Way Better Than 'The Magnificent Seven'

Good critique. I wish you would have been the co-host for TCM's Essentials a couple of years ago, when Rose McGowan was doing duties with Robert Osborne and this was the movie they were playing. In looking at your review, I recall, she essentially said just about the opposite! The only positive she gave was that it was influential, otherwise, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN was better in every other aspect.

I am one who does like John Sturges' movie a lot (I think it is the best remake of a Kurosawa film). But it does feel like a lighter version of a grander work. Although, to be fair, when Kurosawa's movie was finally shown in the U.S. many saw an edited version and perhaps that is what they were playing on. But I do agree with you about the characters. One feels more for Mifune's Kikuchiyo, than Horst Buchholtz's Chico. My impression of Chico was that he wanted it for the ride, and not really caring for the farmers, though he eventually does blandly state it. Kikuchiyo on the other hand, had to show the rest of the samurai how much farmers were suffering even under cruelty of fellow samurai.

I think Magnificient Seven is one of those could-have-been movies. A great cast with some of my all-time favorites, a very good director, but the result is so unbelievably mediocre. It's not bad at all, but it doesn't really stand out in the careers of anyone involved. It's very slow, only a couple of characters are solidly built, and very formula-driven.

Never be complete.

I like The Magnificent Seven. That movie (while a bit overlong) is a whole lot of fun and worth watching just for its awesome cast. But in the end, it's obviously no Seven Samurai.



Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

Well sir ... for me TMS was a rip off of SS. I saw TMS first when I was a kid and I liked it, but when I saw SS I thought it was much better. Kurosawa did a lot to develop the characters and building the story.

First the plight of the farmers and their desperation. The anger of Rikichi, and his inability to express why. The search for samurai and the hard ship they faced. The relationship between the samurai and the farmers. The strong relationship Kikuchiyo had with Yohei. He seem to care about him, and I'm not sure why ... perhaps he was like someone he knew when he was a farmer? A frown seem to be Yohei natural state ... it looked like it hurt his face to smile.

Yes the scene where Kikuchiyo poured his heart and soul describing farmers and the samurai. Then Kurosawa develop a relationship between Rikichi and Heihachi where he tried to get him to open up about what was troubling him. Also Rikichi's regret and remorse when Heihachi was killed.

What I don't understand in the film is the scene where the old man in the mill relatives the woman with her baby and her husband was allowed to go get him. Shouldn't have been just the husband and the baby and wife stay behind? I guess it happen that way so they could show the powerful emotion when Kikuchiyo stated the baby was him.

Still wondering if the woman lived or not ... it was vague ... did she died or just collapsed?

Anyway I think SS was a better film.

I like both films very much so I'll defend TMS here. I sure wouldn't say that SS is *way* superior or that TMS lacks soul. Formulaic? TMS follows the formula of SS, after all, which follows the formula of American westerns. Solid actors? I would call Brynner, McQueen, Wallach, Bronson, and Coburn solid. Even Vaughn and Buchholz held their own, Vladimir Sokoloff was great as the Old Man, Jorge Martínez de Hoyos was fine as Hilario, and Rosenda Monteros as Petra was way better than the actress who played Shino in SS.

I thought the characters in TMS were developed at least as well as those in SS. In particular the bandit leader Calvera was a real presence as opposed to a faceless baddie like in SS. The Vaughn and Bronson characters were better developed too.

There was some humor in SS but much more in TMS and it was used to good effect.
The infiltration into bandit camp scene with Chico was lacking in SS, and the romance between Chico and Petra was more developed than that between Katsushiro and Shino. The betrayal of the gunfighters by the villagers didn't happen in SS either. That added some depth to the story.

The many night scenes and rain in SS made it difficult to tell who was who especially when the bandits were off their horses. It may have been cliched but dressing the villagers all in white and the bandits wearing sombreros made it easy to tell one side from the other in TMS. Shooting in daylight helped too.

All in all both films are great. Love them both.

7 SAMURAI - 8/10
THE MAGNIFICENT 7 - 6/10
RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT 7 - 1/10
GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT 7 - 1/10
THE MAGNIFICENT 7 RIDE - 1/10
THE MAGNIFICENT 7 (2016)- 6/10