In 1992, Clint Eastwood released his mid-career masterpiece, Unforgiven, a revisionist Western that’s arguably his greatest achievement as a director. Eastwood plays the movie’s central hero, veteran outlaw and gunfighter Will Munny, as part of a stellar cast that also includes Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris. But every great hero needs a villain of equal might to test their strength and elevate their stature, and Unforgiven’s actor-director found the perfect person to play his opposite number in the form of Gene Hackman.

Eastwood’s fellow New Hollywood legend, Hackman had garnered a reputation for playing steely, hard-boiled characters who weren’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with their enemies. However, rarely in his career had Hackman played an outright villain, let alone one who’d had to face off against one of Clint Eastwood’s famous outlaws of the Old West. Yet between them, Eastwood and Hackman conspired to make surely the best thriller Western ever made, with Hackman playing its chief antagonist.

Gene Hackman Played His Greatest Villain In Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven

Sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett Is An Irredeemably Evil Character

Unforgiven features the most viciously evil character Gene Hackman ever played in his career, the corrupt and brutally violent sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett, whose reign of terror in Big Whiskey, Wyoming William Munny has come to end. The two characters only meet twice in the movie, with Little Bill making an example out of Munny when he’s severely ill on the first occasion. He brags about how saloons across Kansas have “trash” like Eastwood’s character, but not in his town, as he beats a feverish, shivering Munny to a pulp.

The second time Munny meets Little Bill is one of the movie moments we’ll most remember Gene Hackman by. Their final showdown makes for one of the most dramatic Western shootouts in cinema history, as Hackman holds his nerve in the face of Eastwood’s notorious glare. Little Bill’s final words, “I’ll see you in hell, Munny,” is probably Unforgiven’s most memorable line. Hackman proves himself capable of sharing center stage with the definitive Western anti-hero as an equal partner in the collaboration, which is quite the testament to an actor who didn’t initially want the role of Daggett.

Clint Eastwood Convinced Hackman To Star In Unforgiven As A Protest Against Violence

Hackman Was Initially Reluctant To Take On The Role As He Found It Too Violent

It was Clint Eastwood who personally persuaded Gene Hackman to play “Little” Bill Daggett in Unforgiven. According to an interview Eastwood gave to the American Film Insтιтute in 2009, Hackman was the only person he had in mind for the part. He sent him the script, and after reading it, Hackman turned him down. “I don’t want to do any more violent pictures,” he apparently told Eastwood. “I’m tired of them. I’ve been involved with a lot of them.” Rather than taking no for an answer, Eastwood persisted, using his powers of persuasion to get through to his fellow actor.

Unforgiven’s director told Hackman to read the movie’s script one more time before he made his decision. “I think we can make a great statement against violence and killing,” Eastwood suggested. “If we do this right.” It’s not entirely clear how he intended to use a film about a killer outlaw coming out of retirement to shoot a sheriff for a bounty to make a statement against violence and killing, but Gene Hackman did as he said. He reread Unforgiven’s script and came around to Eastwood’s way of thinking.

As a result, the two actors combined for one of the most gripping and iconic Western movies ever made. Unforgiven might not be free from killing, but it employs violence economically, so that the most brutal scenes make the maximum impact. Gene Hackman’s intimidating portrayal of the movie’s thuggish villain Little Bill is pivotal to its power, and ensures that Eastwood raises his game with a performance up there alongside his very best.