Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260111
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chris Gladden
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
AN OSCAR COULD MAKE HIS DAY
This year's Oscars field seems unusually logical. The best-picture category is certainly without any embarrassments, and each film nominated has its share of merits.But this year gives the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences a chance to do the right thing.
The members can give a talented filmmaker an award for life achievement and at the same time honor his best picture.
Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" is up for nine awards, including best picture, actor and director. Eastwood should at least get best director and picture for this corrosive, revision of the myth of the west.
The story of a violent man who is redeemed from his true nature and then loses that redemption, "Unforgiven" is a satisfyingly complex and wholly compelling movie.
Eastwood is no stranger to dark themes or risky stories. In movie after movie, he casts himself against type: the invincible, confident hero that brought him to superstardom.
In "Unforgiven," Will Munny is at first a reformed cold-blooded killer who tries but can't escape his nature. In "White Hunter, Black Heart," Eastwood plays a character based on director John Huston who is obsessed with killing an elephant. In "Honkytonk Man," he plays an alcoholic country singer. In "Tightrope," he's a sexually troubled cop. And in "Bronco Billy," a peculiar Wild West showman.
As an actor, and, apparently in real life, Eastwood demonstrates a self-mocking sense of humor. He's not afraid to parody himself.
Eastwood is also a fearless director. He had to know at the outset that "White Hunter" and "Bird," his downbeat biography of jazz great Charlie Parker, were destined for little commercial success. Yet Eastwood, a jazz musician himself, is fascinated with the nature of creativity and the demons that sometimes accompany it. These movies were made out of artistic conviction, not box office concerns.
Eastwood is impressive both because of his growth as a director and the dignified way he has weathered criticism. His early action movies did not carry the seal of political correctness, and his reserved acting style was ridiculed. Now the best of his spaghetti westerns and Dirty Harry movies are highly regarded by film scholars.
Eastwood has known their worth all along, and he showed his appreciation to his directorial mentors by dedicating "Unforgiven" to Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. It's just another sign of his integrity.
On Oscar night, I hope they call out the name of the man who launched his movie career as the Man with No Name.