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Many directors' films end up with multiple versions as a result of studio intervention, international re-cuts, or re-released director's cuts. Ridley Scott is certainly one of those filmmakers, having created different director's cuts for 10 movies throughout his career — Robin Hood, Alien, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, The Martian, Gladiator, The Counselor, Legend, Kingdom of Heaven, and, perhaps most controversially, his sci-fi masterpiece, 1982's Blade Runner. The 1992 re-edit of the film is, despite some controversy, widely considered to be one of the greatest director's cuts of all time, eliminating certain things and inserting others (the unicorn dream) in order to create more metaphysical mystery and ambiguity. But that wasn't the only director's cut of Blade Runner.

In 2007, for the 25th anniversary of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott released what is known as 'The Final Cut' of the film, which is now streaming on Netflix beginning today (you can watch it...

Actor Gene Hackman played arguably one of the best Hollywood villains of all time in the 1992 Western film Unforgiven. The actor’s other most famous villain role remains that of Lex Luthor in director Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman. However, Hackman admitted in an interview that Donner had tricked him regarding one aspect of the role.

Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor in Superman (Credit: Warner Bros).

In an interview conducted shortly after the passing of the famous director, Hackman paid tribute to Donner by sharing a hilarious anecdote. In the process, the Oscar-winning actor revealed how Donner tricked him into losing his mustache for the role of Lex Luthor. Here is what Hackman had to say about his role as the Superman villain.

Gene Hackman revealed how Superman director Richard Donner tricked him for the Lex Luthor role

On February 26, 2025, Gene Hackman sadly passed away at the age of 95. The veteran...

It has been a tragic day for Hollywood as legendary actor Gene Hackman was reportedly found dead along with his wife and dog. The Superman star was reportedly 95 and while no foul play was suspected, the police mentioned that the investigation was ongoing. Hackman had stepped away from acting back in 2004.

Hackman was an iconic actor who starred in films such as Superman, The French Connection, The Royal Tenenbaums, and more. He won two Oscars in his career: Best Actor for The French Connection, and Best Supporting Actor for Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. The actor would have missed out on the latter had he kept his promise to his family.

Gene Hackman almost skipped Unforgiven as he had made a promise to his family Gene Hackman in The French Connection | Credits: 20th Century Fox

The tragic death of Gene Hackman has brought his career back into focus again. For almost fifty years,...

Clint Eastwood's Best Picture-winning Western is getting a new streaming home. Since the 1960s, the American icon has been widely associated with the Western genre. He rose to fame for his roles as the ramrod Rowdy Yates in the Western television series Rawhide and the bounty hunter, the Man with No Name, in director Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti Westerns, which includes A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Eastwood capped off the 1960s with the Westerns Hang 'Em High, which was his first starring role in an American movie, and the musical Paint Your Wagon. During the 1970s, Eastwood starred in Two Mules for Sister Sara and Joe Kidd before he began directing his own Westerns in addition to starring, starting with High Plains Drifter and followed by The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider. In 1992, Eastwood made Unforgiven,...

Many factors are involved in crafting a compelling villain for a science fiction movie. After all, the bad guys often tend to be just as captivating than the heroes. Of course, one key element in designing a proper villain is giving them a purpose; a clear goal for them to be trying to achieve, particularly one that directly combats the objectives of the hero. Every so often, a film takes this idea so far as to include an antagonist who, when you think about it, actually has a very valid reason for doing what they do.

This is not to say that all of their actions are completely defensible; many villains are given that title because of the violent/excessive methods they use to achieve their goals. However, at the end of the day, it is difficult to deny that they did have understandable motivations. Having ideas that the viewers...

Ridley Scott's earliest films are now cult classics, but only Alien was a breakout hit when it was released in theaters. Scott reflected on Blade Runner's fumble at the box office.

Ridley Scott said Blade Runner and Alien would have been equally successful if not for one film critic's scathing feedback. "She destroyed me," he told Entertainment Weekly, referring to Pauline Kael, The New Yorker's legendary film critic who "destroyed Blade Runner in four pages."

"I didn't even meet her," he added. "To me, it almost walked in the column of industrial espionage, because you're destroying a product before it's out." Scott confirmed he had those four pages framed and mounted in his office, as his constant reminder not to read and believe his own press.

Related 'I Had No Choice': Ridley Scott Opens Up About Losing Alien and Blade Runner Franchises

Ridley Scott has directed and produced many blockbusters,...

