''The Unforgiven'' is a 1960 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

and

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen ...

. Filmed in

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

, Mexico, the supporting cast features

Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from t ...

Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The F ...

Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893February 27, 1993) was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", ...

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

Joseph Wiseman Joseph Wiseman (May 15, 1918 – October 19, 2009) was a Canadian-American theatre, film, and television actor who starred as the villain Julius No in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' in 1962. Wiseman was also known for his role as Manny We ...

, Doug McClure and

Albert Salmi Albert Salmi (March 11, 1928 – April 22, 1990) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Best known for his work as a character actor, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions. Early life Salmi was born and raised ...

. The story is based upon the 1957 novel by

Alan Le May Alan Brown Le May (June 3, 1899 – April 27, 1964) was an American novelist and screenplay writer. He is most remembered for two classic Western novels, ''The Searchers'' (1954) and ''The Unforgiven'' (1957).Herzberg, Bob (2008). ''Savages and ...

, author of ''

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...

''. Uncommonly for its time, the film spotlights the issue of racism against Native Americans and people who were believed to have Native American blood in the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. The film is also known for its problems behind the scenes. Huston often said this was his least-satisfying movie.

Plot

The Zacharys are a thriving and respected family on the Texas frontier. Father Will Zachary was killed by

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...

Indians, leaving his oldest son Ben (Burt Lancaster) head of the family. Ben and his mother Mattilda (Lillian Gish) are very protective of Rachel (Audrey Hepburn), who was adopted as an infant; she is doted on by the whole family, including her other brothers Cash (Audie Murphy) and Andy ( Doug McClure). The family is supported by their neighbor and Ben's business partner, Zeb Rawlins (Charles Bickford); Zeb's shy son Charlie (

) wants to marry Rachel, which concerns Ben. During preparations for a cattle drive to

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, the family is unsettled by the appearance of Abe Kelsey (

), who claims that Rachel is Indian by birth. Believing this to be a lie, Ben and Cash engage in a gunfight with Kelsey, killing his horse, but he steals Rachel's beloved white stallion. Later, a group of Kiowa led by Lost Bird appears and offers Ben horses in exchange for handing over Rachel. Lost Bird claims that she is actually his sister, and that an old white man told him so. Soon after, Charlieto whom Ben has decided to give permission to court Rachelis killed by the Kiowa. In her grief, Charlie's mother accuses Rachel of being a "dirty Injun". Ben leads the ranchers in tracking down Kelsey, and they bring him back to the Rawlins ranch to hang him as a horse thief. With a noose around his neck, Kelsey tells the gathered ranchers that, on a retaliatory raid against the Kiowa that he led with Will Zachary, he found a baby girl and was about to kill her when Will intervened and took the baby as his own. Kelsey claims that his own son was captured by the Kiowa and ransomed for Rachel's return, but Will refused. Ben intervenes and tells the gathered group the story he knows, that Kelsey's son was actually killed in the fighting, and that Kelsey invented the story and followed them from town to town, poisoning peoples' minds wherever they moved. Mattilda, driven to the edge by Kelsey's accusations, strikes the horse on which Kelsey is seated, so it runs out from under him, hanging him. Despite protestations that Kelsey was insane, her actions convince Zeb that Kelsey was telling the truth, and he tells Ben to give Rachel to the Kiowa or their partnership will be broken. Ben refuses, and all of the ranchers turn their backs on the Zacharys. Back at their homestead, Mattilda admits to her family that Will took the Kiowa baby and brought her home to replace an infant daughter they had just lost. Cash, unable to accept an Indian as his sister, abandons the family and spends the night with Georgia Rawlins. The Kiowa return to the Zachary ranch in force, demanding Rachel, who tries to save her family by going over to the Kiowa. To stop her, Ben deliberately breaks the truce by ordering Andy to kill a Kiowa, which touches off a bloody siege. Facing down death, Ben expresses a desire to marry Rachel should they survive. During a break in the fighting, the Kiowa camped nearby play music on their pipes and drums, and the Zacharys play a

