The Magnificent Seven (1960)

It is a hard order to fill if you want to reinvision Akira Kurosawa set within an American western using a hodgepodge of ethnic actors. Not only are you attempting to recreate the same symbolic references and deep moral elements of an already established cult classic, but there are so many other outside elements that may be harder to control than simply samurai’s saving a small village. None the less, director John Sturges tried, and the final result was the abysmal “The Magnificent Seven”. Not to plot my course to early, but being a large fan of Kurosawa’s masterpiece, I had to put that aside and see this film for what it was – what Sturges envisioned – instead of just making comparison after comparison. With sloppy characters, lacking detail, American-ized natives, and a grossly unoriginal villain – this 1960 classic is only memorable for a couple of key performances and an energetic score. Outside of that, Sturges uttered blasphemy on Kurosawa’s work.

Again, I said I wouldn’t compare the two works – so every attempt will be made not to. There were high hopes for “The Magnificent Seven”, a family favorite film that has somehow slipped through my viewing time, but the moment this film began my attention began to fade. With a weak opening, and a lackluster retrieval of heroes to protect the village, “The Magnificent Seven” came out of the gates with a mere gallop, and eventually didn’t even finish the race. As mentioned, our villain has these long monologues of corruption and greed, but when it comes down to it, Calvera didn’t have the true evil gene. He was corrupt, but it was only skin deep. Outside of the typical ransacking of small villages, his character demonstrated no true evil – albeit with a PG rating, what could he do – but I don’t believe Calvera could strike fear in any child today. Eli Wallach is to blame for this. Yet, he wasn’t the only one dragging his feet. This film was bombarded by lackluster acting. Yul Brynner, the obvious lead, seemed to sputter his lines without a moment of emotion or spirit. His pathetic portrayal of Chris Adams, the main cowboy hired to protect, fell flat and was boring to the average viewer. That same description could also be used for most of those that he recruited (what is the saying, flies attract flies?), sans Steve McQueen. As a fan of McQueen’s work, I was impressed by the way he picked up the lacking flag of the others. While he didn’t provide much to each scene, he was interesting to watch, obviously caring more about the overall performance than Brynner did. Unlike Kurosawa’s epic, this didn’t focus as much on the men of the mission, just that they could be there to attack whoever descended onto the village. There was no individual character development, and when there was (see: Robert Vaughn’s nightmare) it was rushed and ill-focused. Whereas in “Samurai” we felt something for each of the heroes, in this – nobody seemed to have the courage to stand forward and introduce themselves to us.

I must admit – this film was boring. From the introduction, to the recruiting, all the way to the repeat battle – “The Magnificent Seven” provided little-to-no entertainment. With no character to stand behind, it was left up to the action to drive the focus, but alas, this seemed to fall short as well. I can agree that there were some decent moments that spoke for the western genre, but nothing challenging. Evil riders would ride in, gunshots would smoke, people would fall, and finally there would be celebration. Thinking about it now, it felt as if Sturges was providing us a cheapened Cliff-Notes version of the original tale. With a running time of a mere 128 minutes, there is no way you could capture the intensity and drama behind Kurosawa’s original 203 minute epic. Again, not to compare side by side – but what made the original work was the characters, the story, the intensity that Kurosawa was able to push through your television set. “The Magnificent Seven” felt like a rushed Hollywood project that had big stars, but no heart.

Overall, I really wanted to like this film. The cast itself sells this movie, but as a viewer of cinema, it just seemed like a poorly constructed feature. Hollywood was attempting to make a dime on Kurosawa’s original idea, and it failed. I cannot watch this movie again, nor would I. The acting is atrocious, the story is choppy, and there was no real threat. The idea that these villagers could survive year after year of this attack forced me to believe that perhaps Calvera wasn’t robbing them blind. We weren’t given enough history of the violence prior to the introduction of our heroes. This just felt rushed from the beginning, but remained dull after seeing the sheer brilliance of “Seven Samurai”. Watch this, if you must, for the music and McQueen, everything else is pure rubbish.

Found in my "Cult Movies" book - this is the final M for now, alas, we just wimpered out by the end. We had some high points, we did some fun ones, but overall - this wasn't the greatest outing. So, with disappointment - I am giving "The Magnificent Seven" a black mark with yellow highlight. It was a pitiful film that wasn't anywhere near the brilliance of "Seven Samurai". Now, onto the "R" - let's see how modern treats us!