Many people who read this will have never heard of the movie The Magnificent Seven, or will have only heard of the remake/series that CBS had off and on last year. If you have never heard of this film, it is a western, about forty years old, which centers around a small Mexican village which is constantly being raided by a group of vicious bandits, and the seven gunslingers the villagers hire to help them fight the bandits off. It was directed by John Sturges, a prominent director in Hollywood at the time, who had also directed several other publicly-acclaimed westerns. It was adapted from an earlier film by Japenese director Akira Kurosawa called The Seven Samurai, one of that director's most well-known films.
Though it may look like just another western, The Magnificent Seven deals with themes of courage, friendship, and responsibility, as well as playing off the characters' own inner thoughts and fears. It is a well-crafted film, one which has stood the test of time and has influenced countless other films which have come after it (The Three Amigos, for instance, is a direct parody of it).
The Cast
Many of the stars of The Magnificent Seven, though not well-known at the time, went on to become stars after their success in this film. Many of them, such as Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and Eli Wallach, are well-known for other westerns as well. Here is a brief list of the main cast:
The Seven:
Chris................................................Yul Brynner
Vin...................................................Steve McQueen
Bernardo O'Riley...........................Charles Bronson
Britt..................................................James Coburn
Lee...................................................Robert Vaughn
Harry Luck......................................Brad Dexter
Chico...............................................Horst Buscholtz
Calvera............................................Eli Wallach
Old Man..........................................Vladmir Sokolov
If you're wondering where you might have seen some of the actors from The Magnificent Seven, here is a list of some of their more well-known works:
Yul Brynner - He has been in a number of things over the years, but is most famous for his roles in The Ten Commandments and (both on Broadway and in the film) as the King in the musical The King and I (that's the 1956 version, not the cartoon.)
Steve McQueen - possibly his most famous role was Bullit, considered by many critics to be one of the best cop chase movies ever made (coincidentally, one of his co-stars in this was Robert Vaughn!). He has also been in the early '50s version of The Blob and The Great Escape.
Charles Bronson - most viewers will remember him for his many violent vigilante roles from the '70s and '80s, most especially the Death Wish films. As westerns go, however, he was also in one of the earlier sphagetti westerns, Sergio Leone's (the man who directed The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) epic western, Once Upon A Time in the West.
James Coburn - very well known as a supporting player and character actor, James Coburn has been in innumerable westerns, such as Waterhole #6, as well as many other films, like the 1960s James Bond-takeoff, Our Man Flint, and its sequel, In Like Flint. Lately he has been returning to films, and recently won an Academy Award for his supporting performance in Affliction.
Robert Vaughn - not as well known as some of the others, he has done a lot of television work, as well as some movies (he is one of the supporting characters in Bullit). He starred in the popular '60s spy show The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
Eli Wallach - will probably always be remembered for his role in the famous Eastwood western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
One of the things that makes the film stand out above most westerns is its sweeping, adventurous score by Elmer Bernstein, a Hollywood film music veteran. Bernstein has scored countless films in his long career, including classics like The Man with the Golden Arm and The Searchers, as well as many well-known contemporary films, like Ghostbusters and Spies Like Us. He is one of the most sought-out film composers in Hollywood, and his work can be spotted nearly everywhere, from major Hollywood blockbusters (The Ten Commandments) to cheaper B-Grade pictures (Amazon Women on the Moon. Really, I'm serious).
Bernstein's music is the heart and soul of the film, and is one of the more famous western themes to be heard. It is bold and adventurous at times, and soft and sorrowful at others, befitting the proper parts of the film. Who could imagine the Magnificent Seven riding forth without their triumphal fanfare accompanying them?
The Director
John Sturges, though not well known now, was at the time a very prominent Hollywood director, with several well-earning films under his belt. Among his other accomplishments is the Spencer Tracy film Bad Day at Black Rock.
The Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa, one of the most famous Japenese directors of all time, created a film in 1956 which was to have a profound legacy on American filmmaking. The Seven Samurai, a poetic, visionary work, details the story of a small Japenese village which is defended from thieves by a band of roving samurai. While I have not seen it, I am told that the plot and characters are very similar to The Magnificent Seven in many respects.
The film was discovered by director John Sturges, who realized the potential the story had as a western. With Kurosawa's permission, he set about to adapt the film to a classic western setting, changing the Japenese fishing village to a small Mexican farm village, and the seven brave samurai warriors to seven roving gunslingers. When The Magnificent Seven was finished, Kurosawa saw it, and was pleased with the results. The transfer of the story from feudal Japan to the empty, desolate deserts of the West was a success.
The Seven Return
In 1998, CBS picked up the story of The Magnificent Seven and decided to make a series of it. The series debuted, with Michael Biehn in the lead role of Chris, although most of the other characters had been altered or removed entirely. Of the movie's Seven, only Chris and Vin remained, although the five new gunslingers which were used in this version occassionally showed a few similarities to the film's characters. The Mexican village was turned into a Native American village, and the roving bandits were turned into renegade Confederate soldiers who would not admit that the Civil War had been over for a couple of decades. Most fans of the original film were disappointed by the results, but the series managed to garner a cult following, although it was continually threatened with cancellation, and now appears to have disappeared altogether. Still, numerous fan sites dedicated to the series have popped up on the internet, a testimony to the show's dedicated fan base.
