Viewed in
2000, 2011
Formats
VHS, HDTV
Premise
Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen star in a western remake of The Seven Samurai.
Loved
The star power.
Disliked
Forced subplots.
Thoughts
An entertaining old school western.
The star power was fantastic, with Brynner and McQueen being flat out cowboy bad asses. It also had Charles Bronson and other recognizable faces like Robert Vaughn and James Coburn. Don't forget Eli Wallach as the sinister baddy. Director John Sturges did a good job of making each member of the seven easily distinguishable and the pace relatively brisk.
While the story was pretty simple and similar to Kurosawa's classic, it never felt boring, due to the cool presence of the previously mentioned actors and lush cinematography. The production value was high, and I was entertained throughout most of the two-hour-plus runtime. There wasn't anything unique about the gun fights, but they were energetic and well-done. Plus I enjoyed the catchy theme song by Elmer Bernstein.
While the majority of the stars were fun to watch, newcomer Horst Buchholz stood out like a sore thumb surrounded by these great actors. His brash, naive kid character was pretty annoying at times. Another part that bugged me was around the two-thirds mark, the film makers felt compelled to add subplots and "character moments" for all seven hired guns. It gave time for these actors to show their stuff, but it totally bogged down the momentum of the main plot. Charles Bronson's was especially cringe-worthy.
The Magnificent Seven won't make it to my list of favorite westerns, but there's no denying its timeless appeal with its star power and well-executed cowboy shoot-em-up stuff.
What I would change
Got rid of the time-wasting "character moments", making the film less than two hours long and tightening up the last act.
