directed by John Sturges
starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, Brad Dexter
Everybody likes to see a bully get his, especially when the underdogs deliver the comeuppance themselves.
The story of The Magnificent Seven is an enduring one, which is no doubt why it keeps getting remade. Itself cribbed from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Seven Samurai, this film gets another version this September 23 by director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Italian Job) with Denzel Washington in the Yul Brynner role.
As a fan of old movies, I find it disheartening whenever a studio decides to "update" a film classic because inevitably they tinker with the script's best elements and make a mess of things. Here's hoping that Fuqua doesn't add too many extraneous details or an unnecessary love interest.
SYNOPSIS & SPOILERS
When a village of poor Mexican farmers sees its crops stolen and its women threatened for the umpteenth time by sneering bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his crew of roaming outlaws, they decide they have no choice but to fight for their survival. They hire on a group of American mercenaries, led by Yul Brynner (with his usual accent, though this time he's supposed to be a Creole), to get them guns and train them in tactical warfare to ward off the bully next time he shows. Among the group of gunfighters are old hands Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen, long and lean James Coburn, cardsharp smoothie Robert Vaughn, reliable Brad Dexter and firebrand youngblood Horst Buchholz.
We're supposed to believe that Brynner and his cohorts are interested in fairness and justice, not just money; in an early scene Brynner and newly acquainted pal McQueen take a dare to drive the hearse carrying a dead Indian to the all-white town cemetery for a proper burial, something the white residents of the town try to prevent. The bigots get winged by a few bullets from the heroes in the process.
Once Brynner gathers up his posse, they travel across the border to the town and start weighing their options. Another indication of the group's "righteousness" is when the villagers gather up their meager resources to fete the mercenaries with a big feast. The men learn that most of the town's children are hungry and decide to share their meal. Look, gunslingers have hearts too!
Calvera shows his sweaty face again with 40 of his men and battles The Seven head on; as a result Calvera's crew gets their numbers significantly thinned out. Despite this early victory for the villagers, things turn more deadly when Calvera returns and takes over ("If God didn't want them sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep" says Calvera of the villagers). This prompts one last shootout with the gunslingers that eventually kills Calvera, who can't quite seem to believe he's been bested by this crew and asks Brynner "why did you come here?" before kicking the bucket. Victory, yes, but the shootout has also left four of The Seven dead in the streets.
The Magnificent Seven is about good versus evil.
It's about the power of revenge -- but also what it costs to achieve.
It's also about male camaraderie; brotherhood in the service of a noble cause. This is a theme that has driven many a war film, not to mention dozens of "buddy" flicks.
And with its cast of tough guys, who have plenty of "cool" and swagger to spare, The Magnificant Seven still serves as a model of what the ultimate Man's Man is supposed to be: cool under fire; full of heart; ready and able to do the right thing; protector of women, children, and the downtrodden; but cold-blooded when necessary.
Unfortunately, the film bears the stamp of the "white savior" movie plot so prevalent throughout film history, though "The Magnificent Seven" tries hard to preach an equality-type message. Nevertheless, the Mexican villagers go hat in hand to the Americans for help, and find themselves learning how to stand up for themselves from the white Yankees.
Women do appear in the film, but they have no real agency. The village hides its women in the forest to protect them against the marauders until Buchholz smokes one out and forces her to share information. But in this film the men have no time for romance, and that's one of the things I like about it. Rather a film with no part for women, than a film that gets sticky with unnecessary liaisons or that shows off the rampant sexism pervasive both at the time the story was set and the time it was filmed.
A story of persistence and courage in the face of danger never goes out of style. Combined with great widescreen cinematography and a taut soundtrack, The Magnificent Seven is a magnificent western classic.
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