UNFORGIVEN

"We've all got it coming, kid!"--Unforgiven

Yesterday afternoon I saw Unforgiven with Dawna. That's the fourth in the series of "avenging angel" westerns starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, along with High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider.  It's even better the second time. 

It's an old man's western, like Ride the High Country and The Wild Bunch.  Gene Hackman's especially good as the ex-gunfighter sheriff nemesis. There are some funny touches, like Hackman's jerry-built house and Eastwood's persistent trouble getting his horse to stand still so he can mount it.  But there's also a scene with two guys on a train shooting birds out of the sky in a marksmanship contest, encapsulating the waste culture of the frontier.

Today I was going to see a documentary at the Bloor, but misplaced my glasses just before I was going to leave.  After a few hours Father found them at the bottom of the stairs. (They must have fallen out of their case when I picked it up.) But in the meantime I was in a foul mood.

I've started reading Xenophobe's Guide to the Portuguese.  Of the ebooks I started looking at, I've ended up spending the most time on the book about the California gold rush.