Seven Men from Now (1956)

Seven Men from Now
Directed by Budd Boetticher
Written by Burt Kennedy
1956/USA
Batjac Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

Ben Stride: [about Greer] A man oughta be able to take care of his woman.

This movie shows that a familiar plot done well can still make an excellent movie.

Ben Stride (Randolph Scott)  used to be the sheriff of a town called Silver Spring until he was voted out of office.  He was too proud to take the job of deputy and couldn’t find any other work.  His beloved wife therefore took a job at the Wells Fargo office.  She was killed during a robbery of the office.  Now Ben is chasing down the seven men responsible. Early on he has success with two of them.  He then heads toward Flora Vista where he believes the others are in hiding.

On the way there, Ben runs into a couple of Easterners named Greer whose wagon is stuck in the mud. The man seems to be completely hopeless at any type of manual labor or decision-making.  His wife Annie (Gail Russell) is a different story.  Ben helps them.  They then find they are heading in the same direction.  The attraction between Annie and Ben is palpable but unacted on.

The party then runs into Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) or rather he runs into them.  He is after the $20,000 robbed from the Wells Fargo office and figures Ben will lead him to it when he finds the targets of his revenge.  Ben locked up Bill twice in the past and there is no love lost between them.  The rest of the movie follows the dynamic of the little group and Ben’s progress toward revenge.

We have seen this same revenge story in several Westerns.  What sets this apart is the excellence of all its elements.  The acting is first rate (I never thought I would say that about Randolph Scott based on his work in the 30’s) and the proceedings are kept moving at a good pace and shot in an interesting way.  Recommended.

Trailer