#98 - Unforgiven

Retired gunslinger William Munny (Clint Eastwood) reluctantly takes one last job -- and even more reluctantly accepts a boastful youth (Jaimz Woolvett) as a partner. Together, they learn how easily complicated truths are distorted into simplistic myths about the Old West. Gene Hackman (who won an Oscar) and Richard Harris stand out as old foes who have an unhappy reunion. The film also earned Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director (Eastwood).

I've never watched many movies in the Western genre, so I couldn't say how this compares to those... but this movie, compared to other movies, is pretty darn good.

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this movie and he's extremely talented, to say the least. He is not an over-actor, which I find frequently in movies, the star who is trying REALLY HARD to convey emotion. Clint can go from happy to miserable to jovial to devastated without changing the look on his face in any way. Truly. The man doesn't have to un-squint his eyes and you still know what he's supposed to be feeling. I love the under-acting actor.

I will watch anything with Morgan Freeman in it. That's one of my rules for life. He was amazing in this movie. All of his scenes were terrific in the way that only Morgan Freeman can make them terrific. There are often scenes in movies where you can predict where the character will end up; the flow of the movie lends itself in certain ways so that you just know where the plot is going. Even in those predictable scenes, Morgan Freeman can make the unexpected happen. I don't know how he does it... he just does.

Gene Hackman... what can I say about Gene Hackman? I almost hate it when he plays the villain because he's so convincing that I start to hate him. And I want to like him. This is another one of those instances where I just wanted him to get the crap kicked out of him. But I really wanted to like him. Oh Gene Hackman, when will you and I see eye-to-eye?

I would rate this movie 4 out of 5 bowls of popcorn. I probably would have given it 5 out of 5 if I was more familiar with the genre... but I calls 'em as I sees 'em.