Clint Eastwood is most likely known as a big-screen tough-guy, usually starring in Westerns or gritty crime dramas. His raspy, gravelly voice defines him nearly as much as his acting prowess. But simply pegging Eastwood as a one-note actor robs him of the credit he is due as a master film-maker. Unforgiven is Eastwood's masterpiece and ode to "The Western" as a distinct, American film genre.
Eastwood, long known for playing supremely capable and for the most part good-guy outlaws, is introduced as an aging, incompetent outlaw, William Munny, who assures us, albeit somewhat unpersuasively, that he is holding on to the memory of his dead wife. William Munny, however, despite what his broken down circumstances indicate, was once one of the most feared and ruthless outlaws in the entire west.
The rest of the film explores the true nature of Munny. Is he a "changed man" as he so often suggests, cured of his wicked ways, or is he truly the cold-blooded killer that he was for so long, and people still want him to be?
The plot involves Munny (Eastwood) leaving his home and two small children behind to try to claim a reward by killing a couple of cowboys who 'cut-up' a prostitute in the town of Big Whiskey. Munny, joined by his old partner, Morgan Freeman, and a newcomer set out to track down the cowboys.
The film alternates plot lines between Munny and his gang and the goings-on in the town of Big Whiskey, which is guarded by the blood-thirsty and even sadistic Sheriff Little Bill Dagget, in an Osacar winning turn from Gene Hackman, who is protecting the wanted cowboys. In each plot line Eastwood explores the idea of the Western "hero." Many of Eastwood's earlier Western roles revolved around him as the savior of a town or group of people (think Pale Rider). In this role, however, Eastwood is a "killer of women and children" who is feared across an entire region. But here he comes, bumbling across the plains with two other outlaws in an attempt to avenge the honor of a prostitute. Are there any heroes, or for that matter, any innocent people worth being saved in Eastwood's new west?
Eastwood methodically deconstructs this notion of the hero that he so self-assuredly portrayed in many of his earlier Westerns. A great side-story involves a famed gunslinger, English Bob, who has gone to Big Whiskey at the behest of the railroad company to kill employees who get out of line. The town, and a writer travelling with English Bob, are at first awe-struck and fascinated with the gun-fighter, that is until Little Bill thoroughly debunks the myths about him and exposes English Bob for the fraud that he is.
**Potential Spoilers Below**
Similarly, Eastwood bumbles along for most of the film, succeeding almost by accident in many occassions. He makes good on his promise to avenge the prostitute, but in what could only be described as a cowardly fashion (would you ever shoot an unarmed man while he's on the toilet?).
But what has Eastwood become by the end of the film? He kills the cowboys and collects his money, but has he gained any satisfaction from it? Is he a better person for it, and did the woman deserve her retribution either? Despite all his protestations, Eastwood is not a changed man. His "dear beloved" dead wife may have tried her best to change him, but is he beyond saving?
In the most hard-core scene in the entire movie and my absolute favorite scene ever, we finally get our answer. Eastwood has collected his money but given it away already. He has nothing to keep him in the town of Big Whiskey except to get revenge against Little Bill for killing Eastwood's partner, Morgan Freeman. Eastwood's character is incapable of change, and in fact he doesn't want to change.
Eastwood implores us to not believe the myths of the grandiose west, perhaps out of guilt for his role in glamorizing the violence of his earlier films. But when William Munny shoots his way out of the saloon in the final scene we understand that perhaps we don't deserve perfect heroes and we are left to rely on the violent William Munny's of the world.
- Stuart -
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