The Magnificent Seven



The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges and starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Horst Buchholz, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Charles Bronson. The film is an Old West-style remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai. Brynner, McQueen, Buchholz, Bronson, Vaughn, Coburn, and Dexter portray the title characters, a group of seven gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of marauding bandits and their leader (Wallach). The film's musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
A poor village in Mexico is periodically raided for food and supplies by Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his bandits. After he and his forty men's latest raid, during which they kill a villager, the village leaders decide the situation cannot continue. They discuss it with the venerated elder (Vladimir Sokoloff) who lives just outside the village, and he recommends they fight back. Taking what meager objects of value the village has, a delegation rides to a town just inside the United States border hoping to barter for weapons to defend themselves with. Once there they approach Chris Adams (Yul Brynner), a veteran Cajun gunslinger. Chris suggests they hire gunfighters to defend the village, which would be cheaper than buying guns and ammunition. He cautions the village men that once they actively resist Calvera they will have to keep killing until all the bandits are dead. At first Chris agrees only to help the delegation find capable men, but later he decides to recruit and lead them. Despite the poor pay offered, he is able to find five willing gunmen.

The other men include the gunfighter Vin Tanner (Steve McQueen), who has gone broke after a round of gambling and jokes he may have to accept a position as a store clerk; Chris's friend Harry Luck (Brad Dexter), who believes Chris knows about hidden treasure near the village; the Irish-Mexican Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), who has fallen on hard times; Britt (James Coburn), an expert in both knife and gun who joins purely for the challenge involved; and the dapper, on-the-run gunman Lee (Robert Vaughn), haunted by thoughts that he has lost his nerve and taste for battle. On their way to the village they are trailed by the hotheaded Chico (Horst Buchholz), an aspiring gunfighter whom Chris had previously humiliated by rejecting him. Now impressed by his persistence, Chris invites him to join the group.

Arriving at the village, they have the villagers build fortifications and begin to train them to defend themselves. Each finds himself befriending particular villagers. Chico is romantically pursued by Petra (Rosenda Monteros), one of the village's young women. (Village elders had hidden all the young women, fearing the gunfighters might rape them, but Chico had stumbled across their hiding place.) Bernardo bonds with some of the village's boys. Residents comfort Lee, who is struggling with nightmares and fearing the loss of his skills. Harry presses the villagers for information about any treasure. Later, when Bernardo points out that the seven are consuming almost all the food in the village, the gunmen share it with the village children.

Calvera and his bandits arrive, sustain heavy losses in a shootout with the seven and the villagers, and are run out of town. Hilario (Jorge Martínez de Hoyos) and Vin, guarding against another possible attack, briefly discuss nerves on the eve of battle. Vin admits he still feels such nerves, and says he envies Hilario for fighting for an honourable cause. Chico, who is Mexican, partly from recklessness and partly to impress the others, follows Calvera back to his camp and pretends to be one of the bandits. He learns that Calvera must raid the village soon because he and his men are desperate for food.

Upon hearing this information, some fearful villagers call for the gunfighters to leave. Even some of the seven waver: Vin is of two minds; and Harry argues they were hired merely to put up enough resistance that Calvera would move on to an easier village. But Chris insists that they stay, even threatening to kill anyone who suggests giving up the fight. They ride out to make a surprise raid on Calvera's camp, but find it abandoned. Returning to the village, they find that some villagers have allowed Calvera and his men to sneak in and take control. Calvera spares the seven's lives, believing they have learned that the simple farmers are not worth defending. He also fears reprisals from the gunfighters' friends north of the border. While gathering their things before departing, Chris and Vin talk of how they had become emotionally attached to the village, and might have been tempted to give up their careers as gunmen and settle in such a place. Bernardo gets angry with the boys he befriended when they call their parents cowards. Chico raves against the villagers and how much he hates them, and when Chris reminds him he is of just such peasant stock he angrily responds that it is men like Calvera and Chris who made the villagers what they are.

The seven gunmen are escorted some distance from the village, where their weapons are returned to them. They debate their next move and all but Harry, who believes the effort will be futile and suicidal, agree to return and fight. Harry rides off alone.

Returning to the village, the six gunmen are able to get well within it before being detected. A gunfight breaks out. Harry, who has had a change of heart, arrives in time to prevent a cornered Chris from being killed, but is himself fatally shot. Before his death Chris comforts him by saying there was indeed a fortune hidden in the village. Lee finds the nerve to burst into a house where several villagers are held captive, shooting the bandits guarding them. This enables the villagers, some of whom were among those who had comforted Lee, to join in the fight on the side of the seven. Lee emerges from the house to see this, but is gunned down. Bernardo is shot protecting the boys he befriended, with his last breath he tells them to look at how bravely their fathers are fighting. Britt dies after shooting at a considerable number of bandits but exposing himself from cover. Chris manages to shoot Calvera, who asks him, "You came back... to a place like this? Why? A man like you? Why?" He dies without receiving an answer. The remaining bandits take flight.

