Look up any list of the best Westerns of all time and you might notice a bit of a theme. The overwhelming majority of the movies tend to be from before the mid-1960s, with a few sprinkled in from the 70s to spice things up. After all, by the late-20th century the golden age of Westerns was most definitely over.
Still, there have been some superb Westerns intermittently since then, with one of the most adored being Unforgiven, which cleaned up at the Oscars in 1993. If you've never seen this Clint Eastwood epic (like me until just a few days ago), head to Amazon Prime Video as soon as you can – it's a stunner and is a recent addition to the streamer's library.
Eastwood directs and stars in Unforgiven, making it all the more impressive that he excels in both roles. In fact, he got up on stage to accept both Best Director and Best Film at the Oscars (missing out on Best Actor), while Gene Hackman won Best Supporting Actor and the film also nabbed Best Film Editing.
That's quite a list of statues to take home, but the film easily merits that level of adulation. It tells the tale of a small frontier town caught in the crossfire as a group of brothel workers post a bounty on the ruffians who disfigured one of their colleagues.
With multiple posses out for the bounties and a local sheriff (Hackman) who's desperate to keep his town from imploding, it's a powder-keg that's made all the more special by a ridiculous cast. Alongside Eastwood and Hackman are names like Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris and Anna Thomson.
You don't get an ensemble like that every day of the week, but you can also expect some lovely sparse vistas and colours from the movie's cinematography. It does a great job of summoning up a time and a place, although it's up to you whether you feel the nostalgia for it or uneasy about how grim times used to be.
Either way, this sort of huge Oscar-winning title is just what makes Prime Video's back catalogue so persuasive. The jury may be out forever on exactly what the best streaming service is, but Unforgiven sure help's Amazon's case.
