Unforgiven(1992)

Restricted

David Webb Peoples

Lennie Niehaus

Jack N. Green

Joel Cox

Malpaso Productions

United States

English

Alberta, Canada

Brooks, Alberta, Canada

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Drumheller, Alberta, Canada

High River, Alberta, Canada

Longview, Alberta, Canada

Red Hills Ranch, Sonora, California, USA - train sequence

Academy Awards

1993 – Won Oscar Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Gene Hackman

1993 – Won Oscar Award Best Director - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Won Oscar Award Best Film Editing - Joel Cox

1993 – Won Oscar Award Best Picture - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Nominated Oscar Award Best Actor in a Leading Role - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Nominated Oscar Award Best Art Direction-Set Decoration - Henry Bumstead & Janice Blackie-Goodine

1993 – Nominated Oscar Award Best Cinematography - Jack N. Green

1993 – Nominated Oscar Award Best Sound - Les Fresholtz, Vern Poore, Rick Alexander (as Dick Alexander) & Rob Young

1993 – Nominated Oscar Award Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - David Webb Peoples

American Cinema Editors, USA

1993 – Won Eddie Award Best Edited Feature Film - Joel Cox

American Film Institute recognition

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #98

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #68

AFI's 10 Top 10 #4 Western

Awards of the Japanese Academy

1994 – Nominated Award of the Japanese Academy - Best Foreign Film

BAFTA Awards

1993 – Won BAFTA Film Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Gene Hackman

1993 – Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Cinematography - Jack N. Green

1993 – Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Direction - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Film - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Screenplay – Original - David Webb Peoples

1993 – Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Sound - Alan Robert Murray, Walter Newman, Rob Young, Les Fresholtz, Vern Poore & Rick Alexander

BMI Film & TV Awards

1993 – Won BMI Film Music Award - Lennie Niehaus

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

1992 – Won BSFC Award - Best Picture

Directors Guild of America, USA

1993 – Won DGA Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - Clint Eastwood, David Valdes (unit production manager) (plaque), Bob Gray (unit production manager), (plaque), Scott Maitland (first assistant director) (plaque), Bill Bannerman (second assistant director) (plaque) & Jeffrey Wetzel (second assistant director) (plaque)

Edgar Allan Poe Awards

1993 – Nominated Edgar Award Best Motion Picture - David Webb Peoples

Fotogramas de Plata

1993 – Won Fotogramas de Plata Award Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) - Clint Eastwood

Golden Globes, USA

1993 – Won Golden Globe Award Best Director - Motion Picture - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Won Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Gene Hackman

1993 – Nominated Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture - Drama

1993 – Nominated Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay - Motion Picture - David Webb Peoples

Hochi Film Awards

1993 – Won Hochi Film Award Best Foreign Language Film - Clint Eastwood

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards

1993 – Won KCFCC Award Best Director - Clint Eastwood

1993 – Won KCFCC Award Best Film - tied with The Player (1992)

1993 – Won KCFCC Award Best Supporting Actor - Gene Hackman

Kinema Junpo Awards

1994 – Won Kinema Junpo Award Best Foreign Language Film - Clint Eastwood

London Critics Circle Film Awards

1993 – Won ALFS Award Film of the Year

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

1992 – Won LAFCA Award Best Actor - Clint Eastwood

1992 – Won LAFCA Award Best Director - Clint Eastwood

1992 – Won LAFCA Award Best Picture

1992 – Won LAFCA Award Best Screenplay - David Webb Peoples & Roger Avary

1992 – Won LAFCA Award Best Supporting Actor - Gene Hackman

Mainichi Film Concours

1994 – Won Mainichi Film Concours Award Best Foreign Language Film - Clint Eastwood

National Film Preservation Board, USA

2004 – National Film Registry

National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA

1993 - Won NSFC Award Best Director - Clint Eastwood

1993 - Won NSFC Award Best Film

1993 - Won NSFC Award Best Screenplay - David Webb Peoples

1993 - Won NSFC Award Best Supporting Actor - Gene Hackman

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

1992 – Won NYFCC Award Best Supporting Actor - Gene Hackman

Nikkan Sports Film Awards

1993 – Won Nikkan Sports Film Award - Best Foreign Film

Sant Jordi Awards

1993 – Won Sant Jordi Award Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) - Clint Eastwood