The three surviving gunmen help to bury the dead, then ride out of town. At the top of the hill overlooking the village they stop to look back. Chris says adios to Chico, both having realized his proper place is in the village, with Petra; she is overjoyed when she sees he has returned. Chris and Vin chat with the venerated elder. He bids them farewell and says that only the villagers have really won: "You're like the wind, blowing over the land and... passing on... ¡Vaya con Dios!" As they leave, they pass the graves of their fallen comrades. Chris says, "The Old Man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We'll always lose."

Cast

 * The Seven
 * Yul Brynner as Chris Adams, a Cajun gunslinger, leader of the seven
 * Steve McQueen as Vin Tanner, the drifter
 * Charles Bronson as Bernardo O'Reilly, the professional in need of money
 * Robert Vaughn as Lee, the traumatized veteran
 * Brad Dexter as Harry Luck, the fortune seeker
 * James Coburn as Britt, the knife expert
 * Horst Buchholz as Chico, the young, hot-blooded shootist


 * Others
 * Eli Wallach as Calvera, the lead Mexican bandit
 * Vladimir Sokoloff as The Old Man
 * Jorge Martínez de Hoyos as Hilario
 * Rosenda Monteros as Petra
 * Whit Bissell as Chamlee the Undertaker
 * Rico Alaniz as Sotero
 * Natividad Vacío as Miguel
 * Robert J. Wilke as Wallace
 * Val Avery as Henry the Corset Salesman
 * Bing Russell as Robert, Henry's Traveling Companion

Brad Dexter was cast at the urging of Frank Sinatra, who knew Sturges well, because Dexter had saved Sinatra's life when the two were swimming off the coast of Hawaii. James Coburn was a great fan of the Japanese Seven Samurai, having seen it 15 times, and was hired through the help of co-star and former classmate Robert Vaughn, after the role of the expert gunslinger had been rejected by actors Sterling Hayden and John Ireland.

Sturges was eager to cast Steve McQueen in the picture, having just worked with him on the 1959 film Never So Few, but McQueen could not get a release from actor/producer Dick Powell, who controlled McQueen's hit TV series Wanted Dead or Alive. On the advice of his agent, McQueen, an expert race car driver, staged a car accident and claimed that he couldn't work on his series because he had suffered a whiplash injury and had to wear a neck brace. During the interval required for his "recuperation", he was free to appear in The Magnificent Seven.

Pre-production
Yul Brynner approached producer Walter Mirisch with the idea of remaking Kurosawa's famous samurai film. But once Mirisch had acquired the rights from Japan's Toho Studios, and finalized a distribution deal with United Artists, Brynner was sued for breach of contract by actor Anthony Quinn, who claimed that he and Brynner had developed the concept together and had worked out many of the film's details before the two had a falling-out. Quinn ultimately lost his claim, because there was nothing in writing.

Script credit was a subject of contention. Associate producer Lou Morheim commissioned Walter Bernstein, a blacklisted scriptwriter, to produce the first draft "faithfully" adapted from the original script written by Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni and Akira Kurosawa; when executive producer Walter Mirisch and Brynner took over the production, they brought on Walter Newman, whose version "is largely what's on screen." When Newman was unavailable to be on-site during the film's principal photography in Mexico, William Roberts was hired, in part to make changes required by Mexican censors. When Roberts asked the Writers Guild of America for a co-credit, Newman asked that his name be removed from the credits.

Production
Filming began on March 1, 1960, on location in Mexico, where both the village and the U.S. border town were built for the film. The location filming was in Cuernavaca, Durango, and Tepoztlán and at the Churubusco Studios. The first scene shot was the first part of the six gunfighters' journey to the Mexican village, prior to Chico being brought into the group.

During filming there was considerable tension between Brynner and McQueen, who was displeased at his character having only seven lines of dialogue in the original shooting script. To compensate, McQueen took numerous opportunities to upstage Brynner and draw attention to himself, including shielding his eyes with his hat, flipping a coin during one of Brynner's speeches, rattling his shotgun shells, and hanging low from his horse to drink from a stream. Brynner, who was only half an inch taller than McQueen, would often build up a little mound of earth to stand on when the two actors were on camera together, only to have McQueen surreptitiously kick the dirt out of place before retakes. When newspapers started reporting on the altercations on set between the two, Brynner issued a press statement, declaring, "I never feud with actors. I feud with studios." Years later Buchholz said Brynner had put a stop to McQueen's antics by telling him the next time he tried his upstaging tricks he, Brynner, would simply remove his hat to get back the spotlight for good (Brynner is one of the most legendary bald men in film history.)

The film was shot in Panavision, an anamorphic format.

Score
The film's score is by Elmer Bernstein. Along with the iconic main theme and effective support of the story line, the score also contains allusions to twentieth-century symphonic works, such as the reference to Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, second movement, in the tense quiet scene just before the shoot out. The original soundtrack was not released at the time until reused and rerecorded by Bernstein for the soundtrack of Return of the Seven. Electric guitar cover versions by Al Caiola in the U.S. and John Barry in the U.K. were successful on the popular charts. A vocal theme not written by Bernstein was used in a trailer.