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

composition back on their piano. However, Kiowa riders attack and destroy the piano, resuming the fight. When the Kiowa stampede cattle over the roof of the house, the family sets it on fire and takes shelter in the root cellar. Mattilda, who had been shot earlier, succumbs to her wounds and dies. Almost out of ammunition, Ben embraces Andy and Rachel, and Rachel and he passionately kiss. Just as the family is about to be overwhelmed, a penitent Cash returns and turns the tide by fighting off the remaining Kiowa. Rachel, protecting a wounded Andy, is confronted by Lost Bird, who enters the house. After a tense moment, she shoots and kills him. With the rest of the tribe gone, Rachel and her brothers exit the house together and watch a flock of geese fly through the sky.

Cast

as Ben Zachary *

as Rachel Zachary *

as Cash Zachary *

as Johnny Portugal *

as Zeb Rawlins *

as Mattilda Zachary *

as Charlie Rawlins *

as Abe Kelsey * June Walker as Hagar Rawlins *

Kipp Hamilton Kipp Hamilton (born Rita Marie Hamilton; August 16, 1934 – January 29, 1981) was an American actress. She was the younger sister of producer Joe Hamilton and the sister-in-law of Carol Burnett. Early life and family She was born Rita Mari ...

as Georgia Rawlins * Arnold Merritt as Jude Rawlins * Doug McClure as Andy Zachary * Carlos Rivas as Lost Bird

Production

''The Unforgiven'' was the final Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (HHL) production. It had a projected budget of $3 million, which expanded to $5.5 million. Original screenwriter

JP Miller JP may refer to: Arts and media * ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell * ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine * ''Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper * Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band * ''Jurassic Park ...

was replaced by

Ben Maddow Ben Maddow (born David Wolff, August 7, 1909 in Passaic, New Jersey – October 9, 1992 in Los Angeles, California) was an American screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 1970s. Educated at Columbia University, Maddow began ...

, original director Delbert Mann was replaced by John Huston, and plans for

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

in the role that eventually went to

were stopped when Burton demanded equal billing with Burt Lancaster, which Lancaster refused. Production was suspended for several months in 1959 after Hepburn broke her back when she fell off a horse while rehearsing a scene. Although she eventually recovered, the accident was blamed for a subsequent

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemica ...

that Hepburn suffered. According to several published biographies of Hepburn, she blamed herself for the accident and all but disowned the film, although she did complete it when she was well enough to return to work. Hepburn stepped away from acting the next year to give birth to another child, returning to the screen with '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1961). Huston battled with HHL, the production company financing the film, because HHL wanted a more commercial and less controversial film, while Huston wanted to make a statement about racism in America. The result was that neither side received exactly what they had wanted. Huston's cinematographer of choice,

Oswald Morris Oswald Norman Morris, (22 November 1915 – 17 March 2014) was a British cinematographer. Known to his colleagues by the nicknames "Os" or "Ossie", Morris's career in cinematography spanned six decades. Life and career Morris was raised in Mi ...

, was unavailable, causing Huston to not talk to Morris for several years. John Saxon had signed a three-picture deal with HHL. Scenes featuring Saxon were deleted without the director's consent. The name "Lost Bird" is applied by some Plains Indian tribes to native children adopted by whites. It was popularized by Zintkala Nuni, a Hunkpapa Lakotah survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre, taken by

Leonard Wright Colby Leonard Wright Colby (August 5, 1846 – November 18, 1924), who hailed from the U.S. state of Ohio, was a leader of the first Nebraska National Guard, American Indian Wars veteran, state senator of Nebraska and United States Assistant Att ...

and raised by his wife Clara Bewick Colby, whose widely circulated feminist newspaper ''

The Woman's Tribune ''The Woman's Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in Beatrice, Nebraska, by women's suffrage activist Clara Bewick Colby. In print from 1883 to 1909, and published in Beatrice and in Washington, D.C., the newspaper connected radical femini ...

'' carried a column on Zintkala for many years. The Lost Bird Society helps to reunite these adopted children with their birth families.

Reception

Stanley Kauffmann Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater. Career Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next fifty ...

of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' described the film as "ludicrous".

References

External links