August 11, 1992 -- ``Unforgiven'' is a major new Western film by director/actor Clint Eastwood and I mean major as in Academy Award contender.

Eastwood helped to define the modern Western genre after graduating from the television series ``Rawhide.'' He starred in the ``Spaghetti Westerns'' such as ``Fistful of Dollars'' and ``The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,'' in which he played the archetypal anti-hero.

Lately, Eastwood has become very serious in his film topics, deadly serious. In films like ``Bird'' and ``White Hunter, Black Heart,'' he examined self-destructive tendencies in Charlie Parker and John Huston, respectively.

Eastwood continues this very serious vein in his latest film ``Unforgiven'' and he finally seems to have come up with a real winner, at least artistically. Whether or not this movie will score big at the box office is another question since it may not be what traditional fans of western movies expect. In its first week it did very well at the box office.

A traditional western, such as ``Shane,'' or ``High Noon,'' involves a conflict between good and evil, a conflict which inexorably draws the hero into a final, climactic showdown which is resolved in a gunfight. The hero never draws first and definitely doesn't ambush his victim or kill for money.

In this film there is no real hero and the line between good and evil is extremely hazy. Eastwood does kill for money and he does ambush a ``bad guy'' who is a good deal more innocent than he is. Even after the expected climactic gun battle there is an execution style slaying of the town marshal by Eastwood.

In this film the primary conflict is within Eastwood himself, who is haunted by the death of his wife and the memories of his violent past. His victims return to haunt him in his dreams. He dreams the Angel of Death is after him. He pretends his violent past has been put behind him and he is reformed. ``I'm not like that anymore,'' he says over and over, trying to convince himself.

In the end, he discovers he hasn't changed at all. The evil is still inside him and once again, like a terrible genie escaping from a bottle, it comes out.

Eastwood is excellent in the lead, but is outdone by Gene Hackman, who plays the sadistic town marshal in convincing, chilling fashion. Morgan Freeman turns in another fine performance as Eastwood's old partner. Newcomer Jaimz Woolvett is not outdone by his famous fellow actors as the callow Schofield Kid.

Eastwood as director does a great job of developing all the main characters in the film, something few directors feel compelled to do. The pacing of the movie is deliberate, but it holds the interest of the audience throughout.

The action scenes have an almost documentary realism about them. Up until the final gun battle the film seems like a very authentic slice of the Old West. The final gun battle is more like a traditional Hollywood western. The photography, by Jack Green and music by Lennie Niehaus are both big pluses. This film rates an A.

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