*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed*When I first saw The Unforgiven in 1960 at the premiere film opening, with John Huston in attendance, I was wholly disgusted with the film. I could not believe the audience was applauding it. Somewhere inside, I was inherently sickened by the ending. The ending lacked any basis for humanity or compassion, or even understanding. If you are not familiar with it, it seems totally uncharacteristic and vile. It's like a gush of utter viciousness just came out of nowhere. Audrey Hepburn, who we find out is actually an adopted Kiowa, shoots her own Kiowa brother, who only wanted to find her. Then it ends on a peaceful note with the Anglo family hugging each other. I spoke to John Huston about it, but he was so busy with big-wigs to have a prolonged conversation. I later met with committees of Comanche, Kiowa, and Sioux Native Americans and organized a lecture by guest speakers. We spoke about the degradation of the Native Americans in film. It was the least one could do after facing such a harsh portrait on the screen.Further scenes are also rather repulsive, for example, Burt Lancaster had a Kiowa, who came on peace terms, shot dead outright. There are plenty of illustrations in the film. Audie Murphy is his usual reprehensible anti-Indian self and he's just unpleasant . I never liked him as an actor at all. The whole film has a mean streak to it.The attack on the homestead takes a large part of the ending. Kiowas would have had an easy time to get rid of the people in the homestead, the family would have not killed off their warriors in such a ridiculous scene. It was bad enough that the Kiowa attack on the homestead was preposterous, piling up enough dead Kiowas in a long, haphazard scene, but the driving point is that Audrey Hepburn doesn't care about her past at all. She hates being an "Indian". I suppose I side with Kiowas more since I lived with Kiowas, Comanches and Apaches and have studied their language and culture. They have a rich, vibrant history and a tradition of great culture. It seems like the whites don't think that way, thus they were demeaned as vile enemies in films and regarded as utter savages.Even without the demeaning ending, the film is merely average. It is the message that is inhuman that still affects me to this day.

Audrey Hepburn always brings a great amount of charisma to each role she plays. But with The Unforgiven, not to be mistaken with the classic western 'Unforgiven', she's never given enough good material to work with. The film focuses on a few families on the frontier who struggle to agree on much, and hell breaks lose when one of their own is murdered. The Rawlins family suspects the Zachary family after hearing their step daughter may have been an Indian child taken at an early age. The premise sounds a bit ridiculous but ends up being pretty dull.Back in the day, certain films called for over-the-top acting but it's highlighted in this movie. Both of the mothers stand out as having way too many 'give me a break' moments. They exaggerate the significance of each others involvement with the Indians. Racism is clearly present throughout the film and I wish the resolution would have meant more. By the time the Natives and the frontier families end up fighting, I didn't get the sense that they really cared about getting their daughter back. I wished I had seen more character development from the Native American side of things.With that said, the bright spot of the movie lies with the man who didn't have much development at all, Abe Kelsey. The mysterious filled man had some of the great lines and also had one of the more memorable faces in any western I have seen in a long time. The action scenes are also actually well done for it's time. The film was made over 50 years ago, and it looks believable. Hepburn gets completely lost in the shuffle here though. She ends up being just the object each side is fighting for. I didn't feel anything for her when she would break down. Where as in a film like The Children's Hour, the best scenes were ones that involved Hepburn emotionally devastated. She is usually great at portraying realistic emotion. So all in all, with a more polished script and interesting characters this would have been a decent film.+Abe Kelsey +Action is believable -Hepburn lost in the shuffle -Script is jumpy, and the film loses focus -Mother characters were over-dramatic-Didn't care for the characters 5.5/10

Released in 1960 - This big-budget Western, set in the mid-1800s, tells an uncomfortably awkward tale of hatred, racism, and intolerance. Its attempts to unveil the truth surrounding a 20 year-old secret that, due to one man's spite, is finally brought to light, is mean-minded and nasty.This grave secret directly involved the real heritage of Rachel (the Zachary's adopted daughter) who, now 20, was taken in by these well-respected ranchers when she was just a small baby.This film seemed to go out of its way to put Native Americans into a very bad light. Not only did it portray them as being very stupid warriors, as they managed to let 2 men and 2 women slaughter 40 of them in a matter of minutes - But it also had Rachel shoot down her very own Indian brother, at point-blank, while he stood there, facing her, completely unarmed.Spoken with venomous hatred, this film also contained numerous racial slurs, aimed directly at the Kiowa Indians. The name-calling even escalated to the point where the white citizens referred to the Indians as "n-i-g-g-e-r-s" on a few occasions.The Unforgiven abounded with plenty of over-acting, especially from Burt Lancaster who played Ben, one of Will Zachary's 3 grown-up sons. It sure seemed to me that Ben was of a very questionable character. For example - After being raised for 20 years as a brother to Rachel, he was now looking at her with carnal lust in his eyes while making plans to take her as his wife.I was very disappointed by this Western whose soundtrack music became so loud at times that it actually drowned out some of the dialog.

Rachel Zachary is the adopted brother of Ben, Cash and Andy; their late father rescued her after the local Kiowa Indians killed her parents; at least that is what they all believe. Things change after a strange old man, armed with a sabre turns up; soon afterwards a small group of Kiowa turn up at the house and demand that the family give Rachel to then; claiming that she was kidnapped from their tribe. They are shocked to hear such a suggestion and deny it but others who live nearby start treating the family differently. In order to find out what the old man's part in it was they ride out and capture him; he claims that what the Kiowa said was true; he'd been part of a raid on an Indian village where the Zachary's father took the baby. Shunned by everybody they return home and the mother admits the truth of the story; Cash can't take the idea of having an Indian sister so leaves. Not long afterwards the Kiowa return and a battle ensues; ultimately Rachel must decide whether to return to the tribe with her real brother or stay with the adoptive brothers she has known all her life.This was an interesting western; I thought it was well acted although I couldn't buy for one minute that Audrey Hepburn could be a Native American... which was a bit of a problem given that she was meant to be a full-blooded Kiowa! Burt Lancaster did a fine job as her older brother and Audie Murphy was good as Cash... although personally I found him more entertaining in various B-Westerns I've seen. The action was well directed and exciting; especially the prolonged confrontation at the end. Taken as a piece of entertainment it was good enough but I must say I found the racial politics highly suspect; I felt we were meant to sympathise with the white family as they fought to keep their adopted sister rather that to side with the tribe she was kidnapped from... even after the family start the conflict by murdering a Kiowa when they came in peace to talk! Overall I'd say it is worth watching if you are a fan of the genre although rather sit down and watch a cheap B-western personally!