Picture 65: Unforgiven (1992)

Actor, director and producer Clint Eastwood appears in the third western to grace this list. It’s the first time we’ve met Clint in this process, and he is approaching his very best.

We head to 1881 and the fictional town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming. After cowboy Quick Mike disfigures a prostitute named Delilah, Sheriff Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) dispenses his own rough version of justice, ordering Mike and his associate Davey to compensate Delilah’s employee with a few ponies. The prostitutes, unimpressed by this “justice”, put a 1000-dollar bounty on the heads of the two cowboys. Adjusted for inflation, this bounty would be worth £25,000 today.

Will Munny (Eastwood) is a widowed pig farmer who once lived as a violent outlaw, alcoholic and murderer. He is trying to live as a changed man who has left that life behind. A young drifter calling himself the “Schofield Kid” seeks Munny out, convinced that Munny’s previous life experience will help secure the bounty. Munny initially refuses but mounting financial pressures and a failing farm eventually push him into joining the hunt. Along the way, he recruits his old friend and former fellow outlaw Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman).

Meanwhile, English Bob (Richard Harris) also rides into town hoping to claim the reward. A star-studded cast is hunting the bounty.

Will Clint and his team succeed in claiming the bounty? And if they do, what will be left physically, mentally and spiritually of the men who acquire it?

Engaging, thoughtful and brilliantly acted by a stellar cast. Unforgiven steps away from the romantic simplicity of the traditional Western. Instead of clear heroes and villains, it embraces the nuance and messiness of being human. It’s not good vs bad. This epic is about fighting for survival in a brutal world.

This is the Western genre’s equivalent of the Iliad. It is up there with the very best Westerns ever made and deserves its place in the top 20.

Rating: 9/10

Reflections:

1.     A man who takes another man’s life cannot be the same man again.

Oscar Best Picture Rankings:

1. The Godfather (1972)

2. Casablanca (1943)

3. The Apartment (1960)

4. Rebecca (1940)

5. The Godfather: Part II (1974)

6. The Sound of Music (1965)

7. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

8. Ordinary People (1980)

9. A Man for All Seasons (1966)

10. Gandhi (1982)

11. The Deer Hunter (1978)

12. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

13. Ben-Hur (1959)

14. The Last Emperor (1987)

15. Unforgiven (1992)

16. Lost Weekend (1945)

17. Platoon (1986)

18. Gone With the Wind (1939)

19. Rocky (1976)

20. Annie Hall (1977)

21. Amadeus (1984)

22. All About Eve (1950)

23. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

24. Hamlet (1948)

25. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

26. Out of Africa (1985)

27. West Side Story (1961)

28. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

29. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

30. Wings (1928)

31. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

32. You can’t take it with you (1938)

33. Patton (1970)

34. Terms of Endearment (1983)

35. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

36. On the Waterfront (1954)

37. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

38. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

39. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

40. Rain Man (1988)

41. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

42. Dances with Wolves (1990)

43. Marty (1955)

44. Oliver! (1968)

45. Cimarron (1931)

46. Grand Hotel (1932)

47. The French Connection (1971)

48. An American in Paris (1951)

49. From Here to Eternity (1953)

50. It Happened One Night (1934)

51. My Fair Lady (1964)

52. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

53. Cavalcade (1933)

54. The Sting (1973)

55. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

56. Going My Way (1944)

57. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

58. Chariots of Fire (1981)

59. All the King’s Men (1949)

60. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

61. Gigi (1958)

62. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

63. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

64. The Broadway Melody (1929)

65. Tom Jones (1963)

Previous or current ranking leaders are in bold.

With credit and thanks to the patrons of the Best Picture Film Club:

Dr Sophie Bloomfield – Fashion Correspondent

Dr Caspar Briault – Head of Cynicism

Dr Conrad Charlton

Dr Sophie Clarke

Dr Kate Diomede

Dr Fionnuala Durrant

Dr Josh Fisher

Dr Joseph Gallaher – CEO and Founder

Dr Joseph Hamilton

Dr Adam Holland – Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Dr Sid Mohan - Divisional Lead for the 1980s

Dr Hannah Morrison

Dr Meera Radia