50 Fun Facts About Unforgiven

Who directed, produced and starred in Unforgiven?

He also composed the main theme, 'Claudia's Theme', named for Munny's dead wife.

In what year was Unforgiven released?

Warner Bros. put it out on August 7, four days after the premiere at the Mann Bruin Theater.

What is the name of Eastwood's character, an aging outlaw turned hog farmer?

He is a widower raising two children in Hodgeman County, Kansas, when a boastful young stranger rides up.

Which actor plays Sheriff 'Little Bill' Daggett?

His daughters had objected to him doing more violent films; his agent and Eastwood talked him round, and it won him an Oscar.

Which actor plays Ned Logan, Munny's old partner?

Ned quits after failing to shoot Davey and is later flogged to death by Little Bill.

Which actor plays the British gunfighter English Bob?

Eastwood phoned him personally; Harris was watching an old Eastwood western at the time and assumed it was a prank.

Who wrote the screenplay for Unforgiven?

He had co-written Blade Runner and would go on to write 12 Monkeys.

Under what title was the script originally written in 1976?

It also went by The Cut-Whore Killings; a famous director optioned it but never raised the money.

Which director first optioned the script but could not raise the money to make it?

Eastwood got it in the early 1980s but sat on it, saying he wanted 'to do some other things first'.

Which long-time Eastwood story editor wrote a 1984 memo calling the script 'an insult to this company'?

Eight years later the script won four Oscars and a Writers Guild ranking as the 30th greatest ever written.

In which fictional Wyoming town is the film set?

The story is set in 1880; Munny's farm is back in Hodgeman County, Kansas.

How much is the bounty the prostitutes offer for the two cowboys' deaths?

Little Bill had merely fined the cowboys some ponies, payable to the brothel owner for lost revenue.

Which cowboy slashes Delilah Fitzgerald's face, setting the plot in motion?

His companion is punished alongside him and is the first of the two to die.

Which actress plays Delilah Fitzgerald, the disfigured prostitute?

Her disfigurement is what drives the other women to raise the bounty.

Which actress plays Strawberry Alice, the prostitute who organises the bounty?

Fisher was Eastwood's partner at the time and later appeared in Titanic.

What is the nickname of the boastful young would-be bounty hunter who recruits Munny?

Munny and Ned soon discover he is badly near-sighted, and it turns out he has never killed anyone.

Which actor plays the near-sighted young would-be bounty hunter?

Shane Meier plays Munny's son and Lochlyn Munro turns up as Texas Slim.

Who plays W. W. Beauchamp, the dime-novel biographer who arrives with English Bob?

He stays on after Bob is run out of town, fascinated by Little Bill's demolition of Wild West myths.

Which town law does Little Bill enforce to disarm and beat English Bob?

Bob is banished the next morning; Bill later gives Munny the same treatment without knowing who he is.

According to Little Bill, what matters most for a gunfighter?

His other rule: always kill the best shooter first.

Who is the first of the two wanted cowboys to be killed, shot by Munny after Ned falters?

Ned decides to quit and head home to Kansas after that, which seals his fate.

Where does the Kid shoot the cowboy who did the slashing?

Afterwards the Kid drunkenly confesses he had never killed anyone before and gives up his gun.

What happens to Ned Logan?

His body is propped in a coffin outside Skinny's saloon, which is what brings Munny back into town.

Whom does Munny kill first when he walks into the saloon in the finale, and why?

He then aims at Little Bill, but his weapon misfires and he finishes the fight with a revolver.

Which weapon misfires when Munny aims it at Little Bill?

Asked afterwards by Beauchamp how he survived, Munny says it was luck.

According to the closing title card, where may Munny have moved with his children?

His mother-in-law, the card says, never understood why her daughter married such a notorious outlaw.

How many Academy Awards did Unforgiven win?

It had nine nominations, tying Howards End for the most that year.

Which Oscar did Eastwood NOT win for Unforgiven?

Al Pacino took Best Actor for Scent of a Woman.

Who won the Best Film Editing Oscar for Unforgiven?

Cox was Eastwood's long-time editor at Malpaso.

Unforgiven was only the third Western to win Best Picture; which two came before it?

Cimarron won for 1931 and Dances with Wolves for 1990, just two years before.

Hackman's Unforgiven Oscar was his second; what had he won his first for?

That was the lead-acting prize for playing 'Popeye' Doyle in 1971; Unforgiven brought the supporting one.

Which two directors is the film dedicated to in its end credits?

Leone made him a star in the Dollars trilogy; Siegel directed him in Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz.

Where was most of the film shot in August 1991?

Production designer Henry Bumstead created the 'drained, wintry look'; the railroad scenes used California's Sierra Railroad.

Roughly how much did Unforgiven gross worldwide, on a $14.4M budget?

It spent 343 days in theatres and climbed back into the top ten after the Oscars in April 1993.

Unforgiven's $15 million opening set an August record that was broken a year later by which film?

It was also the biggest opening of Eastwood's career to that point.

Where did the AFI rank Unforgiven in its 2008 list of the ten greatest Westerns?

Only The Searchers, High Noon and Shane ranked above it; it also sits at No. 68 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies anniversary list.

Which country produced a 2013 remake with Ken Watanabe as a former samurai?

Director Lee Sang-il moved the story to Hokkaido in the early Meiji period.

To which epic do scholars compare Unforgiven, with Munny as an Achilles returning to violence?

Ned's death plays the role of Patroclus's; Little Bill gets Hector's.

In what year was Unforgiven added to the U.S. National Film Registry?

The Writers Guild ranked its script the 30th greatest ever written in 2006.

Which Eastwood film was the future English Bob watching when Eastwood phoned to offer him the part?

Production designer Henry Bumstead had also worked on that 1973 film.

Which critic called the film the finest classical Western since perhaps The Searchers (1956)?

Siskel and Ebert both grumbled it was too long, though Ebert later put it in his Great Movies list.

Which actor plays Skinny DuBois, the saloon and brothel owner?

It was the last film role for James, a familiar screen heavy since In the Heat of the Night.

Who beat Eastwood to the 1992 Best Actor Oscar that Unforgiven did not win?

Pacino won for Scent of a Woman, while Eastwood took home Best Picture and Best Director.

In which Kansas county is Will Munny's hog farm?

The Schofield Kid turns up there boasting of being an experienced bounty hunter, though he is severely near-sighted.

Why was Gene Hackman hesitant to play Little Bill Daggett?

His agent and Eastwood talked him into the part, which won him his second Oscar.

The train scenes in Unforgiven were filmed on which California heritage line?

The rest was shot mainly in Alberta, with production designer Henry Bumstead creating the film's 'drained, wintry look'.

What is the title of the film's main musical piece, composed by Clint Eastwood himself?

The trailer music, by contrast, was written by Randy J. Shams and Tim Stithem.

Where did the WGA rank the Unforgiven script in its 2006 list of greatest screenplays?

Peoples had earlier co-written Blade Runner with Hampton Fancher.

In which historical period is the 2013 Japanese remake of Unforgiven set?

Directed by Lee Sang-il, it keeps the plot close to the original but makes the hero a former samurai.

For how many weeks did Unforgiven hold the number-one spot at the North American box office on first release?

It later returned to the top ten after its Oscar wins and spent nearly a full year, 343 days, in theatres.