Earlier this year, we attempted to highlight some of the more obscure film titles that haven’t seen their day in the sun past a VHS release. In our list for 10 Hard to Find Movies, we included the 1989 post-apocalypse film The Blood of Heroes, which also carried the alternate title The Salute of the Jugger. This post-apocalyptic action movie comes from David Webb Peoples, the writer of Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Soldier. It was a rare directorial effort that reteamed him with Rutger Hauer, who stars opposite a young Joan Chen and Vincent D’Onofrio. Legal rights limbo has kept this one obscure in North America, with various cuts circulating in bad transfers.

The rights issues seem to have now been resolved, as Umbrella Entertainment announced on their Facebook page that they are releasing a new uncut 4K transfer of the film, which may sport the alternate title The Salute of the Jugger.

Clint Eastwood may have put himself on the map as the quintessential Western movie star, but Unforgiven may have solidified the actor/director as an icon. The 1992 Eastwood-directed movie written by David Webb Peoples, will stream on Paramount+ beginning November 1.

The revisionist Western set in the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming also stars Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. The movie boasts a stellar 96% critic score and 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Unforgiven was nominated for nine Oscars in 1993 and won four. Clint Eastwood took home the Academy Award for Best Director and the film was awarded Best Picture. Hackman won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Joel Cox won for Best Film Editing.

Related 1 of the Greatest Western Remakes of All Time Is Coming to Paramount+

Starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, a film regarded as one of the best Western remakes ever made has gotten a new streaming home.

The upcoming show Blade Runner 2099 is taking the approach to the world of replicants that Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 should have. Though there isn't much information about Blade Runner 2099 yet, what is publicly known about the Amazon Prime Video show is extremely promising. Michelle Yeoh landed the lead role in Blade Runner 2099, and Hunter Schafer was also cast in a currently unnamed role. Yeoh's character, Olwen, in particular, seems to hint that the story of Blade Runner 2099 will be intriguing as well, as Olwen has been described as a replicant at the end of her lifespan.

Aside from the fact that it's a show instead of a movie, there are a few ways Blade Runner 2099 already seems very different from Blade Runner 2049. Ridley Scott, the director of the original Blade Runner, and his production company, Scott Free, are helping to produce 2099. Denis...

Clint Eastwood is a true legend in the world of cinema, not just for his acting, but also for his directing. Out of all his amazing films, Unforgiven still stands as a fan favorite. And since it’s a Wild West movie, one might think it could be one of the priciest films ever made.

Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman in Unforgiven (Credits: Warner Bros.)

Interestingly, Unforgiven was made in a time when technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today. Valuing older productions can be tricky for this very reason — not everyone appreciates a classic or recognizes it as a great piece of work. But the movie proves that wrong. It shows that movie history can be made with minimal investment, a tight schedule, and just some thoughtful planning.

How Unforgiven Became A Big Win For Clint Eastwood? Still of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (Credits: Warner Bros.)

Over his nearly seventy-year career,...

The 1998 sci-fi war film "Soldier" might be the best film in Paul W.S. Anderson's career. A kind-of-spinoff to "Blade Runner" (both films were written by David Webb Peoples), "Soldier" begins in 1996, when the American government implements a new program to raise children, from birth, to engage in combat. Over the course of decades, their souls are meticulously erased and they become wholly devoted to military conquest. The soldiers barely speak and don't appear to possess empathy or compassion. If anyone falls behind or displays weakness, they are executed. 

One of the star soldiers of the program is Todd-3465 (Kurt Russell), who has been molded into a ruthless killing machine over the past 40 years. It is now 2036, and the Soldier program is under threat. It seems that a new breed of soldiers, genetically engineered ones, are stepping up to take Todd's place. The new soldiers are faster, stronger, can live much longer,...

Clint Eastwood’s award-winning Western film, Unforgiven, earned him critical acclaim for his acting and directing performance alongside veteran actor Gene Hackman. Impressed by the script written by David Webb Peoples, Eastwood took on the project with only Hackman in his mind as the main antagonist.

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven / Warner Bros.

He knew the actor’s star power would deliver a profit, but it took some convincing before Hackman agreed. He liked the script, but he initially rejected it due to extreme brutality. He is famously known as an advocate of anti-gun violence.

Gene Hackman Initially Didn’t Want To Join Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven

In a DVD interview with Gene Hackman via Flickering Myth, the actor expressed his sentiment on starring in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. He was apprehensive due to its nature until the director revealed his intentions in making the movie.

I swore I would never...

Terry Gilliam's 1995 science fiction thriller "12 Monkeys" is a gritty, challenging time-travel film with a bleak ending that reinforces humanity's failures, so it's no surprise that there were moments star Bruce Willis objected to during filming. After all, this is a film where Willis' character Cole is sent throughout history, stripped naked and hosed down, and treated like a combination savior for humanity and human lab rat by the people in charge in his own time. After a super virus released by an animal rights terrorist organization forces all human survivors underground (literally), Cole is tasked with going back in time to try and stop the virus from ever being released. In typical Gilliam fashion, nothing goes well for our hero, who finds himself confronted with the pure existential horror of time loops.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for the film's 25th anniversary, Gilliam revealed that there...

