Unforgiven

So, I was able to finish Unforgiven this weekend on my own, since I wasn't in class on Friday. And I don't know if there was any time for discussion but all I can say is that the ending to Unforgiven was incredible. In reading one of Mr. Bennett's comments on the film, I completely agree that the image of Clint Eastwood standing after killing everyone, is as iconic an image as any in film, and may be as powerful in film as say a word of dialogue like "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane. On a whole, the film was just amazing and the ending added to it. Even the image of Morgan Freeman standing in that coffin, is an enduring image that may never leave my mind.

I didn't get a chance to write a post during the movie like I usually do but there were some things about the film that I noticed while watching.

For one, when Will Munny is speaking to Morgan Freeman about his motives for coming out of "retirement" he says that he is only doing it for the "money". He really just needs the money for his family and for himself and he is not doing it to go back to the way he was before. "I need the money." However, I took this to mean that he needs the "Munny," meaning that he had lost his true personality when he got married and he needed to get it back. He wanted to rediscover his "Munny" once again. Now, he also needed the literal money but I also feel that he needed to find himself and go back to the man he used to be.

The scene that also speaks to this is when he is unable to get on his horse the first time, showing how out of practice he was and how in order for his life to be fulfilled, he needed to go on this mission and kill the two cowboys. "I used to be a great rider before your mother came. I used to be a great rider."
He even says that he isn't like that anymore. "I'm just a fella now. I ain't no different than anyone else no more."

Also, as Mr. Bennett stated, there were several instances where the people spoke of stories and exaggerations and different things that they saw. These include:

(early in the film, when the first man comes to visit Will)

"You are the one that killed Charlie Peppers and the other men aren't you?"
"You robbed the train, didn't you?"
"You don't look like a killer. Well Pete said you were the worst one if I ever wanted a killer."
"Pete said that, yea he did."

Next, the next scenes where they speak about how badly the women got cut up, beyond her actual wounds and the way that each person who tells of the story, expands and the exaggerates the story even further.

"I hear you been talking about the Queen here."

The shooting of the bird scene on the train and how the man tells English Bob how good of a shot he is, even though he is in face a very poor shot and could only hit one bird.

The entire story about the Duke/Duck of Death was exaggerated at that even the picture and that entire time was completely over blown.

When the Schofield kid claims to have killed 5 men, and then later admits that he had never killed anyone and would never kill anyone again. He wasn't cut out for this.

The scene where the Schofield kid and Will Munny speak about what it is like to kill somebody was also one of the most powerful scenes I have ever seen. It spoke to the value of one human life and how difficult it can be for some people to actual kill people. That, as a matter of fact, the difference between life and death is controlled by the "pull of a trigger." The way that this scene shows the emotion of how much of an effect, truly taking the life of another person can be.

I hope to have more thoughts on this film, but I am too tired at this point to make any more intelligent comments. (It is quite likely that I have not made any intelligent comments but I don't want to bore people any further.) But if I get any flashes of brilliance (very doubtful) I will be sure to write them, but I was very happy to see the conclusion of this film because it was completely brilliant and an ending that truly culminated a film, something that is very rare in film.