Daily Archives: January 14, 2017

The Magnificent Seven
Directed by John Sturges
Written by William Roberts
1960/USA
Mirisch Company/Alpha Productions/Alpha
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Vin: It’s like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, “Why?”

Calvera: And?

Vin: He said, “It seemed to be a good idea at the time.”[/box]

This might be the most famous mainstream film I had never seen.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Horst Buchholz is certainly no Toshiro Mifune!

This is famously a remake of Akira Kurasawa’s Seven Samurai, reset as a Western in which gunmen are hired to protect a poor Mexican village.  The village has suffered repeated pillaging by a gang of bandidos headed by the heartless Calvera (Eli Wallach).  It may not survive another attack.  A village elder sends some of the men to the border buy guns.  All they have to offer is whatever they can get from the elder’s gold pocket watch, the only valuable remaining.

When in town, the men observe Chris (Yul Brynner) and Vin (Steve McQueen) stand up to the majority by escorting the body of an Indian for burial at Boot Hill, considered by townspeople to be an all White cemetery.  Their victory in a gun battle convinces the Mexicans that they would be better off with gunmen like these than with the guns.  There is a long sequence in which Chris and Vin are convinced to help them and others are recruited.  The seventh samurai is the youth Chico (Buchholz), whose bark is bigger than his bite but who refuses to be left behind.

We then move to Mexico where we watch the team plan and execute the village’s defense.  Plenty of action ensues.  With James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn and Brad Dexter as the rest of the seven.

With this cast, the movie was guaranteed to be entertaining!  I enjoyed it but I had always imagined that the story would parallel Seven Samurai more closely than it actually did. Many of the characters are conflated and the filmmakers could not resist the classic Hollywood ending.  If you don’t compare it to the Japanese original, however, this is superior Western fare.  Elmer Bernstein’s score is absolutely iconic and a total joy.

The Magnificent Seven was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

The Sundowners
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Written by Isobel Linnart from a novel by Jon Cleary
1960/UK
Warner Bros. Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ida Carmody: This is a good country for sheep and it’s not bad for men, but it’s hard on us women. The men come here because of the sheep, and we come here because of the men, and most of us finish up looking like the sheep. Wrinkled faces, knotty hair, and not even much of a mind of our own.[/box]

This is a pleasant picture about a family of Australian migrant workers played by Americans and Brits.

Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) has a serious case of wanderlust.  He would rather spend his time in various pubs but when the family is out of cash he prefers to work as a drover.  This involves herding sheep from farm to market.  The family lives in a tent.  His wife Ida (Deborah Mitchum) and son Sean are tiring of life on the road but basically this is a close and devoted family.  As the film begins, the Carmody’s are about to set off on their latest droving work.  Paddy gets drunk, magnanimously hires aging Englishman Rupert Venneker (Peter Ustinov) and his horse, and regrets it in the morning.  Rupert talks his way back onto the journey and develops a special bond with Sean.

When the family arrives at its destination, Ida, still desperate for a home of her own, hears of well-paying sheep-shearing work.  This is really not Paddy’s thing but fate has other ideas.  It turns out Paddy is a fast and efficient worker.  Ida gets hired on as a cook and both Rupert and Sean have other jobs.  The family accumulates a nest egg but it is another matter to get Paddy to settle down … With Glynis Johns as a cheerful inn proprietor who strikes up a sometime romance with Rupert.

It took awhile for me to get used to Robert Mitchum’s Australian accent but once I did I settled down to enjoy the film.  All the acting is good with Kerr particularly fine in a role that is a bit of a stretch for her.  The movie seemed to have something for the entire family with beautiful shots of Australian scenery and animals as a bonus.

The Sundowners was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actress (Kerr); Best Supporting Actress (Johns); Best Director; and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Trailer