Why the truth and myth of "Unforgiven" feels more real today

Clint Eastwood puts his persona to rest in 1992’s “Unforgiven.” (Warner Bros/MovieStillsDB.com)

Ultimate Movie Year finds the best films from weekends past to build an all-star lineup of cinema.

“Unforgiven”
Released Aug. 7, 1992
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Where to Watch

The Pick: 

Summers at the theater begin to slow down a little bit, but there are still gems to be found. This week we have another Best Picture winner at the plate, and our second Western of the year (or third, if we’re counting “Blazing Saddles”). Part of me regrets that the real Westerns of the Ultimate Movie Year both star Clint Eastwood as I like to aim for variety, but I do like the full circle perspective: We have one of the two most iconic stars in the genre in his first cinematic cowboy role, and his last.

The Reason:

“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

This line from Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” is one I think about a lot. We may hear about people saying, “you deserve this” during success, and “you don’t deserve this” during failure and heartbreak, and I think about that line uttered during the climax of the 1992 film. We create our own myths because so much of life is out of our control, and our lives can be changed by something we had nothing to do with. Whether you deserve it or not simply doesn’t matter in the face of circumstance and reality, it just is, but it still doesn’t stop us from drawing meaning and making our own stories today just as these characters did in the Wild West.   

So much of what happens in “Unforgiven” is out of the control of the characters. William Munny (Eastwood, who starred, wrote and directed) had left a life behind to settle and raise a family, but nobody told him a young cowboy would ride up to his ranch one day, bringing his past and sins to the present. The Kid is looking for help to follow up on a request from Strawberry Alice (Frances Fisher), who wants justice to atone for a crime of violence committed to one of her girls. To achieve her goal, she must once again relinquish control to other men.

Alice rallies against her position in the grand order of the West. They’re prostitutes, and therefore have no agency or value as human beings to the men around them beyond how much money they can earn for their boss. They are treated the same as cattle, a viewpoint expressed directly in front of them as though their opinions and feelings meant less than nothing, but unlike horses and cows, these women have the presence of mind to do something about it.

The violent johns initiate the events of the movie, creating a chain reaction from the prostitutes pooling their money to hire hunters to make their way into the town of Big Whiskey. Sheriff Little Bill (Gene Hackman) of Big Whiskey uses ordinances and intimidation to maintain order, or, at least, his version. Many people die, but all are somewhat complicit in continuing the cycle of violence seen throughout, justified or not. Does anybody here deserve to die for trying to maintain their own sense of justice and order? Maybe not, but again, “deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

After the women post the bounty, the “Schofield Kid” (Jamiz Woolvett) rides up to Munny’s ranch in search of a partner. Munny is a legendary outlaw, a mean drunk known for killing even women and children, but he’s changed his life after getting sober. He married and raised a family on a pig farm. Now a widower, Munny quietly watches his children, but this Kid reminds him of his past. Munny has a chance to return to his old ways, if only briefly. Munny rejects the offer, but it can’t leave his mind as he wrestles with pigs in the mud. Maybe pig farming is not as lucrative Munny hoped it would be, and there’s good money to earn in this contract kill.

Munny changes his mind and rides off to catch up with the Kid, picking up his old friend Ned (Morgan Freeman). Ned is itching for the first opportunity to ditch the homestead, but his Native American wife is staring holes through the men in silent disapproval. Ned is ready for an adventure, but it’s akin to a weekend in Vegas, using the modern parlance. He soon realizes that the life he gave up is beyond him now. 

Munny, too, thinks he’s beyond it all as well. “I ain’t like that anymore,” he says again to convince the people around him, but he cannot even convince himself. Munny is a man at war with himself, struggling to suppress his instincts and desires wrapped up in violence and booze, but he must ultimately submit to see his journey through. 

On the other side, Little Bill seems like an amiable sheriff, but it’s revealed how much his quest for order hides a desire for dominance underneath the surface. Big Whiskey has an open ordinance law, as English Bob (Richard Harris) ignores as he rides into town. Little Bill and his deputies surround him to confiscate his weapons, and then violently beats the newly unarmed man into unconsciousness. He nearly does the same to Munny later on in the film. Little Bill is an alpha male, ready to destroy anyone who questions or challenges him. Even his poor carpentry skills cannot be criticized in his presence. The unchecked power becomes tyranny.

English Bob’s travel companion is a writer, Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek), who’s documenting the old West’s adventures with his interest in exploring and expanding the mythology of these lawmen and outlaws. Beauchamp quickly tags onto Little Bill after his confrontation with Bob, and soon receives close encounters highlighting the differences between myth and reality.

Mythology is the film’s major theme, as Little Bill looks to deflate the notions of others in his unyielding quest for control. At the same time, Munny struggles with his own past, letting his partners (and the audience) peak in specific incidents. But truth and memory are flexible concepts here, and we can only honestly know what we see, as these characters and ideas come to a head in a tense climax.

“Unforgiven” feels even more relevant today than it did upon release, as news narratives, branding, and social media has given everyone the ability to write their own truths and stories. United States politics has heeded way to people who relentlessly define their own reality. When challenged on any point, they use their incredible powers and influence to assert dominance over their own myths. Truth in the modern era is as malleable as Beauchamp’s outlaw storybooks, which stretch, lie, and distort reality to create the legend.

