The Unforgiven Review


by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

17 Nov 2005

Running Time:

125 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

Unforgiven, The

Still underrated - not least because Clint Eastwood borrowed its title - this unusual, suspenseful Western is one of John Huston’s most satisfying Hollywood films.

Adapted from a novel by Alan Le May, it’s a reversal of The Searchers, with a Native American heroine (Audrey Hepburn), raised by whites, caught in a siege during the Indian Wars when her original people try to reclaim her from her adopted family. Hepburn is surprisingly strong in a role with many obvious pitfalls, and Huston gets deeper than usual performances from cowboys Burt Lancaster and Audie Murphy and frontier matriarch Lillian Gish.

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