The Unforgiven is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Huston, and starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn.

Filmed in Durango, Mexico, the supporting cast features Audie Murphy, Charles Bickford, Lillian Gish, John Saxon, Joseph Wiseman, Doug McClure and Albert Salmi.

Will Zachary was killed by Kiowa Indians, leaving his oldest son Ben (Burt Lancaster) as head of the family.

Ben and his mother Mattilda (Lillian Gish) are very protective of Rachel (Audrey Hepburn), who was adopted as an infant; she is doted on by the whole family, including her other brothers Cash (Audie Murphy) and Andy (Doug McClure).

During preparations for a cattle drive to Wichita, Kansas, the family is unsettled by the appearance of Abe Kelsey (Joseph Wiseman), who claims that Rachel is Indian by birth.

Later, a group of Kiowa led by Lost Bird appears and offers Ben horses in exchange for handing over Rachel.

Ben leads the ranchers in tracking down Kelsey, and they bring him back to the Rawlins ranch to hang him as a horse thief.

Back at their homestead, Mattilda admits to her family that Will took the Kiowa baby and brought her home to replace an infant daughter they had just lost.

To stop her, Ben deliberately breaks the truce by ordering Andy to kill a Kiowa, which touches off a bloody siege.

When the Kiowa stampede cattle over the roof of the house, the family sets it on fire and takes shelter in the root cellar.

Original screenwriter JP Miller was replaced by Ben Maddow, original director Delbert Mann was replaced by John Huston, and plans for Richard Burton in the role that eventually went to Audie Murphy were stopped when Burton demanded equal billing with Burt Lancaster, which Lancaster refused.

[10] Bosley Crowther, in his review for The New York Times, stated that Huston "who made a "different" Western in his The Treasure of Sierra Madre [sic], has obviously tried to make another in The Unforgiven," and "the gritty aspect of the ranching frontier, the tough, robust nature of its people, the touchiness of the mystery are all well and tensely brought together within Mr. Huston's crunching scenes," but that "Those who expect to see a settlement of the racial question will not be satisfied.