These 2 films directed by Clint Eastwood tell the exact same story, but in opposite directions

News culture These 2 films directed by Clint Eastwood tell the exact same story, but in opposite directions

Let's start with a short summary of the two synopses :

• Josey Wales outlaw : During the Civil War, Josey Wales tragically loses his familykilled by Captain Terrill. He then joined a group of Confederate “Bushwhackers” in order to obtain revenge.
• Ruthless : In 1880, Will Munny is a former outlaw who raises his two children alone on a farm. He reconnects with his past chasing a bounty on two cowboys.

Two opposing characters

In fact, the two characters follow parallel trajectories, but which oppose each other : at the beginning of the story, Josey Wales is an honorable personalors que Will Munny a an outlaw past. The men are both widowed, but suffer different destinies. The first, for a negatively connoted motive – revenge – goes denature and become a killer. The second on the contrary, motivated by laudable reasons – provide for the needs of his family – find his true nature as a vicious and cruel assassin.

During the film, Josey bonds with different people and arouses empathy, while Will faces different parties each acting for their own good. The first protagonist gets revenge, overcomes his tragic pastand becomes a pillar of the community, while the second has once again become an outlaw who will not have succeeded in repenting.

Two notable films

Unforgiven East Clint Eastwood's latest Westernand is one of the most popular. While the director had received the script in 1981 and found it “very interesting”, he testified want to wait until you're older before filming. Even today, he describes this film as being a “turning point” in his careerwhich also allowed him to pass two reviews. He says he wanted to show that the image of the Western is based on myths exaggerated, but also that these myths idealize the use of violence and guns.

This desire also appears in the first filmwith a vision of the Wild West that is not not romanticized. This is one of the reasons why Clint Eastwood immediately loved the book of the same name, which served as its basis. Indeed, for example, he revealed that he appreciated the fact that the book stood out in terms of its representation of Native Americans :

I wanted treatment for Native Americans who went beyond the simple cliché presented in the pastwith a Native American of very stoic personalitydevoid of humor (…) it was the first story that I read where they were treated with humor.

Released 16 years ago RuthlessClint Eastwood thinks his 1976 film would have more recognition if it came out today.