from MGM/UA
Directed by
John Sturges
Starring
Yul Brynner (Chris Adams)
Eli Wallach (Calvera, Bandit Leader)
Steve McQueen (Vin)
Charles Bronson (Bernardo O'Reilly
Robert Vaughn (Lee)
Brad Dexter (Harry Luck)
James Coburn (Britt)
Jorge Martínez de Hoyos (Hilario)
Vladimir Sokoloff (Old Man)
Rosenda Monteros (Petra)
Rico Alaniz (Sotero)
Natividad Vacío (Miguel)
John A. Alonzo (Villager Miguel)
Robert J. Wilke (Wallace)
Val Avery (Henry, Corset Salesman)
Whit Bissell (Chamlee the Undertaker)
Neil Russell (Robert, Henry's Traveling Companion)
Valentin de Vargas (Calvera henchman)
Horst Buchholz (Chico)
Roberto Contreras (Villager)
Written by
William Roberts (screenplay)
Rated:  |
Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samurai
was a natural for an American remake--after all, the codes and
conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the
mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent
Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys (the same trick
worked more than once: Kurosawa's Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's
A Fistful of Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican
village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers
to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and
capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp
of '60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson,
Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is
Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. There's nothing
especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John
Sturges (The Great Escape), but the storytelling is clear and
strong, and the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the
screen. If that isn't enough to awaken the 12-year-old kid inside
anyone, the unforgettable Elmer Bernstein music will do it: bum-bum-ba-bum,
bum-ba-bum-ba-bum.... Followed by three inferior sequels, Return
of the Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent
Seven Ride! --Robert Horton
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