This Magic Moment: Unforgiven (1992)

This Magic Moment is Sam Watermeier's weekly commentary in which he analyzes a signature scene from a film — one of those indelible, awe-inspiring moments that define a movie (e.g. the shower stabbing in "Psycho," the moon-bound bike ride in "E.T.") — and writes about why it is so memorable.

This week, to tie in with the release of Clint Eastwood's "Jersey Boys," he will write about this signature scene from Eastwood's revisionist western, "Unforgiven."

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5LkbZFfKx4&w=500&h=315]

"Unforgiven" has one of the most clichéd set-ups in cinema — an aging outlaw on one last job. But the film is far from a tiresome genre entry. Eastwood explores rich, uncharted territory amid the Western landscape behind the camera and in front as an old cowboy losing his footing in the Old West's violent terrain.

Eastwood stars as William Munny, a notorious bandit turned pig-farming widower recruited to return to gunslinging and hired to kill two cowboys who disfigured a prostitute in Big Whiskey, Wyoming.

The scene above finds Munny and his team catching up with the men. But the confrontation doesn't play out like a typical Western shootout. Unlike the violence in Eastwood's early, stylish Westerns, the action here is clumsy and slow, replacing the expected sense of romance and excitement with dull, painful reality.

After his partner, Ned's (Morgan Freeman) conscience kicks in and he chokes behind the barrel of his rifle, Munny fumbles with it for a while and finally clips one of the cowboys in the gut. He cringes as the boy writhes in pain and cries of thirst while the blazing sun beats down on his clenched face. Munny then orders the men to give the cowboy a drink of water to ease his pain. Munny nervously fiddles with a rock amid the boy's impending death, a small touch that adds to the poignance and dull, uncomfortable reality of the moment.

Unlike Eastwood's earlier Western films and characters, "Unforgiven" emphasizes the weight of death. It steps back from the shooting and action and stops to appreciate the sanctity of life. In this one quiet, intimate scene, Eastwood sheds his decades-old tough-guy veneer and shows striking sensitivity and compassion, not only confronting the violence of Munny's past, but that of his own — a career steeped in shoot-'em-up lore. With "Unforgiven," he strips the Western genre of romance and re-sensitizes audiences to the violence of the Old West, a setting by which he is largely defined.

Eastwood's history with Westerns adds weight to the film and infuses it with an intimate insider's perspective. Eastwood's last Western, "Unforgiven" is a poignant swan song and not only a great genre entry, but a great film period.

Since "Unforgiven," Eastwood has been adding depth to male archetypes, bringing them down to life, showing that these men have names, families, demons, regrets. For example, just as he did with cowboys in "Unforgiven," he explored the fear and vulnerability of soldiers in "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima."

As it does in the scene mentioned from "Unforgiven," Eastwood's empathy and sensitivity sneaks up on you quietly and intimately, but it leaves a large, powerful, lasting impression.