Rutger Hauer and Ridley Scott only made one film together, the 1982 classic Blade Runner – but Hauer went on to make two more movies that were scripted by Blade Runner screenwriter David Webb Peoples; the 1985 medieval fantasy film Ladyhawke (where Peoples went uncredited) and the apocalyptic 1989 film The Blood of Heroes, which Peoples also directed. Now War Is Hell: Making Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth and Soldier: From Script to Screen author Danny Stewart has dug into the making of The Blood of Heroes with his new book Saluting The Blood of Heroes: Behind the Apocalyptic Film, and copies are available for purchase on Amazon!

Also known as The Salute of the Jugger, The Blood of Heroes has the following synopsis: In a future where most of mankind and technology is wiped out, six people travel from place to place playing a brutal form of football with a dog skull.

Western dramas have been all the rage lately, but there was a time when the genre was falling behind. That is, until Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven was released. The film takes place in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, and follows the story of William Munny, a former outlaw. The film was quite well received by both fans and critics and is still considered one of the best movies of Clint Eastwood’s career.

Clint Eastwood as William Munny in Unforgiven (1992) | Warner Bros.

However, if Clint Eastwood had taken a harsh piece of advice from one of his close associates, he wouldn’t have been a part of the film. The associate strictly told the filmmaker/actor to throw out the script without paying any attention to it and while he complied for a bit, his eyes later fell on the script and he immediately fell in love with the story. Amd the rest,...

Clint Eastwood is known for his starring roles in Westerns as well as his directorials. The veteran actor and director is still going strong at the age of 94 and is currently helming a new project. He has made films such as Million Dollar Baby, Play Misty For Me, Gran Torino, and Letters from Iwo Jima. The actor has also won Oscars for his directorials.

Eastwood won his first Oscar for Best Director (and Best Picture) for the Western film Unforgiven. The 1992 film also starred the veteran actor as a retired gunman who comes back into the business when a huge bounty opens up. While the film ends on a positive note, screenwriter David Webb Peoples mentioned that the filmmaker has cut out the original ending.

Unforgiven’s Original Ending Was Too Similar To The Godfather A still from Unforgiven | Credits: Malpaso Productions

After the Western was revived by Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves,...

When one looks at filmmakers who have been influential in the landscape of Hollywood films, it is difficult to look past Clint Eastwood. The actor-director has left his stamp on the industry through various path-breaking films that have left an indelible mark with audiences and critics alike.

Clint Eastwood and Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (image credit: Warner Brothers)

Having mastered the Western with films like The Good The Bad and The Ugly, For A Few Dollars More, and High Plains Drifter, Eastwood turned the genre on its head with his award-winning film Unforgiven which redefined the aesthetics of the Hollywood Western. Interestingly, the director mulled over the script for a good decade before taking it up, a move that ultimately paid rich dividends.

This Decision By Clint Eastwood Made Unforgiven A Cult Classic

Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, which saw the celebrity direct and act in the lead role,...

There are very few names in Hollywood as legendary as Quentin Tarantino. Having given some of the biggest cult classics of the last few decades, the director is rumored to be heading into retirement after completing his self-imposed quota of ten Hollywood projects.

While there were rumors that The Movie Critic starring both Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise would be his final offering to Hollywood, the project has since been scrapped, with no update on how the director plans to proceed next. One potential option seems to be a one-off Sgt. Rock movie, which Tarantino had previously admitted he himself considered.

Can James Gunn pull this off? | Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons

With James Gunn constantly looking for options to kickstart the upcoming Dcu, a potential Tarantino movie will be surely be a treat fans will heartily look forward to.

Quentin Tarantino once considered creating a Sgt. Rock movie

A Tarantino DC movie?...

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is receiving mixed reviews from critics after its debut at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16. While some appreciate the director’s crazy vision for the movie, others deem it as a disaster. Coppola doesn’t care as he is happy that he got to do the film that he had been planning since the ’70s.

He shared that he was done with studios not letting him make movies he wanted like they did with his vision for Western drama. Coppola revealed that he originally optioned the script of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven but he failed to convince any studio to put in the money for the project.

Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando on the sets of The Godfather | Paramount Pictures

Interestingly, Coppola self-financed Megalopolis after studios refused to take up the risky subject of the film. He invested $120 million of his hard-earned money...

