Who would have thought it? During the eighties, when the cinematic Western was at its lowest ebb, I doubt if anyone could have predicted not only that two of the best films of the early nineties would be Westerns but also that both would go on to win 'Best Picture' at the Academy Awards, something that only one film from this genre had done previously. Yet that is exactly what happened. First came Kevin Costner's 'Dances With Wolves', then Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven'. In both cases the star also acted as director. In Eastwood's case he was returning to the genre in which he first made his name; this was his first Western since 'Pale Rider' eight years earlier, which in turn was his first since 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' eight years before that.
In 'Unforgiven', Eastwood plays a former gunfighter and robber named William Munny. (Pronounced 'Money'; there seems to be a tradition in Westerns of giving characters surnames which suggest they are for hire. There is Charlton Heston's Will Penny, and in 'Hannie Caulder' Robert Culp plays a hired gunman named Price). In his younger days, Munny was a hardened criminal, but he abandoned his life of crime when he married and settled down to life as a farmer. At the beginning of the film he is a widower, trying to raise two young children on his own. He is tempted to return to his former life, however, when he hears of a bounty of a thousand dollars which a group of prostitutes have placed on the heads of two drunken cowboys who badly injured one of their number by cutting her face with a knife. Abandoning his children to fend for themselves, Munny sets off to try and claim the money. He recruits a former associate, Ned Logan, and they are joined in their quest by a young man who calls himself the Schofield Kid and who is eager to make a name for himself as a gunfighter. They are not, however, the only men in search of the reward; an eccentric Englishman named English Bob, who has won himself an undeserved reputation as a Western hero, is also trying to track the cowboys down.
The film reminded me of another Western, Michael Winner's 'Lawman' from the early seventies. That film has at its centre a sheriff whose inflexible determination to uphold the letter of the law at all costs leads to tragic consequences. 'Unforgiven' approaches the question of law enforcement from a slightly different angle. A key role is played by Gene Hackman's sheriff, Bill Daggett. Unlike that of Burt Lancaster's character in 'Lawman', Daggett's approach to the law is arbitrary and inconsistent. He can at times uphold the law with savage zeal. He is determined to protect the two cowboys from vigilantism, but in doing so, he transgresses the law himself, dealing out a brutal kicking to English Bob and an even more brutal flogging to Ned which results in the latter's death. Moreover, Daggett has himself created the need for vigilante justice by denying the full protection of the law to the injured prostitute. (The only punishment imposed upon the cowboys is an order to pay compensation to the woman's pimp for the loss of her economic value to him).
There is, in fact, no character in the film who is entirely sympathetic. Munny starts the film as a reformed character, but slips back into his old ways when he is tempted by the prospect of money. He becomes, to borrow the title of another Eastwood Western, a man prepared to kill for a fistful of dollars. The lack of an easily identifiable hero is a common feature of modern 'revisionist' Westerns. Unlike some such Westerns, however, (Sam Peckinpah's 'The Wild Bunch' is a good example), 'Unforgiven' does not lack a moral centre. The Schofield Kid and English Bob have both been seduced by the dubious mythology of the West. The Kid, as his nickname suggests, is an inexperienced young man, but would like others to see him as a hardened and ruthless killer because he regards killing as something glamorous. Bob takes the credit for acts of violence which are wrongly attributed to him but which in reality he would be too cowardly to commit. Munny, for all his faults, can see Western mythology for what it is. Even when he is setting out to kill for money, he remains uncomfortably aware that "to kill a man, to take all he has and all he's ever gonna have" is a desperately serious business. In Ovid's phrase quoted in the title, he sees the better path, and approves, but follows the worse.
The first half of the film can be slow-moving, but the second half is gripping, as the death of his friend Ned leads Munny to seek a bloody revenge. As with many Westerns, there are some attractive shots of the local scenery (the film is ostensibly set in Wyoming, but was actually shot in Canada), but the overall tone is a dark, claustrophobic one in keeping with the film's theme. Many scenes are set in gloomy interiors, whether bars, brothels or ranch-houses. One of the villains is actually shot dead in an outside lavatory.
Of the two great Westerns of the early nineties, I would, marginally, prefer 'Dances with Wolves', which to my mind has a greater epic sweep, but by any other standard 'Unforgiven' is a very fine movie indeed, wonderfully acted, especially by Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Eastwood himself. (Freeman's role is a rare example of a black actor taking a leading role in a Western). It also asks some searching questions about the nature of law and justice, revenge and the roots of violence. It is interesting that Eastwood has not made any films in the Western genre since this one; perhaps he feels that it has set a standard that cannot be surpassed. 9/10
