Customer Reviews

The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

on Akira Kurosawa "The Seven Samurai"
the "Magnificent Seven" a Mirish production and
released through United Artists and Director
by Oscar nominated John Sturges is one
of the best American Westerns ever made.

It stars Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen, Charles
Bronson, James Coburn and Robert Vaughn as
a couple of hired gunslingers asked to help
a couple of Mexican farmers get their village
back from the control of an evil and bloodthirsty
bandit named Calvera. (Eli Wallach).

The movie is just brilliant. It starts of, telling
us the story of how the village is terrorized by
this evil bandit, and from their it just the
great exploits of the 7 gunslingers who are brought
together to fight for the justice of the
Mexican people.

Yul Brenner, and Steve McQueen play Chris and Vin, a couple of honorable but tough gunmen who don't
take any crap from anyone.

Their first intro in the movie is great.

They are riding their horse carriage through
a western town full of goons that want to kill
the.

As they ride across this town, they from all angles
kill the bad guys who try to get them from
windows, horses and other places.

Eventually their great exploits get the exploits
of the Mexican farmers.

The Mexican farmers tell their tale of the bandits
who are destroying their village and leaving their
families hungry.

So Chris goes on his quest to gather more
skilled gunslingers to get these bandits.

This other great gunslingers consists of Charles Bronson and Robert Vaughn.

What I love about this movie, besides the great
musical score is that their is a story about all
the gunslingers. They all come from different
backgrounds and have their own skills to bring
to the table come game time.

"It's only a matter of handling a gun, it's no
big deal" -This great line by Chris (Yul Brenner)
shows the cool and modest demeanor that the
good hearted gunslingers have.

Their is a Special Edition DVD of this classic
and the DVD is one of the best DVD's ever made.

It includes a special documentary on the film with
rare interviews with Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach
and Yul Brenner.

It also goes into detail about the making of the film and how many movie studios did not want to release it.

The DVD comes with 2 special trailers of the movie
which show it's brilliance.

This 1960 masterpiece is one of the best American
movies made and one of the best westerns made.

Sergio Leone is most popular for directing Westerns like "The Good ,The Bad and Ugly" and "For a Few
Dollars" so if your into great action and music,
check this terrific movies out too.

Great old flick. Nice to see all the western classics and the actors of old. I'm sure todays youth would think these type films are a bit cheesy though.

The Movie: The Magnificent Seven is truly the most timeless of any Western ever made. I won't go into too much detail about the film's plot, except to say that it was a unique work amoung westerns, and very entertaining. Not only did this movie make its mark on other filmmakers at the time, but it collected and cataloged many standard movie items you see in movies made 20 years before AND after it. You got the innocence and clarity of older westerns - the perfectly clean costumes and sweeping music, and that obvious contrast between outdoor and stage shots. Action scenes were quick and unfocused (typical western stuff), and we are treated with that strange Hollywood way of shooting guns, where the actors don't aim at all. Yul Brynner gives a very traditional, stoic performance, hardly moving a muscle for any of his scenes. Many of the actors gave old-style, John Wayne-inspired performances, in which they stand perfectly still and read their lines with a straight face and dead earnesty. When they finally move, they seem to explode into action.

Contrast this with the fidgetting and fussing of Steve McQueen's much more human performance, and you can almost see how movies will change entirely in the next 15 years. Eli Wallach's bandit villian is a perfectly likeable fellow, while some of the heroes are hunted and greedy. The first scenes show the heroes confronting racism - in 1960! The Magnificent Seven was one of the first movies made outside of the studio system, and it shows. The entire supporting cast is played by Mexican actors who are willing -and allowed- to portray their characters in a realistic, human light. Perhaps the best reason to watch this movie is to prepare yourself for the film that inspired it - Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, one of the greatest movies of all time, from -any- country or genre.

The DVD: The visual quality is only average. The print is stratched and grainy, and when a transition shot approaches, the image becomes even worse! The sound is faithful to the original movie, but nothing to show-off your stereo with. The documentary is the best extra, as it lovingly explores the history of the movie, the legal troubles of its early creation, the friendly rivalry of the Seven actors on the set, and the strange relationship that Eli Wallach had with his band of bandits. There is also a commentary track, but much of the information in this track is presented more clearly in the documentary.

Definitely a must-buy for western fans.

This is a superbly remastered and restored film, It comes with some brilliant extras including original trailers and more interestingly a documentary on the film named "Guns For Hire".
If you are a fan of the actors in this classic you'll love the doco which shows what they went on to do and includes some interviews showing the actors today and telling how Yul Brynner brought this tale to life.
For Steve McQueen fans you get a little insight into how he tries to steal every scene he appears in.
The film is a great telling of an adventurous story based on the Toho studios film "The Seven Samurai".
The commentary features actors James Coburn, Eli Wallach, producer Walter Mirisch & Ass Director Rob Reylea. It covers many interesting stories from a set which saw several stars of the time and even the wedding of Yul Brynner.
Worth a viewing.