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was not only one of the biggest movies that came out in 2023 but it was also one of the movies that managed to sweep the most during the award season. Oppenheimer won the Best Picture award at the 96th Academy Awards held on March 10th, 2024 along with Nolan winning the Best Director award.

Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer became the third highest-grossing movie of 2023. One of the most significant things about Oppenheimer is the alternative scenes between colored and black and white to convey the story from both subjective and objective perspectives. Now, fans are curious about Nolan’s next big project and according to reports, it’s the one he left behind in 2009.

Christopher Nolan directing Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan to revisit 2009’s mystery-thriller The Prisoner as his next project?

According to reports by Variety, after a successful award season,...

Deckard is a top Blade Runner with a knack for identifying and retiring replicants with precision and skill. K, a Nexus-9 replicant, is a highly effective and intelligent Blade Runner, excelling in detective work and combat. Joseph excelled in eliminating replicants but stepped back from the job after falling for a replicant, while Marlowe remained loyal.

The Blade Runner movies may be named for the futuristic profession of hunting down replicants, but it's not immediately clear which of the few Blade Runners featured is the most skilled. The world of Blade Runner, inspired by the novel by Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is rich and full of incredible details that reveal a dystopian future. Walking and working among the people of the future, a race of highly advanced androids, known as replicants, are an integral part of society. But as the technology rapidly develops, old,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Leviathan 4K Uhd from Kino Lorber

Leviathan plunges onto 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 20 via Kino Lorber. The 1989 sci-fi/horror film been newly restored in 4K from the 35mm interpositive with Dolby Vision/Hdr and 5.1 surround and lossless 2.0 audio.

George P. Cosmatos directs from a script by David Webb Peoples and Jeb Stuart. Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, Michael Carmine, Lisa Eilbacher, and Héctor Elizondo star.

Special features include: a new commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson; Leviathan: Monster Melting Pot featurette; interviews with Hudson and Elizondo; the trailer; and reversible artwork.

Pumpkinhead & Killer Klowns Puppets from Toynk

Reach out and grab some fun with Toynk’s Reachers,...

After the success of Ridley Scott’s Alien, the world saw a surge in sci-fi movies centered around blue-collar workers finding themselves up against terrifying creatures, usually in a dark, dank, remote setting. Some of these rip-offs were studio affairs, but a majority of them were made for the home video and late-night cable markets, where the cheap sets and shoddy effects weren’t such big deals. Who among us hasn’t enjoyed a low-budget monster flick that was clearly made for the price of a six-pack? 1989 brought us not one but three sci-fi movies that had at least partial inspiration from Alien and its sequel, Aliens. The latter film’s director, James Cameron, brought us his underwater epic The Abyss, which isn’t a horror film but certainly takes some cues from those earlier movies. Deepstar Six was Sean S. Cunningham’s attempt to bring the slasher movie underwater,...

Director Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner was written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples, based on the Philip K. Dick story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – and when director Paul W.S. Anderson brought Peoples’ sci-fi action script Soldier to the screen sixteen years later, he and his crew added in references that set the story within the universe of Blade Runner. But during an interview with author Danny Stewart for the book Soldier: From Script to Screen (pick up a copy on Amazon), Peoples revealed that he had never intended for Soldier to be connected to Blade Runner.

When asked if he wrote Soldier as a “side-quel” to Blade Runner that was set in the same universe, Peoples answered, “No, I never had any thoughts about that.” The screenwriter went on to reveal, “I wrote Soldier in 1984. Very quickly on my own. I wrote it because...

Soldier: From Script to Screen

By Danny Stewart

144 pages/BearManor Media/$32 (hardcover) $22 (softcover)

Everyone has their passion, whether it is universally acclaimed or not. Thankfully, BearManor Media provides an outlet for their authors to share that unique passion with those who also find the subject matter of interest.

Here, Danny Stewart delves into the 1998 film Solider, which came and went with little notice when Universe released it. Despite some marquee names making the film, it opened to poor reviews (in addition to 15% at Rotten Tomatoes) and dismal box office, earning a mere $14.6 million against a $60 million budget.

It’s justifiable if you don’t recall or never heard of the film. It was based on a script by the noted screenwriter David Webb Peoples, best known for Blade Runner. Some even call the film a “sidequel” to that classic. Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (best known for the Resident Evil...

The Arnold Schwarzenegger dream project Sgt. Rock was sidelined by Monty Python's John Cleese of all people.

