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.
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