I love Westerns, one of my favourite Genre and I love Client Eastwood, Morgan freeman and HkMan but this movie is kinda overrated according to me. One guy who hasn't left a gun in years kills 10 cops in the blink of an eye, really ?
shareWe're talking about a former killer versus a group of bumbling deputies who only act tough on account that they have an experienced sheriff on their side who always does their work for them. Will Munny had the advantage on all of them because he shot and took out their advantage first, which was the said sheriff. This, and also coupled with the fact that a former outlaw whom they've heard scary stories on how he used to murder men, women, and children shows up to confront them without any backup, to kill them, added fear to them all.
This was also alluded in Little Bills's stories with his experience in shootouts, how people tend panic when guns are drawn.
The main reason I love this movie is because of how the character of Will Munny was developed through stories and eyewitness accounts only, and how he was a lot more ruthless and deadly than his legend implied.
This was also alluded in Little Bills's stories with his experience in shootouts, how people tend panic when guns are drawn.
It is bad to drink Jobu's rum. Very bad.share
Munny wasn't a great shot with a six shooter anymore, but he didn't panic. I'm pretty sure Little Bill got one round off as Munny pulled his own pistol, but missed Munny.
Little Bill did get a shot off, but like Munny said, he was lucky when it came to killing. He guessed right that Little Bill would aim high, if you watch the scene again Munny ducks down to one knee as soon as Little Bill pulls his gun out, so when Bill does fire it flies over Munny's head.
Also, he went to avenge his friends death never expecting to come out alive.
shareCorrect me if I'm wrong but I think Will had a rep for always coming out on top somehow in a gun fight. If you've ever known one of these types you know that their uncanny run of 'luck' can be a little disconcerting to potential challengers. Just as most men have an aversion to taking the life of another, most also don't like trouble/brawling. In my experience with these 'types' this, of course, has little to do with luck and more to do with 'preparation' and being the one who picks the time and place.This might not be a hindrance to another fighter but to the average 'Joe' who doesn't have much fighting experience tacked on to the unwillingness to start fights to begin with, its enough of a psychological advantage to all but guarantee who the winners gonna be. Its much easier to keep a cool head when you're the one who decides when its all going down. I didn't get the feeling that this assemblage of deputies were experienced gun fighters either, although we weren't given much back story about them.
Other similar movie characters who reminded me of the type were Col. Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now" and Sgt Barnes in 'Platoon'.
I thought so too. IMO the final battle was perfect. Munny was angry and drunk and didn't care if he die, and probably expected to die, but the men in that bar didn't know any of that. They just stood there and watched in horror as one lone guy walks into a bar and challenges 15 armed men to a fight. And then to have Bill list off a litany of this guy's horrific deeds and killings, well who wouldn't be scared. You would naturally wonder WHY is this guy so confident? To challenge this many men? He has to be REALLY dangerous, right?
Plus a lot of people here are calling that scene a "room full of deputies". It wasn't. It was Bill and three deputies (one with one arm, and one a grossly fat man). The rest were just conscripted posse. They were probably never in a gunfight in their lives. Will had plenty of time to size up the competition, and quickly targeted the deputies and Bill first, and rightly ignored all the panicking townspeople.
It was perfect. A demonstration of exactly the sort of thing that Bill was trying to teach Beauchamp about a gunfight. Only he ended up on the losing end.
@Ironman54--exactly right. Also, keep in mind he had drank quite a bit of whiskey, lowering fears and raising feelings of invincibility.
I have been in many(47) fights and I fight quite differently when I have had a few drinks. Better with alcohol? Yes against untrained fighters who are tentative, worse against trained fighters who wait for me to make a mistake which I do not do when sober.
It has been quite awhile since my last fight, I can say I am no longer the same person like Munny.
I'll agree with the other comments above but also he didn't kill '10 cops' in the blink of an eye.
He kills the sheriff as he drops to one knee. He then takes out three more as they all panic and shoot the *beep* out of the bar. He then shoots the fat man in the back as he's running away.
Then he tells the others that if they want to live they can run out the back (or words to that effect, it's been a while since I watched it).
What was funny is he ran seven or eight still alive armed men out the back of the saloon. They were scared so *beep* of Munny they didn't even seem to realize he only had one bullet left in his gun. :D
One of them is killed point blank, the other shooted while he runs. He only kills 3 as i like Munny says " I was lucky with the order" " i was always lucky about killing folks"
Is not a film about cool good guy killers. Is a film about the true *beep* the western was. The violence, the alcohol, the nonsense deaths. Is not a typical western, but "THE" western.
Yes, i love this movie :D
ive skipped all the spoilers.... yeah - on a movie 20 years old - ive never seen the whole thing - its reminding me why. CONSTANTLY.
A movie that starts with 2 guys scamming towns over hanging the Ugly - becomes a 3 hour flick multiple-screwing each other RIVETING about a chase for gold across the post Civil War South --- THAT you cant take your eyes off. That I cant turn off - this Im struggling to get thru after 20 years.
Steven Wright: Right now, I'm having amnesia and deja vu - I think I forgot this before.
I find "overrated" as a criticism is overrated. Unforgiven is a great western that I would easily put as one of the best in the genre and it is also widely praised.
You need to know nothing but the later fact the guarantee that some will claim it is overpraised. In fact I can't think of any movie of any genre and at time that is popular and or highly praised without someone tossing out the lazy claim that it is "overrated".
I love westerns and grew up watching a lot of Clint Eastwood's and I liked Unforgiven when it came out but didn't love it. 20 years have passed and I'm older and I love it now due to connecting more with the passing of time and not being like you used to be but could be if you had to depending on the circumstances. It was a little too slow for me when I was 20 but just right now being 40 lol
shareGood Lord, I wrote a reply to the OP just a few minutes ago, but before I had read all of the replies here, and hand on heart, before I read yours, in which I explained the EXACT same situation as yours (it's genuinely uncanny!): I first saw it at 16 and although I saw there was something special about it, I wasn't inclined to take the time to really explore it; in my 20s I liked it more but still didn't quite love it, and only recently, in my late 30s did I fully appreciate it, as some of its themes started to really hit home, but also thanks to a more relaxed, less hectic approach to life, making me more willing to take the time the film needs to be fully digested, letting it linger in my thoughts the way one might let a beautiful wine or single malt linger on the tongue, instead of downing a shot of cheap, thoughlessly made gutrot in one, as many of us may have once done.
"It's too late... Always has been, always will be...
Too late."
I also think the film is overrated. Don't get me wrong. I thought it was a really good movie. I enjoyed it. But while I was watching it, I wondered why it won best picture.
I looked at the competition for that year, and well, maybe this was the best pic that particular year. Having actors like Eastwood, Freeman, and Hackman does no harm to your chances of having a excellent movie.