Unforgiven | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
|
|
Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
Produced by | Clint Eastwood |
Written by | David Webb Peoples |
Starring |
|
Music by | Lennie Niehaus |
Cinematography | Jack N. Green |
Edited by | Joel Cox |
Production
company |
|
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
131 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $14 million |
Box office | $159.2 million |
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. The film 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".
The film is set in 1880 and 1881 in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, where Little Bill Daggett, the local sheriff and former gunfighter, does not allow guns or criminals in his town. Two cowboys, Quick Mike and "Davey-Boy" Bunting, disfigure prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald after she laughs at the small size of Quick Mike's penis. As punishment for the cowboys, Little Bill allows them to pay compensation to the brothel owner, Skinny Dubois. The rest of the prostitutes, led by Strawberry Alice, are infuriated by this leniency and offer a $1,000 reward to whoever can kill the cowboys.