What's Up With the Title?
While it would be cool if Unforgiven was named after the famous Metallica song, we happen to know that it wasn't. Sorry.
However, we can tell you that the title of this film means…brace yourselves….that somebody in it is unforgiven. (There's a shocker.)
So who's Unforgiven? It's hard to say, really. William Munny doesn't forgive Little Bill for killing his friend, so Little Bill is unforgiven. The prostitutes don't forgive Quick Mike and Davey Bunting, so they're unforgiven, too.
Despite all these candidates, the most unforgiven of them all has to be William Munny. Even though he claims at numerous points in the early part of the film to have changed, by the end of the film it's clear: he hasn't changed. He is, as one critic has put it, unredeemed.
Whereas Ned Logan hesitates before shooting a guy, and the Kid is rattled by murder, Munny has no problem killing Little Bill, Skinny, and a bunch of deputies. He's always been an outlaw at heart…and he probably always will be.