Unforgiven: 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
When prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald (Anna Levine) is disfigured by a pair of cowboys in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, her fellow brothel workers post a reward for their murder, much to the displeasure of sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), who doesn’t allow vigilantism in his town. Two groups of gunfighters, one led by aging former bandit William Munny (Clint Eastwood), the other by the florid English Bob (Richard Harris), come to collect the reward, clashing with each other and the sheriff.
This is definitely a movie that is an all time favorite of mine and I consider it one of Eastwood’s best works of art. Arguably it may even very well be classified as one of the best Westerns of all time. There are times when films of a certain genre reach their peak and they don’t get so much attention like they used to. Unforgiven was one of those films that came along during a period like that and it certainly made everyone think twice about Westerns. This one specifically has an extremely strong story that in some weird way feels like it paralleled Eastwood’s career at that time. You have an actor that was starting to get older and his roles were starting to become more scarce. Then you have a bandit that is at the end of his run who is basically in it for one last score. It felt like they were the same in a weird way except that in this case it brought an extra push to Eastwood’s career and showed Hollywood that Westerns were still cool. Aside from Eastwood, the performance of Hackman was one of his best as well and solidified even more as a fantastic contributor to cinematic history. If you’ve never seen this movie before then you owe it to yourself to check it out and if you’re no a Western fan then this may change your mind about them. 10/10
4K Presentation:
This version of the film was improved in the best possible way. There looks to be tweaks to the clarity and and picture but nothing super drastic. From what I’ve heard Eastwood himself was to preserve the original picture which in this case was probably a really smart choice. A movie like this deserves to be viewed how it was originally intended. The major thing that I noticed however was how the previous compression issues that I’ve seen in older releases of this film was pretty much gone. This is definitely the superior version I’ve seen so far.
Special Features:
Eastwood on Eastwood – A really fantastic and in depth documentary on Eastwood and his body of work. Really great if you are looking for a nice retrospective and insight on the career of the actor.
All on Accounta Pullin’ a Trigger – A feature from 2002 that shows interviews from the cast as well as clips from the film and more.
Eastwood & Co.: Making Unforgiven – This 1992 feature looks at the Behind The Scenes aspect. Lots of great footage here from the actual making of the film.
Eastwood…A Star – This was a weird feature that plays out more like a fluff piece to get us to like Eastwood. The thing is if you’ve bought this DVD or Blu-ray over the years then you already like Eastwood.
Classic Maverick Episode “Duel at Sundown” – An episode of the classic TV show that included a small guest appearance of Eastwood.
Commentary By Eastwood Biographer Richard Schickel
