Les 7 mercenaires

Every year a Mexican bandit and his large gang of forty thieves harass and plunder a poor farming village south of the American border. They take what they need in provisions from the increasingly impoverished inhabitants. Deciding that enough means ENOUGH (and the wise old man in the village advises that it is DO or DIE), the village elders recruit gunmen from the US to defend them. The actual recruiting of six of the motley crew of gunslingers is done by top American gunman, the grim Chris Adams (Yul Brynner), dressed in black. The wages are only twenty dollars but chow is included, and it is good Mexican food (as the Americans discover). Each one of the defenders has his own reasons for volunteering, and not necessarily as a sense of doing the right thing (one of the men is a soldier of fortune). The men have various talents. For instance, one is a sharpshooter; another is handy with a knife. Much of the film is obviously a build-up to the final confrontation between the "good guys" and the banditos.

Outside of the rousing action-packed sequences, this movie has four merits: the actors, the cinematography, Elmer Bernstein's Oscar-nominated music score, and the on-location filming in Mexico. Stars and future stars like Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Steve Mc Queen, Robert Vaughn, and James Coburn do not disappoint. Eli Wallach, the future "Tuco," stars as an appropriate pitiless Mexican leader Calvera, who is not without his own concerns. Of course, with so many personalities, actors "battle" for screen time. There is an underlying message in this movie (and in subsequent remakes) that is overlooked: Mexico was a place of anarchy where the federal government could not always keep law and order.

John Sturges' western was lifted from Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" (1954), perhaps the greatest movie ever filmed in Japan. In this original version, seven unemployed samurai swordsmen are also hired to fight bandits who terrorize a village. But Kurosawa made a superior film showing the importance of the code of honor of the defenders along with their three-dimensional character development (the film's length was much longer). He even showed a sketch of the Japanese village and the name (or symbols) of each of the bad guys. So when one of them was bumped off, one of the samurai would cross off his name from the bandit list. This helps the audience understand the defensive strategy and what was happening in the battles as the number of the bandits diminished.

Nevertheless, "The Magnificent Seven" does stand on its own merits in the heyday of American westerns as a very good movie to enjoy. Even though the pacing is slow, it remains worthwhile watching.

Re-make are seldom as good as the original, but here Hollywood or rather John Sturges managed to capture some of the spirit of Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai' which itself owes something to the 'Three Musketeers' and which Sturges duly acknowledged in the credits. Partly this is due to some inspired casting. With the exception of Yul Brynner, none of the actors was particularly well known at the time. Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Eli Wallach and Horst Buchholz (an unlikely Mexican) all went on to successful acting careers. The format of this film was replicated in many later films.

The plot couldn't be simpler. Desperate Mexican villagers, bled white by local bandits, retain a group of almost equally desperate gunslingers from the other side of the Rio Grand to deal with the bandits. A lot of the fun arises early on as leader Cajun Chris seeks out half a dozen suitably deranged but deadly types for the job. Ostensibly they are doing it for the money but it becomes apparent early on that they are really on the team just for the hell of it. Once they are together things don't quite go to plan, but the camaraderie holds up, and their mission is accomplished, though at considerable cost.

Despite all the action it is a character-driven piece in some ways. Eli Wallach's Calvera the bandit leader is more than a cardboard cut-out villain and Yul Brynner's enigmatic Chris keeps us guessing. The villagers, despite their matching white smocks, are not all lily-white and each of the Seven has at least one interesting weakness.

A strong feature of the film is the music, penned by the ubiquitous Elmer Bernstein, and entirely appropriate, with a main theme which seems to be permanently welded into my brain.

'The Magnificent Seven' was made at a time when the appetite for westerns was going into decline. Whereas westerns were staple film and TV fare in the 50's, the sixties saw a sharp decline, as spy dramas and sex farces burgeoned. One interesting theory I've heard about this is that it's not so much that the audience tired of westerns, but that TV executives discovered that they were being watched by the people too poor to buy their sponsor's fine products. Anyway this film holds up very well after 45 years, a true classic and satisfying to watch.

I saw this film umpteenth number of times in the late 80s n early 90s on a VHS. Revisited it recently on a DVD after watching the remake (Denzel Washington one). Well this movie itself is a western remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. As a fan of western films n being a big fan of Mcqueen, i enjoyed it more than Seven Samurai. The film is an engaging n adventurous western, awesomely directed by John Sturges. The story is simple, poor farmers hire seven gunslingers to protect them from a small army of bandits.

Yul Brynner is full of attitude n terrific as the leader of the seven. Steve McQueen really shines as the right-hand man. Charlie Bronson in his leanest physique wearing a stylish full sleeves tshirt n denim shirt. James Coburn is cool but very deadly with his knife than guns. His body language speaking louder than any of his lines. Robert Vaughn as the man who loves to live life king size n who's fightin his inner demons. Brad Dexter is the big muscular guy with a good sense of humour. And then there is Eli Wallach as the bandit leader. Watch out for Wallach's statement on generosity. The film has a lot of great scenes involving the action and shootouts that is engaging to watch. The Magnificent Seven is not complete without mentioning Elmer Bernstein's legendary score.

Based somewhat faithfully on the Akira Kurosawa classic Shichinin no samurai, The Magnificent Seven could be mistaken for just another of the many Westerns that were turned out in Hollywood during this era. But there is a certain something that keeps The Magnificent Seven unique. Part of it is the concept borrowed from the earlier Japanese film, but some of it lies in the attitude of the seven mercenaries referred to in the title.

Much is made here of the difference between fighting for money, fighting for justice, or fighting for a future. While this version of Kurosawa's epic contains all the philosophical leanings of the original, it isn't nearly as long-winded or languid. The downside to this is that it isn't nearly as moody or powerful. In fact, one can easily see the difference between American and foreign cinema simply by comparing Shichinin no samurai with The Magnificent Seven. One is incredibly dark and downbeat most of the time. The other mostly has a score that is so major it wouldn't sound out of place in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.

Differences in feeling aside, the ultimate question is whether this version of the story manages to entertain. The hardest challenge any film faces is keeping the audience amused while all the exposition is laid out. Here, the exposition is kept to a minimum while carefully inserted between some fast-paced, albeit very mild action sequences.

Sometimes, the dialogue ("We deal in lead, friend.") gets incredibly stilted. Sometimes, it seems incredibly wise. Well, since we have examples of films where it's all stilted, all the time, we can forgive this one. The film also includes several textbook examples of how to include a sudden plot element without seeming contrived. When we learn why Calvera's men just won't go away, it needs no setup simply because it is consistent with their behaviour throughout the rest of the film.

In the end, The Magnificent Seven comes off as an excellent remake of a masterpiece. There are better Westerns out there, and there are better action films, but there aren't many. I gave it a nine out of ten. Go in expecting to be entertained, but little more, and you cannot go wrong.

A wonderful classic beautifully scored and shot.

There are so many moody looks between characters, and little movements or idiosyncrasies that just make each of the gunmen seem so real. Apparently, there were big egos behind the camera that caused these acts of showmanship, but unlike most films where the egos clash, here they just build the characters up without harming them.

Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen are just wonderful, and James Coburn and Charles Bronson both put in equal performances. There's just nothing about this film that you can fault, the script is kept light when required and the stunning score lifts up and the acting is huge but never too much. This is a must see…again and again.