March 10, 2023

Unforgiven (Making “Trash Like This” Into The Best Western In Film History)

Unforgiven (Making “Trash Like This” Into The Best Western In Film History)

The reader report on the script for Unforgiven is one of the most scathing critiques I’ve ever read. I was able to find the original document on the internet, and it is the central part of this episode, as we break down why Sonia Chernus, an...

The reader report on the script for Unforgiven is one of the most scathing critiques I’ve ever read. I was able to find the original document on the internet, and it is the central part of this episode, as we break down why Sonia Chernus, an accomplished writer of Westerns herself, was so wrong about this Best Picture winning Clint Eastwood film, originally titled "The Cut Whore Killings" (this may have influenced the original reception of the script, understandably). As we've found on previous episodes going behind the scenes, the writer of the screenplay, David Webb Peoples, did not initially like what became arguably the most quoted line of his own film. I also found the original alternate ending in the production draft of the screenplay, and read it on this episode.

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