Unforgiven

Clint Eastwood directs the story of William Munny, a killer turned hog farmer. When a bounty is posted in Big Whiskey for two men who cut a woman’s face, he rides out with Ned Logan and the Schofield Kid against Little Bill Daggett, the sheriff who bans guns there. The spine is the gap between legend and event: English Bob arrives with the dime novelist Beauchamp, and Little Bill takes his stories apart in front of him. David Webb Peoples wrote the script in 1976 as The Cut-Whore Killings. Coppola optioned it but could not fund it; Eastwood bought it and sat on it for years. In January 1984 his colleague Sonia Chernus sent a memo urging him to drop it. Hackman first refused, saying he had sworn never to make a picture with that much violence. Big Whiskey was built from nothing on the Alberta prairie 60 miles from Calgary, with working buildings, not facades. It closes with a dedication to Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. It won four Oscars in 1993: Best Picture, Directing, Supporting Actor for Hackman, Film Editing for Joel Cox. Eastwood as lead actor, cinematography, art direction, sound and screenplay were nominated. A good fit if watching English Bob’s legend dismantled is what you came for. Not for you if deliberately underlit interiors frustrate you.