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Unforgiven is a fantastic western, breaking some of the traditional western stereotypes. Clint played the part of a salvaged killer that was influenced by a person you never saw in the movie.

Much like Katie Elder in “The Sons Of Katie Elder” a star in the movie that never showed up in the movie, William Munny’s wife changed Munny from a viscous killer to a family man. That was until the end of the film when he came out of the saloon as the resurrected killer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition.

Little Bill was not the bad man some people misunderstood him for. He too, was a man with a violent past, but settled down in Big Whisky and kept order in a small town that needed what he had to offer. He understood what the prostitutes brought to Big Whisky, by soliciting an assassin to take care of the reckless cowboys who got caught up in an unexcused moment and cut up the whore.

He took care of English Bob and kept the community safe from other prospective assassins, until William Munny showed up.

Those that said there was no humor, must have missed the part where Munny taunted the Schofield Kid into looking for a hawk in the air that didn’t exist. The Schofield Kid is what regenerated William Munny from farmer to killer again, but had poor eyesight and added another dimension to a film that still stands apart as In 2004, Unforgiven was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Additionally, the story may have some dark themes, but it is well cast and exceptionally acted and directed, although it only won 4 Academy Awards, it was nominated for 9.

Anyone not liking “Unforgiven” as a western has overlooked much of what the west was really like, although that much action and convergence of sordid characters was really rare in the 19th century…

"Little Bill was not the bad man some people misunderstood him for. He too, was a man with a violent past, but settled down in Big Whisky and kept order in a small town that needed what he had to offer. He understood what the prostitutes brought to Big Whisky, by soliciting an assassin to take care of the reckless cowboys who got caught up in an unexcused moment and cut up the whore."

Nice observation. I thought the same. Little Bill shows the double edge meanness of idealism. Creating Utopia by force turns good intentions on its head. Unforgiven isn't really a western. It's Shakespearean, or Greek, tragedy in an imaginary western setting.