UNFORGIVEN

Malpaso Productions; Warner Brothers

USA, 1993

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast:

William Munny. . . . . . . . .Clint Eastwood

Little Bill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gene Hackman

Ned Logan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan Freeman

English Bob. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Harris

The Schofield Kid. . . . . . . . Jaimz Woolvet

Strawberry Alice. . . . . . . . . .Frances Fisher

W. W. Beauchamp. . . . . . . Saul Rubinek

Journal topic:

Warshow writes that the Western hero "at his best exhibits a moral ambiguity"and he argues that this ambiguity "arises from the fact that, whatever his justification, he is a killer of men."

Does this analysis help explain the central characters in Unforgiven? Is this film morally ambiguous? Are there no heroes and no villains here? Is there no "right" and no "wrong"? In short, what is the "moral universe" of this film?