- Title: The Magnificent Seven
- IMDb: link
While not on the level of the film which inspired it, The Magnificent Seven amps up the humor to provide one of the most beloved Hollywood westerns which itself has been remade, adapted, and repackaged in TV and movies ranging from Three Amigos to Ocean’s Eleven. Adapting Seven Samurai to the Old West, we get an outlaw leader terrorizing a small village just south of the border. Heading north to buy guns, instead the three villagers return with seven gunmen to fight off Calvera’s (Eli Wallach) men.
Led by Chris (Yul Brynner), our heroes include the broke gambler (Steve McQueen) who Chris meets early in the film, an old friend (Brad Dexter) mistakenly convinced there’s a big score to be made, the young buck (Horst Buchholz) with a little too much to prove, a soldier (Charles Bronson) fallen on hard times, a quick-draw expert (James Coburn), and a fugitive (Robert Vaughn) haunted by his past.
The film includes some terrific gun battles, a great standoff involving locals refusing to let a Native American be buried in the local cemetery, Britt winning a dispute with a knife, Chico’s growing pains, a rousing score by Elmer Bernstein, and a tragic ending that somehow still feels hopeful even if the majority of the gunfighters never make it out alive. Rereleased on 4K in a limited edition steelbook, the collection includes previously released extras and featurettes.
Watch the trailerListen to the Main Theme
