Eastwood’s most accomplished western, Unforgiven marked his return to the genre that had made him a star. Based on a David Webb Peoples screenplay that reworks elements of the classic revenge Western, the film was shot on location in a remote setting in western Canada that proved a flawless match for the American frontier of the 1880s. Eastwood plays a pig-farming ex-gunfighter who is lured out of retirement by the chance to redress the brutal assault of a prostitute and to earn some much needed money for his two children. Drawn into this scheme are his former sidekick (Freeman) and the sadistic sheriff (Hackman) whose inaction had spurred the local prostitutes to post a reward. While a moral ambiguity pervades the film, Unforgiven became an unprecedented critical and box-office success, earning an Oscar for Hackman’s chilling performance and a pair for Eastwood as director and producer of this modern masterpiece.