Editing Unforgiven (section)

===Critical response===
Review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] reports an approval rating of 96% based on 109 reviews, and an average rating of 8.80/10. The website's critical consensus states: "As both director and star, Clint Eastwood strips away decades of Hollywood varnish applied to the Wild West, and emerges with a series of harshly eloquent statements about the nature of violence."<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Unforgiven'' (1992) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1041911_unforgiven? |access-date=June 2, 2023 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112042547/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1041911_unforgiven |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] gave the film a score of 85 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Unforgiven'' Reviews |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/unforgiven |access-date=March 1, 2018 |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |archive-date=March 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314070359/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/unforgiven |url-status=live}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemascore.com|title=Find CinemaScore|format=Type "Unforgiven" in the search box|publisher=[[CinemaScore]]|access-date=June 12, 2022}}</ref>

Jack Methews of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' described ''Unforgiven'' as "the finest classical Western to come along since perhaps [[John Ford]]'s 1956 ''[[The Searchers]]''." [[Richard Corliss]] in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' wrote that the film was "Eastwood's meditation on age, repute, courage, heroism—on all those burdens he has been carrying with such grace for decades."{{sfn|McGilligan|1999|p=473}} [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] criticized the work, though the latter gave it a positive vote, for being too long and having too many superfluous characters (such as Harris' English Bob, who enters and leaves without meeting the protagonists). Despite his initial reservations, Ebert eventually included the film in his "[[The Great Movies]]" list.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=July 21, 2002 |title=Unforgiven |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-unforgiven-1992 |journal=[[Rogerebert.com]] |publisher=Ebert Digital LLC |access-date=April 2, 2021 |archive-date=March 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318002134/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-unforgiven-1992 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''Unforgiven'' was named one of the 10 best films of the year on 76 critics' lists, according to a poll of the nation's top 106 film critics.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-24-ca-2356-story.html |title=106 Doesn't Add Up |first=David |last=Rothman |date=January 24, 1993 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 9, 2020 |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801200207/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-24-ca-2356-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>