“This story it seemed like was the one I wanted to tell at this particular time in my life,” Eastwood told the American Film Institute in an interview. “This one was a chance to put a stamp on how I felt about it. It is a crock, it is a myth. The hero can’t wait until the other guy draws first. I wanted to make a statement that the Western was based upon myth and created by characters who exaggerated the myth of it all. I also wanted to make a statement that was pertinent to today’s society, on the romanticism of gunplay and violence. This story seemed to allow for both of those emotions to be explored.”

As Munny reckons with his past, Eastwood is as well. His breakout roles came in the Sergio Leone spaghetti Western pictures that formed The Man with No Name trilogy. Eastwood strides into “A Fistful of Dollars” as the coolest cowboy in town. This man swaggers about with every one of his few words assuming his advantage over adversaries and temporary alliances. Eastwood portrayed the myth in his opening verse, and “Unforgiven” deconstructed it as the actor and filmmaker closed his run under a cowboy hat.

“With the squinty calm of an old pro, Eastwood has scoped the big notion sites of the Old West and shot asunder Americana myths, namely the romanticism of killing,” wrote Duane Byrge in his original review for The Hollywood Reporter. “‘Unforgiven’ is both a dark look into a bad man’s soul and a hard reckoning over a growing country’s bloody innards. Like a shooter whose skill allows him to take careful aim with a rifle rather than going for the easy splatter of a buckshot, director Eastwood’s big picture is surely calibrated: He points your eye to the tiniest specs, the most telling and powerful parts of this moral panorama.”

“Unforgiven” stands as a high-water mark in the prolific directorial career of Eastwood. The film enjoyed a successful theatrical run, lasting well for the rest of 1992 and earning more than $100 at the box office. “Unforgiven” won Eastwood Best Picture and Best Director at the 1993 Academy Awards, while Hackman and Joel Cox also earned statues for Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing. It also marked the culmination of the kind of roles that initially brought Eastwood to fame as the star appeared in influential westerns in the 60s and 70s.

“Unforgiven” has lived on long after its original release, first through video rentals and cable reruns, and now as a popular streaming option. Its theme continues to be relevant and almost timeless, decades after its debut. As we preside over our own myths and brands, reality occasionally pops our bubbles with unpleasant news and hard truths. Perhaps we might be inclined to respond to these events as being unfair, or undeserving, but honesty and reality are different forces, and deserve’s got nothing to do with it.

The Weekend:  

“Unforgiven” isn’t the only beloved classic and Academy Award favorite to make their debut on Week 32. The first-ever Best Picture winner took off all the way back in 1927, as “Wings” premiered in New York City and dazzled moviegoers. But for my money, the old school essential movie to visit (or re-visit) is 1950’s “Sunset Blvd.,” a noir tale of Hollywood filled with romance and murder. Gloria Swanson stars as an older screen legend who dreams of a comeback, and the performance netted her and the picture Academy Award nominations.

Director Tim Burton’s first feature didn’t earn any Academy Award mentions, but still remains one of the best of his career. Comedian Paul Reubens was gaining momentum throughout the 80s with his Pee-wee Herman man-child character. Under Burton’s direction, he took it to a new level of popularity in 1985’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film sees Pee-wee lose his beloved, tricked-out bicycle, leading him on a road trip that throws the character into various off-kilter scenarios. “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” remains a funny delight on all fronts, especially Danny Elfman’s bouncy score.

Harrison Ford was still one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the early 90s, so he appeared to be overqualified when he signed onto a cinematic adaptation of an old TV show. But Ford helped make 1993’s “The Fugitive” more prominent than the show ever was, as the actor went on the run after being accused and convicted of his wife’s murder in this blockbuster thriller. Tommy Lee Jones co-starred as a U.S. Marshal obsessed with chasing Ford’s character down, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and made him a household name.

By the end of the 90s, Bruce Willis starred in a string of forgettable thrillers that seemed destined to spend purgatory on video rental shelves before even those places vanished into the ether. It’s one of the reasons why nobody saw 1999’s “The Sixth Sense” coming. This tense drama was confidently and beautifully made by first-time director M. Night Shyamalan and anchored by a heart-rendering performance by the young Haley Joel Osment as a boy traumatized by his extraordinary ability to see ghosts. “The Sixth Sense” was a quick word-of-mouth hit, and remains a cultural touchstone for many people. That particular weekend in 1999 was a great one for new movies, as two other critically-acclaimed movies, “The Iron Giant” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” made their debuts here.

When it comes to importance and influence, you never really make it in this world until somebody dramatizes your biography in film. Famous chef Julia Child finally got the nod in 2009 with “Julie & Julia,” and she was played by no less than Meryl Streep. The film splits between the life story of Child and a modern-day New York writer Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who is working her way through Child’s cookbook. Director and screenwriter Nora Ephron continued her run as a successful filmmaker with this solid comedy-drama.

Other notable films released this weekend include 1973’s “American Graffiti,” 1980’s “Xanadu,” 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentlemen,” 1989’s “The Abyss,” 2004’s “Collateral,” 2005’s “Grizzly Man,” 2010’s “The Other Guys,” 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” and 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman.”

Next Week: “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”

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