Posted on 06/16/2008 7:31:04 AM PDT by Apollo 13
Hi everyone - being a relative newbie, I could yet not resist this one: yesterday I saw 'Unforgiven' by Clint Eastwood for the first time. To start: I found it a stunningly good movie. It's been labelled as 'the very last western', or if you will, a revisionist version of trad western fare. I'd agree with both comments; but at the same time it's not out of step with tradional storytelling. What makes it special for me is the deep humanity in it all. Women of low standing are heroines; Clint stays true to the one woman that once saved his life spiritually; yes, he's doomed to return to his old habits, but only because of his deep friendship for the murdered Ned Logan. And Gene Hackman is a superb Little Bill, the sheriff that goes to, ahem, great lengths to keep his small town clean of thugs (irony intended). So IMHO, one to watch again. I wonder: what is the consensus at FR on this one (if there is one?). Many, many comments are welcome! Cheers, A13.
“All right, I’m coming out. Any man I see out there, I’m gonna shoot him. Any sumbitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only gonna kill him, but I’m gonna kill his wife, all his friends, and burn his damn house down. “ Will Munny.
“All right, I’m coming out. Any man I see out there, I’m gonna shoot him. Any sumbitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only gonna kill him, but I’m gonna kill his wife, all his friends, and burn his damn house down. “ Will Munny.
I mean why did ‘cowboys’ drink that stuff in the first place?
I once read that while we take clean, safe water out of the faucet for granted, that, of course, wasn't the case in the old West and that beer and whiskey offered some protection in that regard.
I'd guess the alcohol's effect on the cowboys played an even larger part of the attraction though.
The cemetery duel with accompanying score….a classic.
One of my favorite movies ;-)
Ulzana's Raid
Hombre
The Lawman
Valdez is Coming
Quest for Fire (not a western but much earlier then the old west)
Lonesome Dove the Outlaw Years (A series of 22 episodes. You really see the characters develop during the series)
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
One of the more underrated westerns. Some argue that it was possibly Peckinpah's best.
“High Noon” anyone?!
Not even mentioned, 46 posts in?
Beat me to ‘Open Range’.
That and ‘Unforgiven’ are my favorites.
‘Open Range’ by far has the best gunfight scene ever filmed, imo...
Could you repeat that?
“The Duck of Death”.
That’s “Duke”. “The Duke of Death”.
“Duck” I says.
What’s with all the hatin’ on Little Bill.
He was trying to preserve the peace on the frontier against some very violent men.
I bettcha a lot of our urban police and soldiers can identify.
He was wrong but should be sympathetic - but for the grace of god . . .
In the movie I think the wiskey gave an explanation of how a good father and husband could turn into a spree killer and then turn again into a “dry goods salesman in San Francisco”.
Also,
1) Munny’s first victim was thirsty.
2) It was frequently raining, most especially during the great saloon gunfight.
3) Little Bill couldn’t keep the rain out of his house.
4) As a farmer, Munny’s farm appears to be experiencing a drought.
5) Munny becomes opens a dry goods store in San Fran after the movie’s action.
Interesting take on it! Little Bill is hated because he represented all of the bad cops etc. Unlike saw Wyatt Earp who was for the most part a shady guy with connections to gambling etc. but maintained a good public face. Little Bill would of been ok had he distributed the law evenly. the whores deserved justice just a much as the saloon owner - i understand the time and place were different but the whores served a public need and were very hard to replace in the old West - especially ones of the caliber in the movie!!!.
“They cut up a whore’s face.........and gouged out her eyeballs...........and cut off her fingers.”
”To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.”
One of my favorites.
Hey, Abe should have paid attention when Lige said "Bet he's got another pistol..."
If you're interested, the original soundtrack from The Outlaw Josey Wales can be found HERE (scroll down a bit)
It's tough to find an original copy of that in *any* form, so don't miss it if you're a fan of that film.
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