The Unforgiven

[ODogg]

Is this the best western ever made? I think it is. Where can you get better actors than Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman???? This movie, it's all about sublety. For example, even after the opening scene where the cowboy cuts the hooker, the guys partner shows up and offers her a pony for the cutting and she refuses. Wouldn't that be enough for her cutting? Is his offer so poor? This movie is filled with a lot of moments like these where you question the movies pronouncements. It's what great movies are all about.

My favorite scene: the scene where they ride toward Clint Eastwood and the kid asks him "he had it coming didn't he?" in reference to the guy he shot earlier in the outhouse. Clint replies "we all got it coming kid..."...

Man that scene gives me goose bumps..

[ChubbyBanana]

Re: The Unforgiven

Preach On, ODogg!

To answer your question, it is one of my favorite movies, and one of the best western movies I have ever seen.

Just my two cents.

[mudtiger]

Re: The Unforgiven

No argument from me. Excellent movie from start to finish. Gotta love Richard Harris as English Bob.

[Kelverin]

Re: The Unforgiven

Is this the best western ever made? I think it is. Where can you get better actors than Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman????

C'era una volta il West (1968) - Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robarts. My absoulte favorite western.

Unforgiven while good, does not measure up to;

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Wild Bunch
The Great Silence
The Searchers
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Shane
The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance
The Magnificent Seven
The Professionals
True Grit
Río Bravo
High Noon
Dances With Wolves
Open Range
Ride The High Country
Red River
My Darling Clementine
Winchester `73
Little Big Man
Hud
Warlock

[The Chef]

Re: The Unforgiven

C'era una volta il West (1968) - Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robarts. My absoulte favorite western.

Unforgiven while good, does not measure up to;

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Wild Bunch
The Great Silence
The Searchers
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Shane
The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance
The Magnificent Seven
The Professionals
True Grit
Río Bravo
High Noon
Dances With Wolves
Open Range
Ride The High Country
Red River
My Darling Clementine
Winchester `73
Little Big Man
Hud
Warlock

While I like Dances With Wolves, there is no way that movie is better then Unforgiven, secondly, is it even a Western movie in the first place? I dont consider Dances With Wolves to be a western but others might so I figured I would ask.

[JayBee74]

Re: The Unforgiven

C'era una volta il West (1968) - Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robarts. My absoulte favorite western.

Unforgiven while good, does not measure up to;

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Wild Bunch
The Great Silence
The Searchers
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Shane
The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance
The Magnificent Seven
The Professionals
True Grit
Río Bravo
High Noon
Dances With Wolves
Open Range
Ride The High Country
Red River
My Darling Clementine
Winchester `73
Little Big Man
Hud
Warlock

I hate to disagree with you since you have my favorite on the list (Warlock), but I believe Unforgiven measures up to all of these, although not necessarily better than some of them.

[Brandon13]

Re: The Unforgiven

The Good, The Bad, And They Ugly is the best western I've ever seen.

***Spoiler***

I love this part:

<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sXldafIl5DQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sXldafIl5DQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>

***Spoiler***

[Kelverin]

Re: The Unforgiven

I hate to disagree with you since you have my favorite on the list (Warlock), but I believe Unforgiven measures up to all of these, although not necessarily better than some of them.

You can disagree it would be a boring forum if you did not

Most (close to all) were created first so you have to give them credit for that, Unforgiven while an excellent film was not groundbreaking therefore does not really deserve the attention it gets, it was just the first excellent western to come around in a long time.

[JayBee74]

Re: The Unforgiven

You can disagree it would be a boring forum if you did not

Most (close to all) were created first so you have to give them credit for that, Unforgiven while an excellent film was not groundbreaking therefore does not really deserve the attention it gets, it was just the first excellent western to come around in a long time.

True, and it's a little like apples and oranges when you're comparing Shane, Stagecoach, and Warlock with the likes of the more graphically violent Unforgiven, Appaloosa, & 3:10 to Yuma.

[SPTO]

Re: The Unforgiven

I'll mention two little known westerns that you two should check out. I've mentioned one of them before.

BTW Odogg technically you're wrong The Unforgiven isn't the greatest Western ever why? Here's why:

The Unforgiven (1960)

It starred Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn and Audie Murphy. It's not a bad little western in it's own right though.


Anywho on to my two picks

Monte Walsh (1970) An amazing portrayal of an old cowboy struggling with the transition from the days of the Wild West and the coming of civilization. This is without a doubt one of the best films Lee Marvin ever did.

Gunman's Walk (1958) An underrated gem of a film starring Van Heflin. I don't really wanna spoil it so here's the synopsis from IMDB. Unfortunately said movie isn't on DVD (it really should though)

Rancher Lee Hackett is one of the old breed, used to making his own laws and settling things with a gun. He has tried to make his two sons in his own image, and with the elder he has more than succeeded, to the extent that he is accused of murdering a half-breed. But his younger son is different, eschewing the old rules and even becoming drawn to the sister of the murdered man. Lee starts to find that his way of doing things is no longer working

[ODogg]

Re: The Unforgiven

You can disagree it would be a boring forum if you did not

Most (close to all) were created first so you have to give them credit for that, Unforgiven while an excellent film was not groundbreaking therefore does not really deserve the attention it gets, it was just the first excellent western to come around in a long time.

I disagree, it was groundbreaking because it was one of the first Westerns to show things in shades of gray more than in black & white. I mean when Gene Hackman is about to die and he says "I am building a house.." it really makes you see him as a human being and if you go back and re-watch that movie you can see that the movie could just as easily have been written to have Hackman's character as the protagonist and Eastwood's character as the antagonist.

Now i'm not saying other westerns haven't explored the issue of things aren't so black and white but this is the first one to do so in such a stellar way with commercial success as well as artistic success and accolades. For that reason I believe it most certainly was groundbreaking.

[devilsjaw]

Re: The Unforgiven

The Outlaw Josey Wales.

[auburntigersfan]

Re: The Unforgiven

My favorite scene: the scene where they ride toward Clint Eastwood and the kid asks him "he had it coming didn't he?" in reference to the guy he shot earlier in the outhouse. Clint replies "we all got it coming kid..."...

Man that scene gives me goose bumps..

I TOTALLY AGREE!!!

I had to watch this movie in English class last week, I was expecting the typical boring movie, but no, it was AWESOME!

We discussed the movie some afterward and that scene you mentioned above was brought up, it's was a very powerful moment.

I love how it goes against the stereotypes of old western cowboys when the young kid doesn't feel good after killing the man in the outhouse, how clint eastwood's character didn't really love killing, but almost act as if he just had to do what he had to do.

The part when Clint Eastwood's character kill's the first man, the man that had offered the hooker the horse. It was such a sad scene. Kind of parallels with what happened to Morgan Freeman's character. Neither of the two guys were horrible, but both suffered.

I also loved the eeriness of the scene when Clint Eastwood's character first arrives and he sits in the saloon while his comrades are in the whorehouse. The confrontation between him and Gene Hackman's character was just indescribable.


I'm really not a big movie person, but I just loved the movie. I could go on and on, but I'll stop now.


I don't care about other Westerns, isn't this thread just to talk about how great of a movie The Unforgiven is.