THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
US, 1960, 128 minutes, Colour.
Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Steve Mc Queen, Eli Wallach, Horst Buchholtz, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter.
Directed by John Sturges.
A classic American Western. It was based on Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai' (1954). There is a strong interlinking between the presentation of the Samurai adventures and the West. There was to be an adaptation of Kurosawa's Rashomon as 'The Outrage' and his Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars.
The Magnificent Seven was made by John Sturges who had made such Westerns as Bad Day at Black Rock, The Gun Fight at the OK Corral and the Last Train From Gun Hill. He assembled an expert cast and put them through their paces very vigorously. Elmer Bernstein's popular score also helped the atmosphere. The Magnificent Seven has become something of a classic.
There were several sequels made by different directors. The Return of the Seven had Yul Brynner in his original role and the writer-director was Burt Kennedy, a very good maker of small tightly made Westerns. A third sequel was Guns of the Magnificent Seven directed by Paul Wendkos, an action director from the cinema and television. This time George Kennedy took the central role. A final film in the series was The Magnificent Seven Ride. The director was George Mc Cowan from television and Lee van Cleef was the central character. The sequels were not in the same class as the original although they were entertaining typical action packed Westerns.
1. A classic Western? A conventional Western - or was it a Western that used conventions well? The emphasis of the famous music?
2 What picture of the west did the film give: the good aspects of life in the West, the gunmen coming to the help of those in need: the bad aspects: the poverty and the oppression, a violent west that lived by codes of violence - attack and self defence? The moral framework of the film: oppression by bandits, self-defence, the building up of morale by outside aid? What comment did the film make on this? Was this the only alternative possible for the Mexicans?
3. The picture of the Mexican situation in the town, the oppression, the violence, the inability to defend themselves? What spirit was needed for them to establish themselves, defend themselves, and live a human life?
4. The Seven themselves: as helpers, advisers, what contribution each of them made to the village, the emotional ties that grew between each of them and the villagers?
5. The Seven as characters and their relationships amongst themselves: the initial calls, the types of characters as revealed initially, the types of initiatives, of working for money, of self-respect etc? Chris and Vin for the funeral of the Indian, its effect on the town, on themselves, on the Mexicans? Chico as a young man, enthusiastic, aping the ways of the established gunmen? His being beaten to the draw by Chris, his humiliation, his determination to become part of the Seven?
6. Britt and the fight with the man with the gun and him with the knife? how it looks on life and the values of life; O'Reilly as a laconic gunmen: Lee as a morbid type, interested in money, yet afraid; Harry Luck - easy going, lured by the prospect of gold or something valuable? What did they have in common? Why did they form a group? Why were they magnificent?
7. The type of bandit portrayed by Calvera - violent, callous, yet he himself hungry and starving with his men? Why did he want power over the village? The two major battles between Calvera and his men and the Seven and the villagers - the number of deaths, bloodshed, to protect the Mexicans?
Do the Japanese films adapt well to the American West? Why? The situation? types of characters? The social needs?
