, Josie Wales, Dirty Harry, or William Munny remained true in many ways to the character he portrays in A Fistful of Dollars. So, too, future Eastwood films in which he was involved in production, especially westerns, have the indelible stamp of Leone’s style. In Unforgiven, Eastwood brings the character full circle with his portrayal of William Munny. Like Joe in A Fistful of Dollars, Munny’s motivation for doing away with the bad guys in Unforgiven is money. In the former film his motives for the money are selfish. The bad guys exist only as obstacles to his getting his hands on the money, and the only difference in morality between Joe and the bad guys is that Joe spares innocent people. In Unforgiven, Bill Munny’s motive for wanting the money offered by a group of whores, who want revenge on a man who cut the face of one of their own, is the welfare of his children. Both films express the human dilemma of the good and evil potential of all individuals. In A Fistful of Dollars it is hard to tell Joe from the bad guys when it comes to morals. The one real difference between them is that Joe spares innocent people while the bad guys do not make such distinctions in killing. In Unforgiven, Eastwood develops this good-and-evil theme to the nth degree by giving us what surely must be one of the most reluctant heroes of the west of all time. William Munny tries to make a living for his children after his wife dies, but he does so poorly and is lured back into his former gunfighter lifestyle.
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