Unforgiven Movie

Yes, he did care whether he lived or died. His revelation came from the grave, however. And by the time this summer's most polemics-inducing gangsta pic, "Menace II Society," was over, and Caine, its teen-age protagonist and narrator, was wasted in a fusillade of pay-back violence, my attitude was: Sorry the system did so much to do you in, but I hope you, and the many far worse than you, are exterminated from anyplace I'm living.

Yes, he did care whether he lived or died. His revelation came from the grave, however. And by the time this summer's most polemics-inducing gangsta pic, "Menace II Society," was over, and Caine, its teen-age protagonist and narrator, was wasted in a fusillade of pay-back violence, my attitude was: Sorry the system did so much to do you in, but I hope you, and the many far worse than you, are exterminated from anyplace I'm living.

Hollywood is talking about the success of "Unforgiven," the movie that defies contemporary wisdom by casting four leading actors over 55 and dares to offer moviegoers something other than cops, drugs, teen lovers or comic-book characters. In its $15-million opening weekend, Clint Eastwood's Western drama "Unforgiven" led all other films in the market by a wide margin and according to statistics, it played as well in big cities as in rural areas.

With Oscar ballots still in the hands of voters, a number of Academy Awards scenarios remain possible. But as of today, the odds-on big winner looks like a given: "Unforgiven." That's the conclusion many Hollywood insiders are reaching after "Unforgiven" director Clint Eastwood was named best feature film director of 1992 by his peers in the Directors Guild of America on Saturday night.

Warner Bros. was back in the saddle and riding tall Sunday with the rousing $14.5-million opening weekend of Clint Eastwood's Western drama "Unforgiven." It was the latest summer hit from the studio that already has given moviegoers "Batman Returns" and "Lethal Weapon 3." But weekend business was sour for most other films, according to industry estimates.

With Oscar ballots still in the hands of voters, a number of Academy Awards scenarios remain possible. But as of today, the odds-on big winner looks like a given: "Unforgiven." That's the conclusion many Hollywood insiders are reaching after "Unforgiven" director Clint Eastwood was named best feature film director of 1992 by his peers in the Directors Guild of America on Saturday night.

What some in Hollywood foresaw as a brewing Good Guy vs. Bad Guy Oscar campaign war at Warner Bros. has evaporated quickly. Ads taken out by the studio in the Hollywood trade papers trumpeting the Academy Award-level of acting, directing and other achievements in Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" are inevitably matched, a few pages later, by those for Spike Lee's "Malcolm X."

The National Society of Film Critics on Sunday voted Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" the best movie of 1992 and gave recognition to Eastwood as best director and David Webb Peoples for best screenplay. The citation for "Unforgiven" is yet another indication that the film is a likely major contender for the Oscar for best picture to be presented in March. The win on Sunday follows its selection in early December by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. as best of 1992.

Hollywood's annual film awards marathon got under way during the weekend as the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. selected Clint Eastwood's Western "Unforgiven" as the best movie of 1992. As the first of the major awards competitions, the selection by the Los Angeles critics instantly elevates the movie's chances for nominations in the Golden Globe Awards, to be presented in January by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., and in the film industry's own Academy Awards, to be announced in March.

The ceremony was always emotional on his farm in upstate New York, where the names of fallen Vietnam War photographers were carved into a stone monument. Eddie Adams had known all of them, and every October he would raise a champagne glass with more than 100 colleagues and students to remember the sacrifices and pictures that once brought the war home to Americans. Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for taking one of the most notorious photographs of the war, capturing the horrific moment when a South Vietnamese lieutenant colonel executed a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon in 1968.

What some in Hollywood foresaw as a brewing Good Guy vs. Bad Guy Oscar campaign war at Warner Bros. has evaporated quickly. Ads taken out by the studio in the Hollywood trade papers trumpeting the Academy Award-level of acting, directing and other achievements in Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" are inevitably matched, a few pages later, by those for Spike Lee's "Malcolm X."

The National Society of Film Critics on Sunday voted Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" the best movie of 1992 and gave recognition to Eastwood as best director and David Webb Peoples for best screenplay. The citation for "Unforgiven" is yet another indication that the film is a likely major contender for the Oscar for best picture to be presented in March. The win on Sunday follows its selection in early December by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. as best of 1992.

Hollywood's annual film awards marathon got under way during the weekend as the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. selected Clint Eastwood's Western "Unforgiven" as the best movie of 1992. As the first of the major awards competitions, the selection by the Los Angeles critics instantly elevates the movie's chances for nominations in the Golden Globe Awards, to be presented in January by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., and in the film industry's own Academy Awards, to be announced in March.

Hollywood is talking about the success of "Unforgiven," the movie that defies contemporary wisdom by casting four leading actors over 55 and dares to offer moviegoers something other than cops, drugs, teen lovers or comic-book characters. In its $15-million opening weekend, Clint Eastwood's Western drama "Unforgiven" led all other films in the market by a wide margin and according to statistics, it played as well in big cities as in rural areas.

Warner Bros. was back in the saddle and riding tall Sunday with the rousing $14.5-million opening weekend of Clint Eastwood's Western drama "Unforgiven." It was the latest summer hit from the studio that already has given moviegoers "Batman Returns" and "Lethal Weapon 3." But weekend business was sour for most other films, according to industry estimates.

With the Academy Awards arriving in three weeks, it's time to think not only about the winners but about which nominated films will be made into television series. A theatrical movie doesn't have to be an Oscar nominee to gain extended life in prime time, of course. Big box office is a sufficient pedigree, witness the coming series clone of "A League of Their Own."

While everyone is rushing to make their Oscar predictions, twentysomething writers Kalle Matso and Scott White pause to delve into the mystery of how the coveted awards are distributed. What is the academy? Who nominates within each category? Who decides the winners in each category? And does any of this explain why "Leaving Las Vegas" got showed up by a cutesy movie about a talking pig?