MY FAVORITE MOVIE ....... EVER

I have ... what may be described by some as " a peculiar criteria " for rating whether a movie is good or bad ......... WOULD THIS MOVIE BENEFIT FROM HAVING CHRISTOPHER WALKIN IT IN OR NOT ?
Mostly the answer to that question is Yes but in this case the answer is No .
For me the casting is pretty much perfect .


A HELL OF A THING , PICKIN' A FAVORITE MOVIE .... KICKIN' OUT ALL THE MOVIES THAT HAVE EVER BEEN MADE AND EVEN THE ONES THAT WILL EVER BE MADE

Well have you guessed ?

It is Unforgiven , a 1992 Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming. A dark Western that deals frankly with the uglier aspects of violence and the myth of the Old West, it stars Eastwood in the lead role, along with Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, Saul Rubinek and Frances Fisher.
Eastwood dedicated the movie to deceased directors and mentors Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. The film won four Academy Awards including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Hackman), Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. Eastwood himself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, but he lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman. Unforgiven was inducted into the United States National Film Registry in 2004.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten Top Ten," the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Unforgiven was acknowledged as the fourth best film in the western genre ever , beaten only by Shane, High Noon, and The Searchers.
Eastwood stated that this would be his last western film.

I have ... what may be described by some as " a peculiar criteria " for rating whether a movie is good or bad ......... Would this movie benefit from having Christopher Walkin in it or not ?
Mostly the answer to that question is Yes but in this case the answer is No .
For me the casting is pretty much perfect .
I have to put it first is because of the moral ambiguity it illustrates , it is unlike any western made before or since , it doesn't have the usual format of a good guy and a bad guy ......... to put it simply ..... they are all bad , " men of low character " as Little Bill would say and yet , you still find yourself siding with Will Munny , a " killer of women and children " .



Why is this ? ...... I suppose its because he at least lives by a code , he doesn't deny it , he doesn't apologize for it , he doesn't expect his life to be easy or beautiful ....... its all he knows how to do , he's " always been lucky when it comes to killin' " .
He would simply have come to Big Whiskey and killed the two cowboys for the bounty , gone home and continued his life such as it was if it had not been for his code . Once Little Bill had killed Ned , who had actually done nothing in Big Whiskey , Munny's code dictated that revenge had to be sought , and even then .... it would have only been Little Bill who had to pay if it had not been for circumstances outside of Munny's control .
Skinny Dubois , the owner of the billiard house / bar / whorehouse ( he bought it off Greeley for $1000 ) had to die for " decorating the front of his establishment with his (Munny's) friend " and from then on anyone who drew a pistol on Munny had to die .
There is no evil intent , there is the code and self defence ....... it is a fabulous shoot-out and unlike any I've seen before , you think you know what to expect ..... but thats not what happens ..... when Munny's 2nd barrel misfires , there's this pause where no one quite knows what to do which is a wonderfully comic moment , you know that all hell is about to break loose and yet there is this slightly Hitchcockian moment that prolongs the suspense just enough for you to take a breath .

When the smoke clears , Munny allows those who hadn't been involved to go unharmed as his code dictates .
There is another comic moment as Will leaves the premises , comic and yet chilling ....... he assures those outside that " any man he see's out there , he will kill him ..... and any sum'bitch that takes a shot at him .... he wont only kill him , he'll also kill his wife ... and all his friends ..... and burn his damn house down " and since we've just witnessed how cold bloodedly efficient he is in that department , one would tend to believe that he would follow through on that threat .

Some have said that this could be part of a trilogy with the first one being " A Fistful of Dollars " and the second being " The Outlaw Josey Wales " ..... but really , that just aint so .

I love the pace of this movie , I also love the script and the minimalist acting style that Clint brings to the role , for an actor who didn't have any training at The Actors Studio ... he certainly has their style down to a T , its a very Brandoesque performance of a man who had little real contact with others in his life .