Per JoBlo.com, John McTiernan the legendary director of Die Hard and Predator gave anecdotes about his past hits in Nick de Semlyan’s new book, The Last Action Heroes. Regarding the unproduced Sgt. Rock adaptation set to star Schwarzenegger in the late '80s, McTiernan reveals how Cleese was meant to join the cast fresh off the success of 1988's A Fish Called Wanda. The Monty Python alum was envisioned as an innocent English cook during World War II who falls under the protection of the titular character. But when the meeting took place, McTiernan recalls that Cleese was "very polite, but as far as he was concerned, we were just a couple thug American action-movie makers."

Related: Chris Hemsworth Calls Working Out With Arnold Schwarzenegger the Highlight of His Life

Created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert,...

Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" is finally here, providing a unique look into the mind of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. But if Nolan's three-hour epic leaves you wanting more, here's a cool (and free) opportunity to learn some more about that period of history. The Criterion Channel has announced that from now through July 31, 2023, subscribers and non-subscribers alike will be able to watch Jon Else's 1981 documentary "The Day After Trinity" for free on the streaming service. The film, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Peabody Award, tells the scientist's story through archival footage and a myriad of interviews with collaborators, friends, and family members, and it's currently unavailable to stream anywhere in the United States except The Criterion Channel.

"We were fortunate enough to have made the film at a time when so many of the original Manhattan Project people were...

Back in 1998, the legendary Kurt Russell teamed up with Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon director Paul W.S. Anderson for a sci-fi action movie called Soldier – which is considered to be set in the same world as Blade Runner, and also shared screenwriter David Webb Peoples with that Ridley Scott classic. But Soldier came and went without many movie-goers noticing, sputtering out with just $14.6 million at the domestic box office. It has earned some fans over the years, like JoBlo’s own Jake Dee (who wrote about Soldier for the Black Sheep series)… and now author Danny Stewart has put together the book Soldier: From Script to Screen to pay tribute to the film, dig into the story of its production, and try to draw in some new fans.

Copies of Soldier: From Script to Screen can be purchased on Amazon.

The book includes: – An examination of the evolution of...

The Blade Runner franchise is continuing to expand. While director Jeremy Podeswa gears up to go into production on the Blade Runner 2099 series pilot for Amazon’s Prime Video, Annapurna Interactive has unveiled a teaser trailer for the video game Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth! The 2033 setting of this game puts it right in between the events of the original Blade Runner (which was set in 2019) and the sequel Blade Runner 2049. The trailer can be seen at the bottom of this article.

Game Informer notes that while Annapurna Interactive has released several games over the last few years, this is the first one they have developed in-house. And Annapurna notes that Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth is the first new Blade Runner game for consoles and PC in development in 25 years. 110 Industries announced that they’re developing their own Blade Runner game last year, but that one’s not...

Tentpole filmmaking is a feat that requires the clicking together of many moving pieces. All of the departments — set design, costumes, locations, etc. — must blend together in pre-production to ensure the rest of the production runs as smoothly as possible. This becomes quite a challenge when there isn't a finished screenplay.

Contrary to the current posturing of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, screenwriters are the most essential element of every movie. Without them, there is no dialogue and no story. This is a stupefyingly obvious fact, but every time studios, networks and, now, streamers have to reckon with fairly compensating the people who generate their precious "content," they plead poverty and downplay the contributions of their most essential workers.

You shouldn't need an example to drive this home, but film history is riddled with them. Take, for instance, "Star Wars: Episode VI — The Return of the Jedi,...

Hedy Lamarr starred in Jack Conway’s Boom Town with Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, and Frank Morgan (in the exhibition) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Hedy Lamarr: Actress. Inventor. Viennese is an impressive exhibition curated by Danielle Spera (director of the Jewish Museum Vienna from 2010 - 2022) and designed by Stefan Fuhrer (Fuhrer Vienna) at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. You can watch scenes from Georg Jacoby”s Money on the Street with Heinz Rühmann, Carl Boese’s No Money is Needed, Gustav Machatý Ecstasy, John Cromwell’s Algiers (1938), Georg Misch’s Calling Hedy Lamarr (2004), and Hedy Lamarr – An Ingenious Mind (2022).

Danielle Spera with Anne-Katrin Titze on the KaDeWe Group Lamarr building, Rem Koolhaas and his Oma partners: “Ellen van Loon is the architect and she is great to work with …”

Hedy’s beauty was an inspiration for Walt Disney’s Snow White, Batman co-creator Bob Kane’s Catwoman,...

Clint Eastwood shot a "beautiful" alternate ending to his acclaimed Western Unforgiven, but he was totally right to cut it out. Westerns are the genre that made Eastwood's name, from TV series Rawhide to the success of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy and the other "Oaters" he followed with. His Westerns were darker and more cynical than the ones produced in Hollywood's "Golden Age," which was one reason John Wayne refused to work with Eastwood. The star's closing statement on the genre itself is 1992's Unforgiven, about a retired gunslinger who sets out on one final job.

