# Why did Unforgiven win an Oscar?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-unforgiven-win-an-oscar/347179>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 5, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-unforgiven-win-an-oscar/347179 "2006-03-05T21:34:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-unforgiven-win-an-oscar/347179/21 "2006-03-06T01:33:36Z")

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My favorite western. It deserved to win on its own merits, regardless of Clints earlier work.

Also it’s a movie _about_ westerns. To the Academy, made up of people who are heavily involved in movies, that might resonate a little more then with the population at large. That probably helped to give it an edge as well.

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**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-unforgiven-win-an-oscar/347179/22 "2006-03-06T03:12:58Z")

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It won because it was and is an excellent film. One of the best westerns ever made.

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**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-unforgiven-win-an-oscar/347179/23 "2006-03-06T03:23:45Z")

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> [@What Exit?](#):
>
> \*\*Unforgiven \*\* was the best of the 5 nominated movies as others have said, but why the slamming of **Silverado** , I am watching it right now on HBO and it was a good, fun movie. No oscar contender but a solid piece of entertainment with a lot of big actors before they were big yet.  
> Great support from the likes of Cleese & Goldblum & Whitfield.
> 
> Back to **Unforgiven** , the talk of the pre-oscars that year was that it was a weak field and they could hand out some life-time achievement awards.
> 
> Jim

I like Silverado but I have major problems with it. It seems to me that Kasdan made a movie that was about an hour too long, then he had to cut it. Some of the plot threads went no where, particularly Rosanna Arquette’s.

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**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-unforgiven-win-an-oscar/347179/24 "2006-03-06T03:57:17Z")

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> [@Sam Stone](#):
>
> This was also the year that Marisa Tomei won best actress for “My Cousin Vinny”.

[minor nitpick]Marisa Tomei won Best Supporting Actress[/minor nitpick] However, your point is quite right!

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