* ActorInspiredElement: When English Bob departs, cursing at the town, he speaks with a rough, lower-class cockney accent, confirming that Bob's refined, upper-crust persona was fake. Creator/RichardHarris revealed:
-->I read the script and I said to Creator/ClintEastwood, "You know, it would be great if I could play this man as a very sort of upper-class fake, and at the end of the picture--when he gets the hell beaten out of him--maybe all of that drops, and you see behind it all he's really sort of a low life". And Clint said, "Yes, great! Go for it!".
* AllStarCast: We've got Creator/ClintEastwood, Creator/GeneHackman, Creator/MorganFreeman, Creator/RichardHarris…
* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/RichardHarris jumped at the chance to work with Creator/ClintEastwood. In fact, when he was offered the role, he was watching his favourite western on television - ''Film/HighPlainsDrifter''.
* BillingDisplacement: Creator/RichardHarris is fourth-billed, and while English Bob is certainly an entertaining character, he's not particularly relevant to the main plot, and there are other characters with more screentime.
* CareerResurrection: The film revived Creator/ClintEastwood's career after a string of not very well regarded films in the 1980s.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Southern Alberta, Canada doubles for 19th-century Wyoming and Kansas. In particular, "Big Whiskey" was set at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_U_Ranch Bar U Ranch]], a local historic landmark.
* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/GeneHackman had turned down the part of Munny before the script came to Creator/ClintEastwood.
* CompletelyDifferentTitle: Known in France as ''Impitoyable'' ("merciless"). The Quebecois title is closer to the original one, but not a literal translation (''Impardonnable'', literally "unforgivable").
* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/ClintEastwood personally telephoned Creator/RichardHarris to offer him the role of English Bob. Harris was watching ''Film/HighPlainsDrifter'' on television at the time, leading to Harris thinking it was a prank.
* DeletedRole: Creator/ClintEastwood's mother Ruth Wood toiled through an uncomfortable day (wearing a heavy dress) as an extra, filming a scene where she boards a train; but the scene was eventually cut, with her son apologizing that the film was "too long and something had to go." All was forgiven when he brought her to the Academy Awards and thanked her prominently in his acceptance speech.
* FakeAmerican: ''Unforgiven'' was filmed in Alberta, so many of the supporting characters (like Beauchamp and the Schofield Kid) are played by Canadian actors.
* FakeBrit: English Bob is played by the Irish Creator/RichardHarris.
* FollowTheLeader: Though the script had been around for awhile, this film wasn't finally produced until after there was a full resurgence of interest in the western genre with the success of ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' after a period of largely being seen as unprofitable due to the enormous failure of ''Film/HeavensGate''. This film like that one would go on to win a number of Academy Awards including Best Picture.
* GodNeverSaidThat: Despite some online claims, Clint Eastwood has never stated that William Munny is an older [[Film/DollarsTrilogy Man With No Name]]. In fact, original screenwriter David Peoples confirmed in [[https://archive.is/6fDTh#selection-2093.0-2093.78 an interview]] that he was thinking of writing a prequel movie about Munny in his prime, contradicting the supposed "fact" that ''Unforgiven'' is a sequel to the ''Dollars Trilogy''.
* InMemoriam: The final screen credit reads, "Dedicated to Sergio and Don", referring to Creator/ClintEastwood's mentors, Creator/SergioLeone and Don Siegel.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: As part of the film's GenreDeconstruction of Westerns as a whole, Creator/ClintEastwood's role in the film is a deconstruction of his earlier Western character(s), namely those from the ''Film/DollarsTrilogy''.
* PropRecycling: Creator/ClintEastwood wore the same boots as he did in ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''.
* RealLifeRelative: Creator/ClintEastwood's mother Ruth Wood had a role as an extra that was eventually {{deleted|Role}}.
* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The script floated around Hollywood for nearly 20 years, during which time Creator/GeneHackman read and rejected it, only to be later convinced by Creator/ClintEastwood (who had owned the rights to the script for some time) to play a role.
** In the early 1980s, Creator/FrancisFordCoppola got ahold of the script, and met with Creator/JohnMalkovich to offer him the role of William Munny. Malkovich recalled:
-->The offer was not very serious - thank God! I say that for myself and the poor public, and for Clint - absolutely! I would have been a total, total failure. Total! Who would've wanted to see that? I wouldn't! I would've just been acting-schmatching. There are some things you can only have with a kind of mythic figure which Clint is.
* SparedByTheCut: The screenplay reveals that the Schofield Kid drowned himself out of guilt for having killed a man.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/SamRockwell was considered for the Schofield Kid.
** Creator/JeremyIrons was reportedly considered for English Bob.
* WorkingTitle: ''The Cut-Whore Killings'' and ''The William Munny Killings''.
----