SummaryIn this Academy Award winning western, Eastwood and Freeman are down-on-their-luck outlaws who pick up their guns one last time in order to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of remote Big Whiskey, Wyoming.
SummaryIn this Academy Award winning western, Eastwood and Freeman are down-on-their-luck outlaws who pick up their guns one last time in order to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of remote Big Whiskey, Wyoming.
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 suredly calibrated: He points your eye to the tiniest specs, the most telling and powerful parts of this moral panorama.
Not only that but one of the best of the western genre. Unforgiven is simply brilliant. Clint Eastwood's direction is superb, and he is also exemplary in a suitably world-weary role. There is also some brilliant support playing, not only from Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris, but also especially from Gene Hackman.
Unforgiven is also beautifully shot. The cinematography is wonderfully dark and autumnal, and the scenery and production values are breathtaking. The story is ceaselessly compelling and while Eastwood clearly dedicated the film to the likes of Sergio Leone, he replaces brutality with a greater emphasis on character and cause and effect, and doing that Eastwood successfully redefines the genre.
There is also a wonderful script that does a fine job giving credibility to the characters. All in all, this film is brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Unforgiven... never quite fulfills the expectations it so carefully sets up. It doesn't exactly deny them, but the bloody confrontations that end the film appear to be purposely muted, more effective theoretically than dramatically.
Plays out its drama with enough old-fashioned sobriety to lend the proceedings a classical air, offering the comfort of familiarity rather than the thrill of discovery. [13 Aug 1992]
At the last, we're left with a film that tries to doll up a conventional genre with hints of depth, hoping to disguise the cross-dressing by putting it in the shape of an epic. Murnau, Mizoguchi, Ford, even you authors of the Book of Genesis, rest easy. [12 Oct 1992]
Western. When a crime goes unpunished by Gene Hackman, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris all come to town. There are slow parts and no surprises, but the script and acting make it watchable several times over.
Clint Eastwood is undeniably one of the most important figures in the history of cinema, but I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this one. While I find some characters really interesting, the plot so slow-paced and not surprising. I felt as if I was missing something.
Unforgiven is a boring, meandering effort from Eastwood. It goes between the two plot lines but never really makes it interesting. The script is a bit cliché, and it tries too hard to impress everyone, especially the Academy. I'm very surprised that it won Best Picture, but at the same time, I'm not surprised.
Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris... voilà les vieux dirigés par Papy Clint lui-même sous le prétexte du western "crépusculaire" dans lequel erre une vieille baderne, ordure à ses heures et temps perdus... à ce qu'il paraît !
Pendant tout le film, on nous ressasse les "exploits" et autres horreurs du boucher "William Munny" comme s'il s'agissait de Dark Vador en personne et pourtant difficile d'y croire lorsqu'on voit l'échalas plus très loin de l'hospice. Carrément à la masse pour ne pas dire complètement à l'ouest, Clint abuse de son personnage limite handicapé sénile, quitte à en faire une caricature plus moins involontaire.
Puis, officiant comme une campagne de recrutement pour la NRA, Papy fait le ménage tout-à-coup comme s'il venait de récupérer son taux de glucose (un Mars et ça repart), le tout très premier degré dans sa vengeance froide et se donnant comme toujours le beau rôle, même s'il paraît qu'il est le pire des affreux salopards que la terre ait jamais porté... et il se permet de faire passer le shérif (un peu brusque certes) pour l'anté-christ lui-même.
Non, vraiment, ça ne tient pas debout, ni dans sa narration ni dans son traitement. Le film se traîne d'ailleurs un peu trop et radote comme un vieux con. Et si second degré il y a , il se borne à quelques clins d'oeil lourdauds destinés à faire mousser encore davantage notre inspecteur Harry Munny.
Cela n'empêche pas totalement le film de faire illusion un certain temps de par sa mise en scène soignée malgré (ou grâce à) la parade permanente de Papy Clint (arrête de parader comme ça, je vais finir par avoir peur !) et l'excellente prestation de Gene Hackman, décidément un sacré acteur qui tire très souvent les marrons du feu.
Impitoyable se révèle donc une coquille bien vide cannibalisée par l'immense ego de l'acteur qui a vidé de leur substance toutes les tentatives de raconter une histoire.