Unforgiven - The Eclectic Cinema

The ABC of CINEMA

Unforgiven 15

USA | 1992 130 minutes

DIRECTED BY

Clint Eastwood

STARRING

Clint Eastwood|Gene Hackman|Morgan Freeman

20 January 2025 MONDAY 19:30

AUDITORIUM

Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (under 26) CONCESSION NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE

In the ABC of Cinema, we’ve reached the letter E. So, perhaps surprisingly, we’re going to look more closely at Clint Eastwood. Obviously, we know him as Dirty Harry, dating from 1971, but his film-acting career goes back to the mid-1950s - he was born in 1930. As a director, he started in the early 1970s with Play Misty for Me (1971). Since then, he has built up a roster of over forty films as director – and often also as producer and star. Eastwood is still at work as a director: his latest film Juror #2 was released in November 2024. He’ll be 95 this coming May.

The Western genre is particularly associated with Eastwood, harking back to the Sergio Leone films like The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966). So, it is a Western that is selected to represent Eastwood as director, although he has also directed thrillers, biopics, and at least one romance.

In Unforgiven, Eastwood plays Will Munny, a former killer, now reformed so as to focus on farming and raising a family with his young wife. But his wife has recently died, and Will is finding life is tough and the farm income not enough. To secure his family’s future, Will is persuaded to turn bounty-hunter again. The bounty has been raised by the women of a local brothel, seeking retribution for the recent attack and disfigurement of one of their number by two men from out of town. The town’s sheriff (played by Gene Hackman) releases these men without trial or punishment, so leaving the women to find their own route to justice. Will Munny and his former partner, Ned Logan (played by Morgan Freeman), are joined by the inexperienced ‘Schofield Kid’ to hunt down the perpetrators, claim the bounty, and achieve some sense of justice for all involved.

At the 1993 Academy Awards, this film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Eastwood) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Hackman).