearing a back brace, which her wardrobe had to be redesigned to hide. Sadly, she suffered a miscarriage a few months later, which some blamed on her injury from this movie. John Huston blamed himself for the mishap and hated this movie. Hepburn, however, bore no ill will towards the director. While Hepburn was in hospital, Huston filmed scenes using a double.
During the filming 'Audie Murphy' and a friend decided to go duck hunting on a nearby lake. The boat capsized and Murphy nearly drowned, but was saved by a female photographer who had been taking pictures nearby.
Average Shot Length (ASL) = 8.7 seconds
"The Unforgiven" was Audrey Hepburn's only Western.
DOP Oswald Morris says in his memoirs he was offered this film.
The original writer J. P. Miller and original director Delbert Mann originally envisioned "The Unforgiven" as a gritty, unglamorous, but accurate picture of post-Civil War Texas life, much as John Ford had earlier done with Alan LeMay's "The Searchers." Hecht/Hill/Lancaster wanted to ensure its commerciality and change the film's direction. They wanted to cast Kirk Douglas as Lancaster's brother, which would throw off the balance in the brothers' relationship. His first effort at a rewrite did not work and after fifty pages into the second rewrite, the writer quit the film and broke off his relationship with the producers. Mann soon followed. They wee replaced by Ben Maddow, John Gay, and John Huston. When it was decided not to use Douglas, Tony Curtis and then Richard Burton were cast before Audie Muephy was ultimately chosen.
Director Huston saw the film as an opportunity to make a serious comment on race relations, but the company thought anything along those lines should take a back seat to making it a commercial success as action/adventure. Lancaster's biographer Gary Fishgall quotes two of Huston's biographers who assert that Huston did not quit because he needed his $300,000 salary to restore his Irish manor house and saw the location shoot as an opportunity to indulge his passion for pre-Columbian art.
According to Murphy's biographer Don Graham, the script called for Lancaster to slap the war hero at one point, and that enraged the war hero to such a degree that witnesses thought that Murphy, who carried a gun, would have killed Lancaster under different circumstances. Director Huston eventually defused the situation.
According to Lancaster biographer Gary Fishgall, Lancaster and co-star Audie Murphy were engaged in an invitational tournament at a new golf course near Durango. Huston had an airplane filled with 2000 ping-pong ball with anti-Mexican and profane language and had them dropped all over the course, making it impossible to continue as none of the players could find their golf balls. Lancaster, who co-sponsored the event, was furious with Huston.
Goofs
Anachronisms
In the scene where the piano is delivered, Lancaster's hair style changes again and again, from trimmed to long, from wind swept to coiffured.
In the closeup scenes of Rachel, her false eyelashes are quite obvious.
Continuity
When Ben goes out with his brother Cash to find Abe Kelsey, he is not wearing neckerchief. Later in the country, when he dismounts, he is using a neckerchief.
Factual errors
When the piano is delivered, Mrs. Zachary sits down to play it, and it is in perfect tune. Not possible! Moving a piano always knocks it out of tune, and moving a piano in a wagon across that terrain would have made it terribly out of tune.
In the copyright notice on "The End' screen, the year is given as MCMLVIX (it should be MCMLIX).
Filming Locations
Durango, Mexico
Watch This Trailer
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