Worst western ever made

I have always enjoyed this movie. Well shot, directed, a good ensemble casr, (audie Murphys best) a great storyline.

Don't understand the antagonizm

I'd rather go hunting with Dick Cheney, than driving with Ted Kennedy

I haven't seen enough westerns in order to state this one is the worst ever made. But if it's not the worst it's pretty close. Is the worst I've seen that's for sure.


They who believe that the money does everything, end by doing everything for money

It's spelled Huston.

If you're going to CAPITALIZE it, (and esteem him as much as you seem to), please get the spelling right: HUSTON.

If Huston said it, it's got to be not great; he made some great to very goods ones and some (fewer, to be sure) not so great ones.

I think it's one of the better westerns personally myself. The music always gets me, it's so haunting and expansive but at the same time light and merry. It's almost like Huston uses music where Ford uses scenery to show how big it is in the American west. I love The Searchers and consider it the best western ever made. If anything is odd about the film it's the casting. I never would have pegged Audrey Hepburn or Lillian Gish for a western but I think Gish's other eraness, that quality that older stars have that these newer ones will never have no matter how many boob jobs or face jobs or makeup men work on them. If you watch movies from the 30s and 40s and see how those women are shaped, their hair done, their makeup, their general facial structure and then you see a movie made now about the 30s and 40s and how they try to get modern women to look that way you'll see what I mean. Clothes literally shape the man and foundation garments a.k.a. bras versus corsets, girdles and garters versus panty hose, etc... really do make a difference. Gish looks like a woman from the 1800s because she was a woman from the 1800s. She was dressed as a child and young adult in that style of constrictive clothing. They didn't try to stick her in a bullet bra and poofy hair do. As hard as it was to probably do they make Audrey Hepburn actually look like she could be either a white or a Kiowa. I think she looks more convincing here than she does in My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle the street seller. She sounds more convincing as well.

I've always liked this movie but I agree, the score is awful. I don't know where it belongs, but it dosen't belong in a western.

As an audiophile and a cinephile, I agree the soundtrack music is not the most perfect match for this movie. However, the music, in itself, alone, is terrific and the theme song was indeed a big hit back in 1960-61.

I don't know how you can state the music is awful in this movie. In fact, it is probably the best part of the movie. And it makes no difference where the music was recorded, America, Timbuktu, or Italy, (unless, of course, you are referring to that genius of the cinema soundtrack, Ennio Morricone). The theme song is not only a very beautiful piece of music, it is a strong and forceful composition which only adds to this cinematic presentation and mood of the movie. Where was it recorded? Since the score was composed and conducted by the Russian-born American, Dimitri Tiomkin, it's most likely the original soundtrack was recorded by the MGM studio orchestra in Hollywood. N'est pas?


"To live in the hearts of those we leave behind, we never die."

Not only is "The Searchers" the best western film ever made and my personal favorite, it is one of the top films ever made, of any type. That said, "Unforgiven" is a splendid film. I think it is important to understand that there is no one theme, background or ambience that alone defines the American West. Many different types of people from many different backgrounds lived in the West and their stories wove a rich and varied tapestry. Lillian Gish was superb as the Mother of the family whose secret had been uncovered. Burt Lancaster and Audie Murphy gave some of the best performances of their lives as the brothers, struggling with social mores and customs while loving their sister, who was, not, as they discovered, their own blood. Both movies, "The Searchers" and "Unforgiven" sustained dramatic lines to portray an ugly truth about life in the early American West--racism, a murderous thirst for land, struggles to survive that engendered something close to barbarity. And yet, in both films, human compassion shines through. Both films had splendid musical themes which perfectly conveyed the emotions that are too deep to be expressed in language.

Yes, Huston hated (was really uncomfortable) with this film because of Audrey Hepburn's miscarriage.

This is a GREAT western. Another superior performance by Joseph Wiseman.

Short Cut, Draw Blood

I don't hate the film but I don't understand why they cast Audrey Hepburn as an indian when she wasn't Indian. I also hate the characters attitudes over the Indians, but there are people like that. For some reason I can't stand those scenes when Audrey Hepburn and Burt Lancaster gaze into each others eyes.