Unforgiven by David Webb Peoples – my previous note on this is at https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2020/07/one-of-realini-top-20-best-movies-ever.html along with thousands of other reviews - 10 out of 10

 

Unforgiven by David Webb Peoples – my previous note on this is at https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2020/07/one-of-realini-top-20-best-movies-ever.html along with thousands of other reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

This is a magnum opus, and no doubt about it; I have seen it again yesterday, with my daughter, Hannah, and thought that maybe I will not stay till the end, the point of watching a movie, reading a book is to reach Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html this is a classic

 

The conditions for getting into The Zone are: it has to be an autotelic experience, you must be in control, nothing else matters, there are clear goals, time is relative – there is a fabulous Einstein quote with the stove and a beautiful girl on that – feedback is constant and immediate, skills meet challenges and furthermore…

You are on the line between boredom and burnout, and Unforgiven will keep you there, ecstatic, fearing for the protagonists, wishing punishment for the villains, looking with incredulity at Little Bill Daggett aka the phenomenal Gene Hackman, one of the best thespians ever, winner of the Oscar for this role, and also for

 

The French Connection, where he is Popeye Doyle, one of the most memorable characters, that leading role was of the good guy (rather violent for the standards of the present) while in Unforgiven, he is the epitome of the loathsome sadist, he does have a vulnerable side, he tries to build a house and he is a lousy carpenter

To begin with, we have a group of ranchers in a small-town brothel, where a young sex worker (called whore back then, maybe two hundred years ago, in the Wild West) is amused by the small size of the penis of her customer, the latter is so vicious and horrible that he cuts her up, for her spontaneous laughter…

 

She will not be able to work anymore, the leader of the group, Strawberry Alice, demands justice, but the local sheriff, Little Bill Daggett aka outstanding, majestic Gene Hackman, used to be an outlaw, he is heartless, and offers a whipping, for the aggressor and his partner, until they think of a different solution for this

Skinny Dubois has a saloon, and he acts as the pimp, he had called the women, and gains most, or all of the money pad for sex, so he is very upset by the outcome, explains to the sheriff that he had brought them all the way here, and now this girl will have no more customers, seeing as she is disfigured, sex, maybe, but not paid for…

Little Bill is asking what compensation could be forthcoming, and the men say that they will bring some ponies, and they decide that this settles the affair, the women are all furious – they will throw mud at the assailant and his party, when they return – and Strawberry Alice is shouting ‘what, you won’t even whip them now?’

 

The sheriff replies that there has been enough blood, and he would like to leave it at that, but the women still want justice, and so they collect money they have put aside, presumably from some tips, and then they want to pay some gun men to extract vengeance for them, by killing the two who were responsible

One of those attracted by this reward is English Bob aka Richard Harris – an excellent actor, he had a reputation for drinking in excess, often with another spectacular thespian, Peter O’Toole, the star of one of the best five movies ever made , Lawrence of Arabia https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/lawrence-of-arabia-written-by-robert.html

 

English Bob is beaten and humiliated by his foe, Little Bill, and then we will see the arrival of William Munny portrayed by Clint Eastwood, one of the most memorable characters, part of the History of Cinema now, especially the scene where he walks into the salon with his shotgun, to get revenge for his friend

William Munny had been a killer, gunslinger, but now he is a farmer, overwhelmed by the sickness of his pigs, with two small children, a widower when The Schofield Kid arrives with the proposal to join forces and get the reward of the sex workers, after they kill their aggressors, though he declines at first, the farmer accepts later

 

He wants to take his former partner, Ned Logan aka Morgan Freeman, another mesmerizing actor, against the wishes of the much younger man, the latter is nevertheless handicapped because he cannot see much, at a distance, he would need glasses, but in the fight with the cowboys, he would be a liability not an asset

When they get into town, Ned and the Kid get some ‘advance’ on the future payment, which means in services rendered, they have sex with two of the women, while William Munny is waiting, very sick, in the saloon, where Little Bill and his deputies come to search, then to kick and maul the stranger, because he likes it

 

There is a more menial reason, the word has spread now, and there would be more men coming to try and get the one thousand dollars to be paid for the killing of the cow hands, so the sheriff wants to show with brutality what is waiting for those who want to trespass on his territory, he acts as the despot of the town…

Munny ahs to recuperate, then they kill one of the two, but Ned can see he is no good in the team anymore, he cannot shoot people, he is physically against violence now, so he is riding back home, when the sheriff and his men get him, and torture him…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”