Unforgiven is both a love letter to and total demystification of the genre. It portrays the Old West as a violent, savage place while Eastwood's Munny is no hero. In almost any other Western, the final shootout is framed as a cathartic release where the bad guys finally get their comeuppance; in Unforgiven,...

Clint Eastwood's vast filmography is filled with classics, but some films in his history of work could be considered low-effort misses. While the director has shown his impressive skills in films like "Million Dollar Baby" — which won him an academy award for directing — there are also films like "Cry Macho," which feel much less revelatory and groundbreaking than some of his other work. While I wouldn't necessarily call the legendary actor and director "hit or miss," there's always a chance for any filmmaker to make a misfire, whether the story isn't compelling or some other bump in production lessens the film's quality.

David Peoples, who wrote the script for "Unforgiven," felt a level of uncertainty about Eastwood's adaptation of his story. Originally titled "The William Munny Killings" when Peoples first wrote it, the screenwriter already had scripts such as "Blade Runner" and "The Day After Trinity" under his belt.

Clint Eastwood and John Wayne may be Western icons but they didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on the genre that made them both superstars. Back in the early '70s, B-movie maestro Larry Cohen wrote a screenplay called "The Hostiles," intended as a vehicle for both Wayne and Eastwood to co-star. It was an appropriate title; Wayne didn't want to be in a movie with the younger actor, writing a poison pen letter to Eastwood citing his hatred of "High Plains Drifter" as one of the reasons.

Cohen never fulfilled his dream of a film starring Wayne and Eastwood, and it is perhaps little surprise that the two legends didn't hit it off. They represented very different eras of the Western; Wayne was the old guard, an indomitable screen legend of Hollywood's Golden Age and star of dozens of straightforward good guys vs bad guys horse operas, a totem of a...

Clint Eastwood's 1992 Western "Unforgiven" is a landmark film not just in the filmography of Clint Eastwood but in the Western genre as a whole. Just when it felt like the genre didn't have anything new to offer, "Unforgiven" felt like a breath of fresh air, executed as a dark subversion of the classic Western — reexamining the tropes and archetypes of many classic films of the genre. "Unforgiven" deconstructs the Western myth while also telling an engaging and intense story. However, as provocative and slow-burn that "Unforgiven" is, there are still moments in the film that feel like a celebration of the very genre it's looking to demystify.

Case in point, one of the more famous lines from "Unforgiven" feels ripped straight out of a Western from Eastwood's earlier days. However, the line wasn't always reminiscent of the older Westerns. Had it not been for a small but critical rewrite,...

No one could have made "Unforgiven" like Clint Eastwood did. Revisionist westerns weren't novel anymore by 1992. What makes the movie special is how it humanizes the face of the genre. Eastwood, who had played ruthless, stoic Western archetypes in his younger days, was now portraying a man who struggled to mount his horse, aim his gun, or keep his vow not to kill. Eastwood's presence transforms the character William Munny from a deconstruction into a career postscript. "Unforgiven" is the epilogue to every gunslinging cowboy Eastwood ever played, from Blondie to Josey Wales.

And yet, the movie didn't originate with Eastwood. It was first written by David Peoples in 1976 and titled "The Willliam Munny Killings." Eastwood got his hands on it during the 1980s but waited about a decade to actually make it. For the 30th anniversary of "Unforgiven" in 2022, Peoples spoke with Yahoo Entertainment, shedding some light on both...

For his whole career, Clint Eastwood was the embodiment of the movie cowboy. Whether it be the literal, traditional Western cowboy like his "Man with No Name" character from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" or the modern cowboy, the anti-hero police officer Harry Callahan in the "Dirty Harry" series, Eastwood was the guy. Even cowboys are mortal, though, and Eastwood has to face his own mortality like any of us. The only difference is he did so by making a movie.

"Unforgiven" follows the story of William Munny, a former killer-for-hire who takes one last job. The film's grand, yet simple, Western setting, along with themes of reverting to one's old ways and betrayal by one's physical body, struck a chord with all sorts of audiences, as the film earned rave reviews and Oscars both for Best Picture and Best Director.

Eastwood's path to making "Unforgiven" wasn't always a certain one,...

"Unforgiven" can be seen as both Clint Eastwood's magnum opus and a treatise on his mortality. A film about a retired Western outlaw taking on one last job, it's awfully reflective of Eastwood's career up to that point.

