Unforgiven

When the stranger spoke, a silence fell over the regulars at the end of the saloon's mahogany bar.Moments earlier, we had been jawing about one of our favorite topics: the greatest Western ever made.As usual, Big Harry had argued for "The Searchers." Little Eddie pounded the bar for "High Noon." Lefty Dan praised "Red River." And I spoke for "True Grit."We've been having this pow-wow for years with no compromise. The closest we've come to consensus is that there are only eight or nine truly great Westerns, followed by a dozen that almost make it.The handful of undeniable greats, in no particular order, include the above four, as well as "Shane," "Stagecoach," "The Magnificent Seven," "The Shootist," "The Gunfighter" and "The Wild Bunch."

What some in Hollywood foresaw as a brewing Good Guy vs. Bad Guy Oscar campaign war at Warner Bros. has evaporated quickly.Ads taken out by the studio in the Hollywood trade papers trumpeting the Academy Award-level of acting, directing and other achievements in Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" are invariably matched, a few pages later, by those for Spike Lee's "Malcolm X."The treatment is viewed as strictly 50-50 -- no matter what executives might feel in their hearts after fending off nearly a year's worth of public attacks from Mr. Lee that they discriminated against his $35 million screen biography of the slain black leader.

HOLLYWOOD -- Although winning best director and best picture Oscars (as he did for 1992's "Unforgiven") would qualify as the pinnacle of most people's careers, in Clint Eastwood's case Academy Awards have proved to be only launching pads to enough honors to embarrass a Roman senator, let alone the laconic Man With No Name.On Thursday night, at a black-tie event to be telecast by ABC in the spring, Mr. Eastwood will become the 24th winner of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men," starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, led in nominations for the 50th annual Golden Globe Awards, announced yesterday. The Rob Reiner-directed film received nods in five key categories, including best dramatic motion picture, actor, supporting actor, director and screenwriter.Walt Disney Pictures' animated feature "Aladdin" also received five nominations -- best motion picture comedy or musical category and four for its critically praised song score.

The skies opened about 15 minutes before the $75,000 Carousel Stakes at Laurel Park yesterday. Torrents of rain fell.Jose Martin and his son Jose Martin Jr. looked toward the heavens and thanked their lucky stars."

1 First things first:: Ravens-Bengals : First game for the first-year QB, the first-year head coach, and the first-year Chad Ocho Cinco (left). See who moves into first in the AFC North (1 p.m., Ch. 13). 2 Seconds, thirds: and fourths: A Week 1 feast: Rams at Eagles (1 p.m, Ch. 5), Jets at Dolphins (1 p.m., Ch. 9), Cowboys at Browns (4 p.m, Ch. 45) and Bears at Colts (8 p.m., chs. 11, 4). 3 An eye for an eye: At the World Wrestling Entertainment's Unforgiven event (pay-per-view, 8 p.m.)

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Bashir Zeglan left his native Libya in 1982 looking for another country.Yesterday, he got that country and a new name: that of actor Clint Eastwood.Mr. Zeglan officially took Mr. Eastwood's name when he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. At 37, he chose the moniker because Mr. Eastwood is his favorite film star."I thought about Marlon Brando, Sylvester Stallone and Al Pacino, too," he said. "They're intriguing names, but Clint stands out from anyone else as an actor. I don't think anyone is as good as him. He's my hero."

If you thought there weren't any more awards left for "Schindler's List" to win, think again. Steven Spielberg's epic collected a record seven prizes recently in the Hollywood Reporter's 23rd Annual Key Art Awards.What's key art, you ask? Any advertising art keyed to the release of a movie, such as trailers, posters, print ads, billboards and standees.And what, while we've got the dictionary open, is a standee? No, not something you stand on, although many theater managers would certainly, vigorously like to. A standee is one of those free-standing cardboard displays in a theater lobby or video store.

Old-pro Western directors like Budd Boetticher could stage entire tales of vengeance and redemption, with ambushes, shoot-outs and reversals of character, in less time than a revisionist like Kevin Costner takes to tie his bedrolls. Costner is now underrated as an actor. When he works with Ron Shelton on films like Bull Durham and Tin Cup, he's a quick-witted, casual romantic. As a director, though, he's interminably self-important. In Open Range, he and his screenwriter, Craig Storper, try to transform cowboy novelist Lauran Paine's unassuming 1990 oater, The Open Range Men, into an epic statement on rough justice and frontier life.

More than 20 years ago, Clint Eastwood got to scowl over a rather large handgun at a cowering thug and say, "So, you have to ask yourself: 'Do I feel lucky today?' Well, punk? Do you?" The punk did. Clint blew him away. Things were so much simpler then.That was in "Dirty Harry," the controversial hit that propelled him to his highest level of recognizability, made him a genuine star and vouchsafed the career that was to follow. But the contempt of the critics for this hoot of right-wing macho was scathing, and one suspects it hurt him.Now, more than 20 years later, the critics have come to love him. He either outlived or outlasted the loudest of them.