Western Heritage Awards

1993 - Won Bronze Wrangler Award Theatrical Motion Picture - Clint Eastwood (producer / director), David Valdes (executive producer), David Webb Peoples (writer), Clint Eastwood (actor), Gene Hackman (actor), Morgan Freeman (actor) & Richard Harris (actor)

Western Writers of America

1993 - Won Spur Award Best Movie Script - David Webb Peoples

Writers Guild of America, USA

1993 – Nominated WGA Award (Screen) Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - David Webb Peoples

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Clint Eastwood

Morgan Freeman

Gene Hackman

Richard Harris

Jaimz Woolvett

Saul Rubinek

Frances Fisher

Anna Levine

David Mucci

Rob Campbell

Anthony James

Tara Frederick

Beverley Elliott

Liisa Repo-Martell

Josie Smith

Shane Meier

Aline Levasseur

Cherrilene Cardinal

Robert Koons

Ron White

When Little Bill Daggett (Hackman), a sadistic, dictatorial sheriff of a small frontier town, denies justice to the prostitutes of the local brothel, one of whom has been viciously slashed by two clients, the women hire Bill Munny (Eastwood), a retired once-ruthless gunfighter, now a gentle widower and hog farmer for $500 to shoot the culprits. He accepts the job to help support his two motherless children, and is joined by his former partner (Freeman) and a cocky greenhorn (Woolvett). However, Munny must contend with his new moral code in the face of revisiting the life he left behind.

Dedicated 'to Sergio and Don', the two directors, Leone and Siegel, who served as his most important mentors, Unforgiven, according to Clint Eastwood 'summarized everything I feel about the Western. The moral is the concern with gunplay.' Eastwood's tenth western is also his crowning achievement in the genre in which he made his name. He had acquired the script some ten years earlier, but he had wanted to 'age' into it. At 62, he was ready to play the role to perfection. This 'revisionist' Western, exploring the darker side of the myths of the Old West, gave the kiss of life to the genre. It is striking in its willingness to confront the effects of violence on both those who commit it and those who suffer it, and for the sense of the characters' realization of their own mortality. Gene Hackman at 63, as a brutal sheriff, is a worthy opponent and contrast to Eastwood's compassionate hero.

Clint Eastwood's mother toiled through an uncomfortable day (wearing a heavy dress) as an extra, filming a scene where she boards a train; but the scene was eventually cut, with her son apologizing that the film was "too long and something had to go." All was forgiven when he brought her to the Academy Awards and thanked her prominently in his acceptance speech.

The film was shot in 39 days, coming in 4 days ahead of schedule. The town had to be built very quickly, with a relatively short run-up time (2 months) to the start of filming; the construction period was used by the stunt coordinator to work on actors' riding skills and stunt choreography.

The train sequences were filmed in Sonora, California, as there remained an operational 19th-century narrow-gauge railway track in the area.

Most of the rain in the film was specially created because Calgary, where it was shot, was experiencing a dry spell, though the snowfall that is featured when William Munny is recovering from his beating was unexpected (and unscripted).

Little Bill Daggett: Look son, being a good shot, being quick with a pistol, that don't do no harm, but it don't mean much next to being cool-headed. A man who will keep his head and not get rattled under fire, like as not, he'll kill ya. It ain't so easy to shoot a man anyhow, especially if the son-of-a-bitch is shootin' back at you.

Little Bill Daggett: You just shot an unarmed man.
Bill Munny: He should have armed himself if he's gonna decorate his saloon with my friend.

Little Bill Daggett: I suppose you know, Bob, if I ever see you again I'm just going to start shooting and figure it was self-defense.

When English Bob is shooting the pheasants from the train, the strings attached to the pheasants are visible.

Pheasants were not introduced to the American west from Asia until the 1890s.

Belt loops are visible throughout the film despite the fact that they were not invented until the 20th Century.