La furia de los siete magníficos

Just when you think they're releasing more and always inferior "Magnificent Seven" sequels solely because people can't get enough of Elmer Bernstein's legendary musical score, comes the final and (in)arguably best follow-up of the whole franchise. John Sturges' 1960 original, although merely just a blatant imitation of the Japanese milestone "Seven Samurai", can righteously be considered as a true American western classic, but parts II and III are downright shameless, uninspired and totally redundant rehashes without any entertainment value whatsoever. The character of Chris Adams, twice depicted by Yul Brunner and once by George Kennedy, grew out to become some sort of philosophical prophet who always does the right thing and the rare highlights of the sequels were just vague copies of similar moments featuring in the original. With this fourth and final installment, we arrived in the decade of 70's cinema and is this ever noticeable or what? What the Italian directors already knew throughout the entire 1960's had now suddenly become clear in the USA as well: westerns need to be mean and dirty, with despicable characters (even the heroes!), graphic violence and plenty of sleaze and smut! Even the traditional goody-two-shoes Marshall Chris Adams has suddenly become an embittered and narcissistic persona, though admittedly the performance and natural charisma of Lee "the Bad" Van Cleef adds a great deal to this transformation. Not once but twice Chris rejects the cry for help of an old pal, who begs him to come and fight an unfair battle against a Mexican posse that terrorizes a small little town near the American border. Instead of that, he chooses to go after one sole juvenile delinquent who raped and murdered his own wife. Only when Chris discovers that his pal killed off the youthful thug because he joined the posse, he feels responsible to take over the good cause and defend the remaining widows of the little community. Chris' six "noble" helpers aren't heroic lonesome cowboys, but convicted criminals who only participate because it's their only chance for parole. This minor chance in the formula actually makes this final entry more like a crossover between "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Dirty Dozen". And last but not least, the allegedly poor and defenseless town women are actually more like luscious and horny widows. They don't exactly appear mournful over their brutally slaughter farmer husbands and pretty much throw themselves at the robust macho thugs. It also has to be said that they don't really look like Mexican farmer women, but more like the ensemble staff of a luxury brothel. All this is perhaps a bit of an abrupt alternation of the franchise, but it's the best damn thing that could have happened to it! The gunfights are quite nasty, with lots of blood spurting out of people's stomachs and heads, and the climax is short but exhilarating. Van Cleef is awesome as always (by God, I love that guy) and there are terrific supportive roles for Luke Askew, Ed Lauter and William Lucking. And, not to forget, a modest but memorable cameo appearance of a still very young Gary Busey.

This next chapter of "The Magnificent Seven" stars Ralph Waite, Lee VanCleef, Michael Callan, and two recognizable young faces, Stefanie Powers and Mariette Hartley. Marshall borrows prisoners to help him go after mexican bandits. they take over the mostly empty house pretty easily, but then go after the larger gang, which will be more difficult. although even more interesting than the plot of M.S.R... i highly recommend reading the Trivia section regarding the Battle of the Adobe Walls. (there were actually TWO battles at that spot. and some great details on the battles found in wikipedia dot com). pretty cool history, although it is only mentioned briefly in the film. Directed by George McCowan, who also directed the 1979 version of H.G. Wells' (remake) Shape of Things to Come. Written by Arthur Rowe, who did mostly television. Attentive viewers will see the famous Vasquez Rocks area, northeast of LA, used for so many films over the years.

This ain't your grandfather's western. It's disturbing, cynical, morally ambiguous, and despite the stunningly bright visuals and bouncy themesong by Elmer Bernstein, it's one of the darkest westerns I've ever seen. I couldn't help but wonder if this film served as the template for the Eastwood masterpiece UNFORGIVEN that would come 20 years later.

Unlike your classic westerns where the hero is infallable and can shoot the dandruff off a cockroach at 100 yards, this presents a realistic protagonist: a man who is troubled by questions of morality, one who doesn't always have the perfect plan, one who makes some pretty bad judgements and has to pay the price.

There are some real gems of dialogue that illustrate this human factor, delivered brilliantly by Lee Van Cleef in the role of Chris.

