The Unforgiven (1960)

Plot:  A frontier family is caught between Indians and hostile neighbors when it's suspected their daughter is a Kiowa Indian.
Stars:  Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn,  Lillian Gish,  Audie Murphy

What Were They Thinking?
I mean, Audrey Hepburn as a Kiowa Indian? Burt Lancaster and Audie Murphy as brothers? Joseph Wiseman as a Preacher?  John Huston directing an action Western?

Pretty much forgotten by everyone, and a box office bomb when released, The Unforgiven was a Burt Lancaster Production designed to "Fight Racism".   I mean, how can you hate "Injuns" when they're Audrey Hepburn?  Unfortunately, no one involved, knew how to make either a Western or a subtle point about race relations, so The Unforgiven is a heavy-handed exercise in the obvious.

So What About the Movie?
Ok, so ignoring all miscast actors, and the absurd anti-racist plot, is the movie any good? Well, not really.

First, for a movie that's "anti-racist" it shows the Indians in a pretty bad light.  The Kiowa's want Audrey back, and are willing to kill any white who stands in the way.  Not Nice.

 And Huston's action scenes are awful and insulting to the Indians.  They attack the Homestead in the stupidest way possible, rushing toward the house in broad daylight, and getting shot down like clay pigeons in a target gallery. Incredibly, at the end, we're supposed to cheer Audrey when she shoots her brother, a Kiowa, who's come to "rescue her". Really.

Second, we get those stereotypical Hollywood racists, who just can't stand "injuns" - even if they've spent their whole lives with a white family and look like Audrey Hepburn. Why even Audie Murphy, her brother, just can't stand the sight of her, after he finds out she's a "redskin" (of course, he changes his mind).

The whole movie is a phony from beginning to end.  To increase the absurdity the Frontier house in the Texas Panhandle - isn't a sod hut, but a neat little place that would look fine in Home and Garden magazine - it even comes with a Grand piano you can play Mozart on!

Positives?  Lilian Gish shows her star quality as the feisty mother. And Audie Murphy and Audrey Hepburn do what they can with their characters and dialogue. She's badly cast, but you can't blame Hepburn for this stinker.

Summary:  Produced by Burt Lancaster, The Unforgiven was doomed from the start.  Freud said, Anatomy is Destiny, and so are an actor's looks and voice.  No matter how hard she tried, Audrey Hepburn couldn't play a believable Frontier Girl or a Kiowa Indian. And John Huston couldn't be John Ford.  Blinded by the potential international box office and civil rights politics, Lancaster made the wrong casting decisions, hired the wrong director, and  tried to make do with a bad script.  The result: An unforgiving bore.