Clint Eastwood’s artistic contributions to the Western genre are as important as his commercial success, and not just because he was part of the golden age of the Italian Western. Even when these stories were out of fashion, he was determined to bring them back to life to deliver two indispensable classics: ‘Pale Rider’ and ‘Unforgiven’.
A Twilight Rider
One film released in the mid-eighties and the other in the early nineties, both were part of Eastwood’s career as an actor and filmmaker, defining two important films in the twilight of the genre and his career. Both will appear in a dramatic series that can be seen on La 1 television today, starting with ‘Unforgiven’ at 10pm. and with ‘The Pale Rider’ at midnight.
In this finale, we see Eastwood making his own version of ‘Deep Roots’, one of his most artistically significant films. In the film, a mysterious, anonymous preacher arrives in a town of mining settlers who are being harassed by assassins from a miner who owns the surrounding territories. The leader imposes a regime of terror that leaves the mysterious visitor unable to keep his cool.
Here, the filmmaker uses a fairly traditional template of the vigilante story, although he filters it down through the aforementioned influence of ‘Deep Roots’ and his own gradual maturation as an artist, which has led him to think more about how to re-establish himself as a star. Here he continues his journey of rethinking the violent impulses and the glorified gunslinger image he helped to create, and he finishes this journey beautifully in his next film.
In ‘Unforgiven’, he breathes life into a much more mature version of the complex hero he often plays. William Munny has been retired from the outlaw life for a while, but financial difficulties and widowhood force him to return to his horse for a mission. In this case, he must deliver justice to a group of outlaws who have caused trouble and injuries at a brothel in the town they are visiting.
Eastwood delivers a film that is all about twilight, and is at his best in this quiet, brooding Western genre. His subtle way of deeply rethinking life in the Wild West, contemplating the scars one carries as an adult after years of surrender to senseless brutality. This film is truly a testament to his work in the genre and a masterpiece that became a phenomenon at both the box office and the Oscars. One that continues to resonate and resonate.