Unforgiven

 
After watching 4 movies in a row in my best picture quest life got in the way I am behind in writing about them. So, a little late (not that anyone will notice) here is the 1992 Best Picture winner.
 
1992 The western got its third win for Best Picture with Unforgiven. The other two westerns to win (Cimarron in 1931 and Dances With Wolves in 1990) were not so much westerns as epics that took place in the West.  Unforgiven was a true cowboy movie and more typical of what most people think of when they think of a western.  Trying to watch this movie took a lot of work. I had it on my DVR but it was cut off at the end and as I later found out it was an edited version.  And Netflix had already sent me the wrong movie so I ended up going to the library and renting it on VHS.  This is the third movie that I had to watch on VHS since I started my Best Picture quest. 
 
Unforgiven is about a washed up cowboy William Munny(Clint Eastwood) who gives up the cowboy life to start a pig farm after his wife dies.  Trying to raise his kids and uphold the wishes of his late wife to lead a sober crime free life.  But after his pig farm starts doing poorly an offer comes along for one more job.  A young cowboy “Schofield Kid” asks for his help to collect a bounty for two guys who had roughed up a prostitute in the town of Big Whisky.  After the sheriff of Big Whisky "Little Bill" Daggett(Gene Hackman) learns that there is a bounty out for the two guys he bans all firearms in the town to stop any further violence.  Munny asks his old friend Ned Logan(Morgan Freeman) to go for one last ride with him and the kid.  When they get to Big Whisky they clash with the sheriff which leads to a violent climax. 
 
The movie started a streak of great Clint Eastwood directed movies.  One of the things that I Eastwood is able to do when he directs is get great performances out of his cast.  Gene Hackman won the Best Supporting Actor for his role as the rough and tough “Little Bill” who only wants to protect his town from violent outsiders. The movie is notable for being a western that actually shows the negative side of violence.  There is no cowboy who is a perfect shot. One of the more interesting side characters is a guy who is trying to write about cowboys. Each cowboy he interviews tell about the same events from a different perspective. What we learn is that a lot of the tales from the old west are just that. While events actually happened they are usually told with a positive spin for the person doing the telling. 
 
The other nominees that year included the controversial The Crying Game and the courtroom drama A Few Good Men.  While A Few Good Men was nominated for Best Picture and also Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson(his 10th nomination) it did not get nominated for Best Director for Rob Reiner or  Best Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin.  As with all of Aaron Sorkin’s movies the dialogue is great and fast. I don’t know how he didn’t get nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay although I have to admit I did not see Howards End.  The big upset this year was the surprise win for Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny with other bigger stars in more dramatic movies it was a huge shock. There was some discussion about Robin Williams getting a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Aladdin which would have made him the first person to be nominated for voice work but that did not happen. There was similar discussion about Ellen Degeneres for Finding Nemo in 2003.