The man who starred in films like "Dirty Harry" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" for years, always the brave renegade, was getting older. Eastwood was 61 years old when he filmed the movie, clearly past his prime as a cowboy. The movie was one last try at being an outlaw, just as it was for the protagonist William Munny in the film. However, according to a piece written for the film's 30th anniversary, Eastwood almost never made the film at all.

The film's script was written by David Webb Peoples, who shopped it around to multiple directors but had trouble finding a home for it. The script eventually made...

1992's "Unforgiven" often finds itself ranked highly on many best Western films of all time lists. Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and set in the 1880s, the film follows William Munny (Eastwood), a retired gunslinger-turned-widowed father and farmer. He takes one final job to collect a bounty on the deaths of two unscrupulous cowboys placed on them by a group of sex workers after the men sliced up one their faces. The film, along with 1990's "Dances with Wolves," helped breathe new life into a genre that had practically been declared dead. It won Eastwood his first Oscars in his nearly 40-year movie career at the time, picking up the awards for Best Picture (just the third Western to do so), and for Best Director.

Before the Oscar glory, the script had an almost 30-year journey to production. According to Cinephilia and Beyond, "Blade Runner" co-writer David Webb Peoples...

Here’s one that really benefits from its 4K upgrade — Terry Gilliam’s dense visuals look great with Roger Pratt’s exacting cinematography. Is this really a thinking man’s science fiction hit, or did audiences mainly want to get a look at Brad Pitt in a new mode, playing a weird motormouthed eccentric? Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe star in a time-puzzle thriller adaptation of Chris Marker’s La jetée.

12 Monkeys 4K

4K Ultra HD

Arrow Video

1995 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 129 min. / Special Edition / Street Date April 26, 2022 / Available from Amazon / 49.95

Starring: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Jon Seda, Frank Gorshin, David Morse, Christopher Plummer.

Cinematography: Roger Pratt

Film Editor: Mick Audsley

Original Music: Paul Buckmaster

Production Design: Jeffrey Beecroft

Art Direction: Wm Ladd Skinner

Written by David Webb Peoples, Janet Peoples from the film La jetée by Chris Marker

Produced by Charles Roven

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Not...

Based upon the kudos count to date, Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” clearly ranks as one of the top awards-contending films of 2021. For those fascinated by that raucous, rowdy, storm-the-barricades Hollywood moment known as the “New Hollywood,” which started roughly in the mid-’60s and was exhausted or vanquished — depending upon who’s telling the history — by the end of the 1970s, it’s also the perfect embodiment of that era’s fondness for revisionism, both historical and cinematic, as well as sexual frankness wherever the filmmakers could find it.

Which shouldn’t be surprising, given that the film’s taut, deadly source material is Thomas Savage’s piercing 1967 modern Western, “The Power of the Dog.” Set in 1925, a little over a decade past the 1913 setting of Sam Peckinpah’s revolutionary 1969 revisionist Western, “The Wild Bunch,” “Dog,” like “Bunch,” skewers the American Dream along with myths of...

Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" have both racked up numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Best Picture as well as spots on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. Beyond that, these two films would, on the surface, seem to be different genres and not have very much in common. "Taxi Driver" is a crime film set in New York in the 1970s, while "Unforgiven" is a Western set in Wyoming in the 1880s.

You might not think they share the same creative DNA, but for David Webb Peoples, the screenwriter of...

The post The Surprising Influence Taxi Driver Had on Unforgiven's Script appeared first on /Film.

During this strangest of award seasons, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Every year, a drumbeat of local awards builds to Oscar night, which in 2021 will unfold two months late, on April 25, 2021. The beauty of these virtual festivals, depending on their access, is all you have to do to watch some of these events is buy a ticket. Ubiquitous award-winner Aaron Sorkin, for example, is my idea of a good time.

From San Francisco’s Sffilm Awards night to recent awards in Mill Valley and the Hamptons, it’s clear who many of the Oscar players are this year. Sffilm announced Tuesday that two lauded auteurs, Sorkin (Netflix pickup “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) and Chloé Zhao (Searchlight’s “Nomadland”) will accept (virtual) awards on December 9.

Sffilm always mounts a glittery dinner gala to raise funds for the year-round film organization’s support of emerging film artists,...

During this strangest of award seasons, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Every year, a drumbeat of local awards builds to Oscar night, which in 2021 will unfold two months late, on April 25, 2021. The beauty of these virtual festivals, depending on their access, is all you have to do to watch some of these events is buy a ticket. Ubiquitous award-winner Aaron Sorkin, for example, is my idea of a good time.

From San Francisco’s Sffilm Awards night to recent awards in Mill Valley and the Hamptons, it’s clear who many of the Oscar players are this year. Sffilm announced Tuesday that two lauded auteurs, Sorkin (Netflix pickup “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) and Chloé Zhao (Searchlight’s “Nomadland”) will accept (virtual) awards on December 9.