I can't believe some of the low reviews this film has gotten! I think it is because so many people who have seen THE SEVEN SAMURAI, have a hard time separating this film from that film. I like to think of them as two different films, based on the same story and judge each on their own merits. This film gives me chills down my spine everytime I see it. I honestly am compelled throughout. Two things I will mentioned, as I could just repeat what all the other favorable reviews said. Charles Bronson's relationship with the young Mexican boys is very endearing. One of his best performances, and a precursor to his later efforts. Plus, everyone else seems to over look the actor, Horst Buchholz, who plays Chico. He is so good in this and deserves some credit as well. One of his earliest performances that was seen by American audiences. This man was often referred to as the German James Dean. One of his last seen by American film goers, was as the kind German Officer in Life Is Beautiful (He passed away in 2003). Just thought with all the talk about those really cool dudes in this film, Brenner, McQueen, Bronson, etc. Horst deserved a mention.

Simply the best Western I've seen. I don't think anyone today could bring together such a fine cast and make a movie like this.
Everyone has already said so much about this great film, I don't know what else I can add!
Like I said, the cast and characters were so memorable (save for Robert Vaughn's silent character, 'Lee',who really did seem to fade into the woodwork when some personality was needed), the music is also, of course, unforgettable.
The movie wasn't filmed in any totally remarkable fashion, but with all it's other pluses, you really don't notice this.
Dialog was never cheesy or plain,and I have a boatload of quotes that I just love from this movie.
And, at a final note, for the females out there, like me, can you really say "no" to Vin (McQueen) and O'Reilly (Bronson), in loose buttoned shirts,perfect-fit jeans and Stetsons?
A great movie, with little bad language, and with the most bloody confrontation being the end battle between the 40 bad guys.
Get it!!

If you haven't seen this yet - see it. If you've seen it, but not on this DVD - get it. The video transfer looks great not to mention the inclusion of a sweetened audio track for Dolby 5.1 surround goodness. Also included on the disc are 2, very old-school trailers that are entertaining for it's retro kitsch factor. Finally, there is a very detailed 'making of' featurette that for once is actually worth watching.

Grossly overdone, too loud, so bad in spots that it's just weird. I don't know where some of the 5-star ratings come from here. Perhaps my impression of this unglorious Hollywood fake is due to the fact that as a young-un in the 50's I managed to see "Seven Samurai" before seing this dreadful, dumbed-down Hollywood remake based on the original Japanese masterpiece. Or perhaps it's because I cannot -- repeat, cannot -- accept Yul Brenner as a cowboy. Or maybe it's just the soundtrack that turned me off, which sounds even worse in its digital reincarnation. The photography is a far cry from the original Oriental monochrome shot with Nikon lenses, and the actors and characters just don't have the stature of the original Samurai's. If you've never seen Seven Samurai, you might like this Technicolor forgery. But do yourself a favor and get the original Japanese version on DVD or even VHS. It's a different experience, entirely.

Farmers oppressed by bandits (and their guns) finally tire of giving their crops over to hungry mouths and grumbling bellies because they, too, hunger and want. Thinking it is time for action, they decide to cross the border and find guns to place a little steel mentally in their vein and physically into their tormentors. If this means collecting the meager valuables that the farmers therein then that is fine, too, because freedom will bring more to their tables. A crossing of paths changes their minds, however, and they find themselves in the market for "men" instead of more expensive weaponry. With Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) recruited first and at the gunslinging helm, he helps choose six others to make a solid seven willing to fight only for food, a place to sleep, twenty dollars, and whatever sense of nobility they get from being heroes. And then its on...

This remake of Seven Samurai did for westerns what its predecessor did in the samurai arena. It crafted a legendary tale of men and weapons as they go off to fight the "good" fight for the people. The Magnificent Seven pays homage to Seven Samurai in many scenes, too, recreating some of those notable characters and some of those climactic scenes where they can be easily recognized. I personally liked that touch, finding Seven Samurai to be something well worth mentioning in many a genre of filmmaking. That said, this movie only takes from Seven Samurai in some aspects and fills-in-the-blanks the way it wants to in others, forging its own celluloid destiny. Where the first is overcast in somewhat grounded themes, The Magnificent Seven becomes more of a morality tale and makes its own mark by taking an idea and purifying it, producing more of an issue sheathed in "good vs. bad" than one beset with strong undercurrents. While that would have been a detractor from Seven Samurai, it worked really well in The Magnificent Seven and let the telling becomes one of heroics and what goes into motivating "men."

Not only is the creation of the tale done well in the aspects of filming, but the acting accents it in memorable ways. Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson come together with other talented performers and give their characters depth as the movie moves across that "save the farmers" frontier. This leads to romance with a farmer's daughter, the way a man sees death after hundreds have died before him, what bravery amounts to, and countless other themes birthed by the way those individual gunfighters are showcased. And that's always a good thing, because cardboard cutouts don't really mean anything as they struggle against death for life.

I have never seen better western in my entire life.
Really, this film has everything: challange, fight, love and Yul Brynner.
Sometimes I wish that the film were longer just with a half an hour.
Don't miss it, buy it!