Must-Watch: Clint Eastwood’s Best Film Ever, 33 Years Later! Top 10 Westerns to See in Your Lifetime

Some time ago, the editors at AlloCiné compiled a list of the top westerns one must see in their lifetime. The selection process was intense, and the debates heated, narrowing it down to 10 feature films, including a well-known twilight western with 4 Oscars to its name, directed and starring Clint Eastwood: Unforgiven!

The Final Western

In this movie, farmer William Munny is desperately in need of money to support his family. Upon hearing about a bounty offered by a brothel to find the criminals who disfigured one of their prostitutes, he decides to pick up his rifle and go on the hunt. Bad news for the culprits, as Munny is a former professional killer…

Unforgiven is not just Clint Eastwood’s last western; it might stand as the final western. Others have been made and will continue to be made, but Unforgiven remains a pinnacle that may be hard to surpass.

The western genre began almost contemporary to the era it depicted with The Great Train Robbery in 1903. Nearly a century later, in 1992, the western had seen it all: a golden age, a stint on television, a decline, a reinterpretation by Italy, a crossover with kung-fu movies or with Frankenstein… But Unforgiven serves as a reminder that all this history of the western, from its peaks to its troughs, is merely myth.

Gone is the noble cowboy righting wrongs, the vibrant West accompanied by rousing music, and the black-and-white morality of a far-west fantasized by Hollywood. Eastwood delivers a film that perhaps most closely resembles the post-Western conquest era, a mix of mud, immorality, and blood.

Heroes and Villains Alike

Clint Eastwood presents a western where the violence is harsh, unspectacular, and tragic. Far from the extended shootouts and the solitary cowboys that brought him fame, the actor-director takes a different approach and presents a hero who is part of a trio, who has renounced his violent past and fears its resurgence.

Although the film’s antagonist, Little Bill (Gene Hackman), ranks among the vilest scoundrels in cinema, over the course of the movie, it becomes clear that William Munny is not much better than him. Unforgiven marks a turning point for Clint Eastwood and the western genre, a demystification that cements the legacy of New Hollywood, characters like those created by Sergio Leone, and bids farewell to the original westerns. A lesson in every respect.