“It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man.”
Unforgiven, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1992 to almost universal acclaim. It won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1993. Eastwood plays a broken-down man, an ex-murderer and thief who has left his violent past behind – through the love of a good woman who later died of smallpox. Struggling as a pig farmer with two young children, his life is disrupted when a young man arrives, asking him to join a mission to kill two cowboys who mutilated a woman. A $1,000 bounty is on offer.
In its tone, characterisation, and nuance, Unforgiven is a solidly revisionist Western. The concept of revisionist Westerns is fascinating, as they challenge the classic Hollywood Westerns of the 1940s-1960s, with their heroic cowboys, lawful sheriffs, savage Indians, and damsels in distress. These films were revising the myth, the vision of Manifest Destiny portrayed on the big screen. The question of redemption hangs heavy over the entire story – it’s a vengeful force haunting the characters.
Unforgiven’s characters are complex. Eastwood’s William Munney is trying to escape his violent past, quitting drinking and raising two children alone. Poverty forces him back into action. He’s not a hero, barely an anti-hero, just a man who “has always been lucky when it comes to killing”.
Eastwood’s film focuses on myth-making, especially the role of violence. The boastful Schofield Kid who claims to have killed five men, and who encourages Munney to join the assassination, is revealed as a liar. Partly motivated by Munney’s legendary status as a thief and a killer, the vision of the outlaw, both barbaric and exalted is clear. Richard Harris plays English Bob, a gun-slinger working for the railway companies, killing Chinese immigrants. Accompanied by a writer, W.W. Beauchamp, who is crafting pulp novels about his exploits. English Bob’s reputation precedes him where he goes. English Bob speaks with an upper class accent then after a humilating beating reverts back to an East End Cockney accent, he is himself creating a legend, just as Munney is trying to escape his. The movie is also about the passing of myths into history. These are ageing men, living on past glories in a changing world. Munney himself catches a cold in the rain – hardly the stuff of legend.
“Unforgiven is a masterpiece of deconstruction. It strips away the romantic veneer of the Western, revealing a world of violence, greed, and moral ambiguity.”
The story revolves around Big Whiskey, a town ruled by the sadistic Sheriff Little Bill, played by Gene Hackman. After a local cowboy attacks Delilah, a sex worker, the film’s events unfold. Her face is mutilated with a knife after she mocks the cowboys penis, but the focus of the men of the town is on the financial loss to the bar owner, Slim, as Delilah can no longer work or attract the kind of money she would have otherwise got. Little Bill negotiates a deal: the cowboys will bring young horses as compensation. This capitalist contract is clear – commodities for commodities. Delilah gains nothing. The sheriff’s role in this negotiation is a nod to the rule of law and the state’s role in maintaining economic relations. Strawberry Alice, the self appointed leader of the women in the brothel, is appalled that ponies are meant to compensate for Delilah’s horrific injuries.
Little Bill’s role as law enforcer is instructive. Concerned with peace, he insists all guns are handed in to the sheriff’s department, reflecting the state’s monopoly on force. The reality of the so-called Wild West is less violent than depicted in Hollywood, at least for settlers. For Native American tribes, it was a period of genocide through violence and disease. In contrast, settlers often avoided conflict through land division and contracts. The most violent shootout during this period was the Gunfight at the OK Corral, where three men died. Unforgiven’s violence is situated in a very different context to most classic Westerns.
“Unforgiven is a brutal and unflinching portrayal of the American West. It’s a film that challenges our preconceptions and forces us to confront the darker side of the frontier myth.”
Unforgiven’s revisionist credentials are most obvious in its focus on violence. The film’s tone shifts dramatically whenever guns appear. Having a gun and pulling the trigger to kill a man are different things entirely. Characters boast about their willingness to kill, but this is usually a bluff or exaggeration. Little Bill understands the threat of potential violence however, he has seen death and knows the consequences. He wants to maintains order – based on property rights and force backed by his badge – in his own corner of the New Frontier.
The role of women in Unforgiven is more significant than in traditional Westerns. While most women are sex workers, their navigation of a violent society is a major theme. The film opens with the silhouette of Munney burying his wife and mentions Claudia’s mother warning her off marrying him. These unseen women frame the movie. The question of redemptive power is partly portrayed through the trope of the good wife, but it’s also her legacy that propels Munney into action. Can he escape violence, or control it for good? The film’s philosophy is filled with the lessons his wife taught him. The final shot reveals Munney and his children vanished, seeking a place where violence can’t find them. Claudia’s mother visits her daughter’s grave, never understanding why she married a known murderer.
“Little Bill’s character is a fascinating study in power and control. He is a brutal enforcer, yet he is also a man who understands the fragility of order in a lawless land.”
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There’s also that like most of the people in the story Little Bill is delusional: instead of being a 2D villain character, he has a dream of building a little house on the prairie, where presumably he can retire peacefully and hang up his guns. But that is not going to happen because of his incompetent carpentry, so we presume the house would not stand up to much bad weather. Many of the characters mock this (though of course, never to his face).