The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Synopsis: John Sturges's remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic THE SEVEN SAMURAI has become an influential film in its own right. A small Mexican village that makes involuntary donations of its harvest to a gang of bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach) decides to hire a group of professional gunmen,... John Sturges's remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic THE SEVEN SAMURAI has become an influential film in its own right. A small Mexican village that makes involuntary donations of its harvest to a gang of bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach) decides to hire a group of professional gunmen, headed by gunslinger-for-hire Chris (Yul Brynner), to protect them. Despite the meager pay, Chris and Vin (Steve McQueen) sign on after the Mexicans see them confront some racist thugs. As they ride to the village, Chris picks up some other gunmen, including Bernardo (Charles Bronson), Lee (Robert Vaughan), Britt (James Coburn), Harry (Brad Dexter), and aspiring gunslinger Chico (Horst Buchholz). The Mexicans, who are at first ambivalent about having gunmen hanging around their town, finally let down their guard and allow their visitors to teach them how to shoot and how to reconfigure the town to defend against Calvera. When the bandits return, they find harvesting the crops a little more challenging. This rousing, perfectly cast action film launched the careers of Bronson, McQueen, and Coburn. It also benefits tremendously from the unforgettably polyrhythmic score by Elmer Bernstein, among the most famous in film history. So popular was the film's theme that it was used to sell Marlboro cigarettes for years afterward. [More]
Genre: Westerns
Starring: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Horst Buchholz, James Coburn
Producer: John Sturges, Lou Morheim
Screenwriter: William Roberts, Walter Newman, Walter Bernstein
Story: Akira Kurosawa
Composer: Elmer Bernstein
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 10, 2006
DVD Features:
- Anamorphic - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French, Spanish
- Mono - English, French, Spanish
- Subtitles - English - Closed Captioning
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Overly celebrated, but the gun fights are among the best ever in a Western.
An inferior remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 action classic The Seven Samurai, though worth seeing because of the star performances.
If it's not the greatest Western ever made, it's certainly in the top three. This is the movie that made Steve McQueen a star.
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