Unforgiven

The culmination of more than three decades spent in the saddle, Eastwood finally lays his iconic screen persona of the lone gunslinger to rest in his masterful deconstruction of the classic western. The once-feared outlaw is coaxed into action one last time, when a prostitute is disfigured by a disgruntled patron and a bounty is placed on his head. Facing off against the sadistic, self-righteous sheriff – a brilliantly loathsome Hackman – the aging killer delivers a fatalistic blow to the lawman’s altruistic justification for violence and monopoly on justice. Brutal, downbeat, and defiantly unheroic, Unforgiven stands proudly as one of Hollywood’s great revisionist westerns, and the last word from one of the genre’s true giants.

Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Editing