Review of The Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven on Reel 13

I love the THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. It was one of the watershed films of my childhood – such a sense of heroism and decency propagated throughout the film. However, watching it again on Reel 13, I was reminded of something that I always sort of knew, but didn't want to admit – while MAG 7 is good, it's not that good. It pales in comparison to its genre counterparts like John Ford's key Westerns and later, Sergio Leone's revisionist Spaghetti westerns, but of course, it's still a worthwhile ride.

I think the key problem is in adapting Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI, the transition from is feudal Japan to 19th Century Mexico is not without its awkwardness. The very premise of seven mercenary gunmen coming to rescue a small Mexican village from bandits for a measly sum is hard to swallow. You get the sense that screenwriter William Roberts had a sense of this too. He works really hard to try and give each of the seven their individual reasons for going, but it's still a bit of a stretch. Additionally, Kurosawa used close to four hours to tell his story. By cutting that nearly in half, Roberts and director John Sturges sacrifice a great deal of character development time that they really could have used to maximize the impact of the story (particularly the ending).

Another big detractor for me has always been Horst Bucholz in the role of Chico (the equivalent to the Toshiro Mifune character in Kurosawa's version). As the story goes, Sturges thought young German actor Bucholz was extremely charismatic on screen and was betting on him becoming a big star (Holst who?). Instead, he's just an out-of-place, overacting nuisance, which is a shame because it's such a pivotal role in the original and could have been here too with someone else in the role.

Thankfully, the rest of the cast is really good to make up for him. Yul Brynner is thankfully understated as the leader (in contrast to his 50's scenery-chewing work in THE KING AND I and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS). The more I see Steve McQueen, the more I appreciate his on-screen charisma and vulnerable masculinity and I wish he had lived longer to have had an even more impressive career. James Coburn probably only gets to speak 12 lines in the whole film, but by God, if each one of them isn't a gem ("I was aiming for the horse"). A young and tan Charles Bronson is also effective with a cute little storyline where he is adopted by some of the village kids.

Of course, what's most memorable about THE MAGNIFICENT SEVENis what Sturges does best – the action, even though there are only really two major action sequences. In this case, it's really a triumph of editing. If you look at the film closely, you'll notice that in the action sequences, each of the seven are mostly in seven different places around the "town". They were probably shot in several different locations far apart from one another on several different days (apparently, juggling the actors' schedules was a nightmare). The very thought of keeping it all straight makes my head swim. But Sturges manages to do just that. The angles Sturges chooses, the juxtaposition of appropriate images with one another and the breakneck pace of scenes all combine to almost miraculously make the scenes work and on a very high level.

The final interesting thing I noticed about THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is how reflective, almost philosophical, it is about the lonely and perilous life of the gunslinging cowboy. In most films of the genre prior to the mid-fifties, the (white-hatted) cowboy is consistently portrayed as ultra-masculine, ultimate hero and protector of honor and good. Then, films like SHANE and THE SEARCHERS started to question the price of that glory and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is hardly subtle about those same musings.

(For more information on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)

Posted on 11/19/08 by: eplromeo8 03:09 PM