From: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: unforgiven
Date: 15 Aug 92 20:33:41 EST
Reply-To: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

          I haven't touched the main characters yet.  There's the
     "Schofield Kid," who plays the role of the brash, boastful young
     wannabe gunfighter.  He learns the harsh lesson that killing your
     first man is never what you think it will be, but in "Unforgiven" it
     affects him as it never did in the Westerns of old.  He reminded
     me a lot of the sassy young kid in "Ride The High Country," even
     to the point where he's only interested in the reward money.  But
     he learns that money isn't everything.
          Morgan Freeman plays Ned Logan, Bill Munny's old partner who
     has also retired from gunfighting.  While he's also willing to get
     back on the saddle and earn a piece of the reward, it seems that
     retirement has taken its toll on him.  He's the only one in the
     movie who has a distinct, clear set of morals - but this is only
     more proof that Eastwood's purpose in this movie was to kill off
     the simplistic ideals of the Classic Western once and for all.
          (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!)
          It's with Ned Logan's character that Eastwood makes his only bow
     towards political correctness: not once in the movie is the fact that
     Ned is black mentioned.  On one hand, this is a good move on
     Hollywood's part, but on the other hand it subtracts slightly from
     the realistic feel of the movie - after all, the 19th Century was
     as racist a time as ever there was, here in America.  The problem
     here is with the ultimate fate of Ned Logan: does this constitute
     the Hollywood clice of once again killing off a major black character
     in the cast, while the white guys live on to the end of the movie?
     Ned's death is an important plot twist, and it's certainly essential
     to the story.  But casting Morgan Freeman in this role called my
     attention once again to the way blacks are portrayed in Hollywood
     movies.  Or am I merely overreacting?

          Mention must be made of the movie's superb direction as well.
     Despite its length (2 hours and 10 minutes seems to be the new
     Hollywood "epic" standard - JUST longer than the length of a typical
     two-hour videotape), this movie will keep you mesmerized from
     beginning to end.
          The Frontier of "Unforgiven" is a lonely place, where a cold
     wind blows day and night and the sky is often overcast.  I remember
     seeing a sunny scene exactly three times in this movie: the very
     beginning and the very end (both of which are sunsets), and once
     during the middle of the movie where the scarred prostitute is
     talking to Bill Munny.  Rain figures prominently in this movie,
     contrasting to the hot desert locations where most of the classic
     Westerns were filmed.
          If you go to see "Unforgiven" expecting another action flick
     in the order of "A Fistful Of Dollars," you will be sorely
     disappointed.  While the movie does end with a shootout (vastly
     different from the standard Hollywood Shootout Climax, however!),
     it's truly a drama of characters, where what a person says and how
     he acts is far more important than what he does and who he shoots.
          This a thinking person's Western.  If you hate Westerns, you
     will fall under the harsh spell of "Unforgiven."  If you love
     Westerns, you will never forget this one.  This is truly a movie
     for the ages, and future movies will look back upon this one for
     inspiration and guidance.
          "Unforgiven" is unforgettable.
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