In 1994, James Sedares conducted a re-recording of the score performed by The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, which also included a suite from Bernstein's score for The Hallelujah Trail, issued by Koch Records; Bernstein himself conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a performance released by RCA in 1997, but the original film soundtrack was not released until the following year by Rykodisc. (Varèse Sarabande reissued this album in 2004.)


 * 1) Main Title and Calvera (3:56)
 * 2) Council (3:14)
 * 3) Quest (1:00)
 * 4) Strange Funeral/After The Brawl (6:48)
 * 5) Vin’s Luck (2:03)
 * 6) And Then There Were Two (1:45)
 * 7) Fiesta (1:11)
 * 8) Stalking (1:20)
 * 9) Worst Shot (3:02)
 * 10) The Journey (4:39)
 * 11) Toro (3:24)
 * 12) Training (1:27)
 * 13) Calvera's Return (2:37)
 * 14) Calvera Routed (1:49)
 * 15) Ambush (3:10)
 * 16) Bernardo (3:33)
 * 17) Surprise (2:08)
 * 18) Defeat (3:26)
 * 19) Crossroads (4:47)
 * 20) Harry's Mistake (2:48)
 * 21) Calvera Killed (3:33)
 * 22) Finale (3:27)

Bernstein's score has frequently been quoted in the media and popular culture. Starting in 1963, the theme was used in commercials in the U.S. for Marlboro cigarettes. A similar-sounding (but different) tune was used for Victoria Bitter beer in Australia. The theme was included in the James Bond film Moonraker.

Other uses include in the 2004 documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11; in the 2005 film The Ringer; as entrance music for the British band James, as well as episodes of The Simpsons that had a "Western" theme (mainly in the episode titled "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"). The opening horn riff in Arthur Conley's 1967 hit "Sweet Soul Music" is borrowed from the theme. Canadian band Kon Kan use the opening bars of the theme in their single "I Beg Your Pardon". Celtic Football Club (Glasgow, Scotland) used the theme music whenever Henrik Larsson scored a goal.

The Cheers episode "Diane Chambers Day" (season 4, episode 22) revolves around the bar denizens being invited to watch The Magnificent Seven, and ends with them singing an a cappella version of the theme.

The Mick Jones 1980s band Big Audio Dynamite covered the song as "Keep off the Grass" (although this cover was not officially released). In 1995, the KLF also did a drum and bass cover of the main title as "The Magnificent"; it was released under the group alias One World Orchestra on the charity compilation The Help Album.

In 1992, the main theme of The Magnificent Seven came into use on a section of the Euro Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland Paris. Portions of the theme play as the train exits the Grand Canyon diorama tunnel behind Phantom Manor, enters Frontierland, and travels along the bank of the Rivers of the Far West.

The "Main Title" was used as an intro tune on many nights of Bruce Springsteen's 2012 Wrecking Ball Tour. The theme was played as the E Street Band entered the stage, adding to the dramatic atmosphere in the stadium.

Reception
Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film a "pallid, pretentious and overlong reflection of the Japanese original"; according to Thompson, "don't expect anything like the ice-cold suspense, the superb juxtaposition of revealing human vignettes and especially the pile-driver tempo of the first Seven." According to Variety magazine's December 31, 1960 review, "Until the women and children arrive on the scene about two-thirds of the way through, The Magnificent Seven is a rip-roaring rootin' tootin' western with lots of bite and tang and old-fashioned abandon. The last third is downhill, a long and cluttered anti-climax in which The Magnificent Seven grow slightly too magnificent for comfort." Akira Kurosawa, however, was reportedly so impressed by the film that he presented John Sturges with a sword.

At the 33rd Academy Awards, the score was nominated for Best Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, losing to Ernest Gold's score for Exodus. Many decades later, however, the score for The Magnificent Seven was listed at No. 8 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 25 American film scores.

The film has grown greatly in esteem since its release, largely due to its cast (several of whom were to go on to become superstars over the decade following its release) and its music score. As of January 29, 2017, it has a freshness rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes based on ratings of 40 critics. It is the second most shown film in U.S. television history, behind only The Wizard of Oz. The film is also ranked No. 79 on the AFI's list of American cinema's 100 most-thrilling films.

Sequels and adaptations
The film was a box office disappointment in the United States, but proved to be such a smash hit in Europe that it ultimately made a profit. Three sequels were eventually made: Return of the Seven (1966), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972). None were as successful as the original film.

The film also inspired a television series, The Magnificent Seven, which ran from 1998 to 2000. Robert Vaughn was a recurring guest star, a judge who hires the seven to protect the town in which his widowed daughter-in-law and his grandson live.

The 1980s action-adventure series The A-Team was initially devised as a combination of The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven. The show's pilot film plays much on the plot of The Magnificent Seven, and there are similar plot echoes in various other episodes. James Coburn was originally approached to play John "Hannibal" Smith, the team's leader, a role that ultimately went to George Peppard in the series; and Robert Vaughn was added to the cast in the final season as part of a revamp attempt to boost fading ratings.

A remake of the film was released on September 23, 2016, with Antoine Fuqua directing and Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier and Peter Sarsgaard starring.