Sffilm always mounts a glittery dinner gala to raise funds for the year-round film organization’s support of emerging film artists,...

San Francisco Film has selected filmmakers Aaron Sorkin and Chloe Zhao for honors at its annual San Francisco Film Awards ceremonies, due to be livestreamed on Dec. 9.

Sorkin, whose “Trial of the Chicago 7” is streaming on Netflix, will receive the Kanbar award for storytelling. Zhao, the director of awards contender “Nomadland,” will receive the Irving M. Levin award for film direction.

“We are thrilled to honor such exceptional talent at our Sf Film Awards Night and to bring an even wider audience together virtually this year for our annual fundraiser,” said executive director Anne Lai. “Both Aaron and Chloé’s remarkable work resonate deeply for us, not only in their beautiful cinematic expression but also in presenting deep and complex characters and questions for us as a society today. We hope that by celebrating these artists, their films, and these values, Sf Film can have a positive impact on the...

After languishing in development for the past five years, it seems Paramount is ready to move forward with the manga adaptation Lone Wolf and Cub. The studio has brought on screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) to tackle the adaptation, with Justin Lin set to direct. The filmmaker has been attached to this project since 2012, and he is also slated to produce with Marisa McMahon and her Kamala Films company.

Paramount has had the rights to this project since 2003, with director Darren Aronofsky attached to direct at one point. When Justin Lin came aboard back in 2012, the husband and wife writing team of David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples (12 Monkeys) were tasked with adapting the Japanese manga created by Kazuo Koike, although it doesn't seem that they're attached to this adaptation anymore. It hasn't been confirmed if any elements from their script will remain intact, or if Andrew Kevin Walker will...

This is going to be one of the shortest reviews one is certain to encounter when reading about Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049′ and with good reason: the power of it comes from how little you know going into the theater. Not only that, but, to take a moment of humility, I feel uncertainty in how to properly convey such a cinematic experience. But to overcome that and cut to the chase: ‘Blade Runner 2049’ is one of a small handful of masterpieces produced by 2017 and well on its way to becoming an iconic film in its own right.

Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. / Alcon Entertainment

It’s been thirty years since disillusioned blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) “retired” violent replicants and disappeared into a self-imposed exile with the experimental replicant Rachael (Sean Young) into the grimy night of dystopian Los Angeles and a great deal has happened in the world.

As Ridley Scott lives and breathes — and lord knows he will, so long as there are more Alien prequels to be made — there is always the chance that Blade Runner: The Final Cut‘s title may yet become anachronistic. But for going on ten years now, the seventh distinct full-length cut of Scott’s magnum opus has fulfilled its promise of being the last word on Blade Runner. Released in 2007, this version of the iconic 1982 sci-fi film mixes and matches various scenes and edits from multiple previous editions, while digitally tweaking the visual effects, colors, and audio mixing in preparation for Blade Runner‘s inaugural release in high-definition formats. Out of the many previous incarnations, The Final Cut most closely resembles Scott’s 1992 Director’s Cut, with some subtle but noteworthy modifications.

Though the film is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?...

Ryan Lambie Oct 6, 2017

So Blade Runner 2049, then. What's that all about? Spoilers ahoy, as we dig a little deeper...

Nb: This article contains spoilers for both Blade Runner and its sequel. Come back when you’ve seen both movies!

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If there’s going to be a controversial aspect of Blade Runner 2049, we suspect it’s that the belated sequel makes plain what was once playfully ambiguous. In the original cut of Ridley Scott’s original, which didn’t surface until a decade after Blade Runner’s initial release in 1982, the recurring image of a unicorn - first in a reverie, later as an origami sculpture - raised the possibility that Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a replicant.

There’s a...

“Blade Runner 2049” is gearing up for release on October 6, and with it comes 35 years of expectations and anticipation from die-hard fans of Ridley Scott’s iconic original. The film’s marketing has done a solid job at preserving spoilers and selling the movie’s jaw-dropping visuals, so all that’s left is for audiences to show up and be amazed at whatever Denis Villeneuve has in store.

Read More:Jared Leto Went So Method for ‘Blade Runner 2049’ That He Blinded Himself During Filming

The director has assembled an enviable cast and crew, which combines franchise stalwarts and newcomers alike. If Villeneuve can stay true to the original atmosphere while crafting a unique adventure, he should have no problem making “Blade Runner 2049” just as much of a sci-fi classic for this generation as “Blade Runner” was for the last.

Here’s everything you need to know about the sequel before seeing it.