A priest says: "God works in mysterious ways."

Chris retorts: "Yeah, he confuses the heck out of me, too."

And throughout the film we get similar insight into the soul of a man who, despite his decades of experience, still doesn't have any answers--at least none that he can convince himself about, despite his bravado. For that reason alone, I rate this as one of my favourite westerns. Like the aforementioned UNFORGIVEN, this is one of the rare westerns that shows us what real life is about, not comic book goodguy/badguy stuff.

I can only assume that's why this film doesn't seem to be well received. The earlier MAG7 films seemed to be a clearcut war between right & wrong, whereas MAG7 RIDE gives us a war between two different forms of insanity. This presents a much more challenging story to follow. Viewers might be confused at how a "good guy" can leave his friends to die, or how he doesn't fight fair. But to me--and maybe to you--it gives the story a lot more substance. It also makes the story very unpredictable right from the beginning, and as a result it's one of the most suspenseful westerns I've seen.

A word about Stefanie Powers: FREAKIN AMAZING. Good golly miss molly, I didn't know she could act! If you think all she can do is "Hart to Hart" you gotta check this film out for her performance alone. It's a tough role, because she plays the emotional character amidst a backdrop of cold, leathery gunslingers. This formula is nothing new for western heroines; however I've noticed in other films the emotional heroine is too melodramatic, reducing her to the absurd. Stefanie, on the other hand, delivers the perfect subtle performance: very human yet not hysterical. She's smart, wise (in many cases wiser than any other character)... and I gotta say it... what a looker! You'll find your eyes glued to her in every scene.

A final note, for anyone who notices this sort of thing: horses. As with all old westerns we see a fair number of horses getting thrown around. I went back & watched these scenes in slowmo, and I'm pretty sure that these were trained horses who fell without harm. Unlike RETURN OF THE MAG7 which was absolutely brutal (in one case you see a trip wire pop up, sending a 40mph, 2000lb horse onto its head--I doubt that horse ever got up again), these horses always fall to the side and roll safely. It always sucks when you learn how many horses are killed in these old westerns, but this film seemed to be pretty tame in that respect. Well, enough of that. The bottom line is I really enjoyed this film, and if any of this review made sense to you, I think you'll really like it, too. Go Ride(!) to your nearest video store and check it out. (gawd that was a cheezy line. Maybe I'll edit it out later)

Taking more of its plot from The Dirty Dozen than from the previous Magnificent Seven movies, The Magnificent Seven Ride! finds Lee Van Cleef in the role of Chris the leader, previously filled by Yul Brynner and George Kennedy.

There's a bandit named DeToro (Ron Stein) who apparently took over the role from Rudolfo Acosta mid point in the filming who's a really nasty devil, raping the women of a given place after the men have been killed is an avocation of his. When he rapes and kills Van Cleef's woman, it's time for Van Cleef and writer friend Michael Callan to find five more to make another seven.

Good men are hard to find so when you can't find good ones, get bad ones. Which Van Cleef does by going to the nearest prison and getting five specimens, William Lucking, Luke Askew, Pedro Armendariz, Jr., James Sikking, and Ed Lauter.

Obviously this part of the plot is completely ripped off from The Dirty Dozen. And Van Cleef does have an interesting way in both insuring his parolees don't desert him and guarantees that the bandit chief will meet him on ground of his own choosing. That's the big surprise of the plot and I won't reveal it.

Some surviving women of another town, Stefanie Powers, Mariette Hartley, Allyn Ann McLerie, and Melissa Murphy join up with the Dirty Seven knowing full well, it's either their protection or their open targets any time the bandits are having a booty call. This is the only Magnificent Seven film with any real women participation in it.

Still it doesn't quite come up to the standards of that first film. None of the successors do.

By-the-numbers western has the chintzy look of a cheap Aaron Spelling made-for-TV opus. A good cast of veteran "heavies"--Luke Askew, William Lucking, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Ed Lauter--can't save this extremely ordinary oater from poor direction and atrocious hack writing. Predictable at every turn,