"I Though I Was Dead Too...Turns Out I Was Just In Nebraska."

There is just something about westerns that has never really appealed to me. I don’t know if it’s the all-too-predictable storylines that they typically follow, or if I just don’t see very much depth in your typical “man with the white hat” good cowboy depicted in the films. When I first saw Unforgiven several years ago, I was not expecting much; after all, Clint Eastwood basically plays the same gruff tough guy in every one of his movies, right? And since this movie has a western setting, it must only be about cowboys chasing down Injuns and robbing trains, right? Oh, how wrong I was. Unforgiven proved to be a great film, full of fleshed-out characters, with an engrossing storyline and fine performances all around, especially from Mr. Eastwood, who turns in a performance full of life and charisma.

The main plot of the film centers on William Munny (Eastwood). We find Munny barely scraping by on his pathetic Kansas hog farm with his two children. It seems that Munny was once an infamous outlaw who was prone to fits of murderous rage after having too much whiskey. As an opening caption points out, Munny met a young woman who turned him around; swearing him off of booze and crime and even cursing. She was claimed by smallpox some years later, leaving a reformed William alone with their children. It is here that our story begins, with Munny trying to keep his meager hog farm going, and a mysterious stranger riding up to his home with a offer he can’t refuse.

The mysterious stranger is a young man who goes by the name of the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett), and he wants Munny to accompany him on an assassination. Two cowboys cut up a prostitute in the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, and the other working girls weren’t satisfied with the justice applied by the local law man, Little Bill, so they scraped some money together to buy some justice. The Schofield Kid is a nephew of one of Munny’s old outlaw friends. His uncle has told him stories over the years about Munny that may or may not be true; either way, Munny seems to be the perfect companion for such a venture. Munny isn’t so sure; he has given up his spotty past of killing people for no reason while in a drunken stupor. But he looks around at his little shack in the middle of arid desert, and he knows that he needs the money. He reluctantly follows the kid, picking up his old partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) along the way.

Of course, other outlaws also want the bounty for killing the cowboys; one who arrives in Big Whiskey is a charismatic outlaw who goes by the name of English Bob (Richard Harris). Before he can do the deed, however, he runs into Little Bill (Gene Hackman) who knows his tricks and runs him out of town on a rail (quite literally, actually). Hackman’s performance of the lawman who wants to do what is right, but is willing to play dirty to get the job done is as believable as it is expertly played. He brutally beats English Bob, loudly declaring that the prostitutes don’t actually have the reward. Bob’s traveling biographer, a mousy little office type (Saul Rubinek), quickly latches on to the callous lawman, learns that English Bob’s legend that he was writing is mainly fiction, and goes to work on Little Bill’s story.

Will, Ned and the Kid make their way toward Big Whiskey in search of their reward. There are several emotional scenes along the way in which Will explains that his departed wife had set his straight; he is no longer the cold-blooded killer that he once was. He makes it clear that he is only participating in this man-hunt because he needs the money to start a future for his children. Ned also seems to have mellowed over the years; he and Will constantly downplay their vicious ways of the past, as the Kid is always trumping up things he may or may not have done. They cast a wary eye on the kid; they realize that that used to be them. The closer they get to catching up the cowboys, and having to face their pasts, the two old gunslingers start to have a harder time dealing with their former selves.

In a tragic turn of events, Will suddenly loses control and slips back into his former persona; a man widely regarded as a vicious and cold-blooded killer who wouldn’t even spare women and children. He gulps down whiskey, and gets a look in his eye that will freeze just about anyone in their tracks. It is a heart-breaking thing to watch, but all the same, it makes one morbidly curious. Just how far can you push a man who has a past of violence before he snaps, and the old self takes over? Little Bill and his group of lawmen test the boundaries of Will’s sanity, and they push him far, far over the edge. In a climactic final scene, Will forgets everything that he has preached the last ten years, and he again turns to the gun and the bottle.

Unforgiven is not so much a western as it is a journey into the tortured psyche of a person who is legendary in the minds of some, and feared by most. Even Will himself seems to be a little bit afraid of the person he once was. He claims that he doesn’t remember much of his past deeds because he was usually drunk, but one suspects that he remembers more than he is letting on. Will gets caught in the rain and gets a fever; in his delirium, he sees one of his old victims, dead and full of worms. His past catches up with him in the literal form of his victims, and the angel of death pays him a visit in his fevered imagination. For all of his regret and pain over the wrongs he has done, it still seems that Will’s past will not let him rest.

The cast of Unforgiven is obviously great, but none of these fine actors rest on their laurels. Eastwood is top notch as Will; you can feel every bit of the pain in his eyes as he is constantly reminded of his former self. Morgan Freeman gives a typically refined and understated performance as Ned; everything about his demeanor suggests a man who has seen and done his fair share of evil, and now he wants no part of it. Hackman does a great job with the complex character of Little Bill. Little Bill is a man who is widely known for his “heroic” deeds in the face of outlaws all over the west. When we actually get to see Little Bill, however, it is obvious that he takes care of outlaws with strong-arm tactics, torture, and a big team of lawmen. He obviously wants things to go smoothly in his town, but he will resort to whatever tactics necessary, no matter how suspect, to make sure that things go that way. Hackman does a fine job of giving Little Bill all of this depth and character.

I recently watched this movie on DVD, and with DVD reviews I like to mention any added bonuses and goodies that might be included. Unfortunately, this DVD doesn’t really have any added features that are really worth mentioning. Both wide-screen and full-screen versions are included (one on each side of the DVD), which is always nice because wide-screen annoys me, but the features are surprisingly light. Aside from the usual cast biographies, scene selections, and a list of awards the movie won (we already bought the movie - why keep trying to impress us?), there is little to be found.

Unforgiven is a fine film, western or no. It is a deceptively deep tale of pain, redemption, and regret that is cleverly disguised as a simple western. There are the obvious nods the old west (outlaws, lawmen, Indians, shady taverns), but they are given a literate twist that adds a whole new layer of reality. For instance, outlaws are not portrayed in the romantic light that we are used to seeing them in (so cleverly panned by Little Bill’s correction of a tall tale about English Bob). Outlaws were psychotic killers who just did it for money, usually fueled more by whiskey than any sense of ambition. The courageous lawmen were actually only a step above the outlaws; they were willing to take advantage of their position to get results whenever necessary. And hot young outlaws such as the Schofield Kid were not always charismatic young studs with a keen sense of bucking authority; most were just scared kids with inflated reputations. Unforgiven is quick to shed such western cliches, and instead weaves a tale full of real people with real emotions and agendas. For those who think westerns could use a little more humanity in them, at least give this movie a rental.