| Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samurai was a natural
for an American remake--after all, the codes and
conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least
the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The
Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai
into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once:
Kurosawa's Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of
Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of '60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. There's nothing especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John Sturges (The Great Escape), but the storytelling is clear and strong, and the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the screen. If that isn't enough to awaken the 12-year-old kid inside anyone, the unforgettable Elmer Bernstein music will do it: bum-bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum-ba-bum.... Followed by three inferior sequels, Return of the Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent Seven Ride! -- Robert Horton - Amazon.com Audio Tracks: English/Spanish Subtitles: English/Spanish |
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