Written by Old Bluffer 13th Jun 2005

"Hell of a thing, killin' a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."

William Munny is a veteran gun slinger, whose name is feared and villified across the Wild West. He has been retired for many years now though and wants nothing more than to live out his remaining years in peace.
However, as is so often the case for aging criminals, he reluctantly agrees to help his old comrade in arms, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) for one final bounty.
Unfortunately, this takes them into the territory of Sheriff "Little Bill", a vicious law enforcer who delights in brutalising and killing criminals. Soon, Ned's broken body is strung up outside the town saloon and Munny is obliged to exact bloody vengeance.
Munny's strengths lie in the ability to dispassionately blow people away with firearms, but he isn't really a strategist. His plan to take on Bill therefore consists of walking into the saloon with a shotgun, whilst Bill is protected by a horde of armed men.

He only has two shots with his shotgun, and he quickly uses one of those to execute the saloon owner.

Bill is outraged by this murder, as it is ruthless even by his standards, and he denounces Munny as a coward for shooting an unarmed man. Munny is unmoved however:

"Well he shoulda armed himself, if he's gonna decorate his saloon with my friend."

Even before he entered the bar, Munny probably realises he's going to die, but he'll take Bill with him, and that is all that matters.

Organising a posse is far less fun when your quarry surprises you the night before, armed with twin barrels.

For all his faults, Little Bill is a brave man, and he isn't afraid to look death in the face. He grimly instructs his men to open fire once Munny has expended his final barrel.

"That's right. I've killed women and children. Killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you done to Ned."

After this succinct explanation for Bill's impending death, Munny gets down to business and pulls the trigger. Sadly though, his less than trusty shotgun misfires and Little Bill gleefully orders his men to attack.


This face earned Gene Hackman the coveted "Most impressively defiant expression" Oscar.

What follows is total chaos, as Munny suddenly turns into a geriatric killing machine, distracting Little Bill by hurling his now useless shotgun at him and then drawing his revolver to shoot anyone stupid enough to not curl up into a ball on the floor.

There is plenty of return-fire, but the men are by and large not accustomed to the terror and fury of a close range shootout and Munny avoids being hit by dropping to one knee and shooting people dead in priority of how dangerous there are. Bill is the first to be shot in the gut, and by the time the shooting stops the only armed men left standing are those who Munny instinctively senses are too gutless to dare fire at him. He offers this terrified rabble amnesty, which is a shrewd move as he can't have many bullets left by this point.

"Any man don't wanna get killed better clear on out the back."

To a man, they all sheepishly file out, leaving Munny alone with a critically wounded Little Bill. Bill tries to draw his revolver with the last of his strength, but Munny knocks it aside with a rifle he's found, and stands over him, with eyes as cold as a grave. Bill knows he's dead now, and stays defiant to the end.

"I'll see you in hell, William Munny"

Munny's response is typically laconic. "Yeah...", he agrees, and blasts him in the face.


This is the last thing Little Bill ever sees in the world.

Special mention needs to be given to how Munny escapes from the town despite there being any number of armed men waiting outside for him. It is an elegantly simple solution, he just terrorises them so badly that nobody dares fire the first bullet :

"All right, I'm comin' out. And any man I see out there, I'm gonna kill him. Any sumbitch takes a shot at me, I'm not only gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill his wife. And all his friends. Burn his damn house down."