Unforgiven (DVD)

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The movie's cinematography is also done up in the grand Western style, with gorgeous background scenery and vast, open vistas to ponder. The leadoff shot of Munny's little cabin silhouetted on the prairie against a setting sun is itself worthy of pausing to meditate over for a while, as is the fine, simple musical score by Lennie Niehaus.

Video:
The picture, presented in an approximate 2.10:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen, is excellent, very dark-toned but clean, and clear. Background shots and scenery are rendered realistically, yet the film's more unsympathetic angles are well captured by the transfer, too, things like dusty trails and smoky barrooms. The new mastering is free of most defects, minor line jitters the only visible defects. Colors are well set off by the solid blacks around them, providing a reasonably natural, three-dimensional appearance.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound offers fine surround characteristics from the very opening of the movie, rain falling everywhere around the viewing area. The wide frequency range produces a strong, deep bass and even stronger transient impact. It's a pleasure to listen to the sounds of horses' hooves, birds' twitters, and distant rolls of thunder rendered so realistically. While the rear channels may not represent the ultimate in pinpoint accuracy, they accomplish their job of enveloping the audience in the aural environment of the times.

Extras:
"Unforgiven" leads a sudden splurge of Warner Bros. two-disc special edition sets, and the bonuses are a pretty impressive lot. Disc one contains the widescreen presentation of the movie with its Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, plus an audio commentary with film critic and Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel; some informational text on Eastwood's Westerns called "Eastwood Out West"; a list of awards the film won; thirty-three scene selections; and a theatrical trailer. English and French are provided for spoken languages, with English, French, and Spanish for subtitles.

Disc two contains the bulk of supplemental material: four documentaries and a television show. The best of them is a newly made, twenty-two minute documentary, "All on Accounta Pullin' a Trigger," that features comments by Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and various crew members. The second documentary, "Eastwood & Co.: Making Unforgiven," twenty-three minutes and narrated by Hal Holbrook, was made at the time of the film's shooting in 1992 and seems more PR hype than the previous documentary. The third one, "Eastwood...A Star," is sixteen minutes and chronicles the star's career, while the fourth documentary, "Eastwood on Eastwood," is a one-hour examination of the man's life, career, and outlook on filmmaking. The second disc concludes with a classic, James Garner "Maverick" episode from 1959, "Duel at Sundown," that features a young Eastwood in a supporting role. These extras include a good deal of information to absorb at one sitting, so I recommend going at it slowly.

Parting Thoughts:
"Unforgiven" is a delicate yet brutal balance of real West versus reel West. If this seems contradictory, remember that the movie never strays too far in either direction to distract us from its primary purpose, which is to entertain. It's no wonder it made more money than any previous Eastwood Western and won the ton of Oscars it did, like Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman), and Best Film Editing (Joel Cox).

Appropriate to its gritty purpose, the movie is rated R for vulgar language, violence, and sexual situations. Warner Bros. have done a worthy job in decking it out handsomely on this new Special Edition DVD set. It's one heck of a good film that deserves the best.

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