MovieChat Forums > The Magnificent Seven (1960) Discussion > 2016 Remake of the magnificent seven...

2016 Remake of the magnificent seven...


Ohhhh hollywood, you have crossed a line that should never have been crossed.
this is beyond sacrilege.
This is one you should have left alone..
True grit was pretty ok for a remake, but still, john wayne was the duke and there is no replacement.
But steve mqueen.....now that just wrong.
I don't care how good denzel is, he ain't no yul brynner...

terrible day for great film making...

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.. and I'm all out of bubblegum"

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May I respectfully disagree? I actually came here to make a posting about what a great idea a remake of this film would be.

You're right of course about Brenner, McQueen, and a few others. They are irreplaceable. But in view it needs to be done. Watching the movie just now for the first time in years I was struck at how badly John Sturges pulled off the film.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sturges, and in fact you will see a lengthy review I posted of his "Gunfight at OK Corral". But just as Tombstone was an all round better film than Gunfight, and the remake of True Grit was all around a better film than the original (both films kept me riveted to the screen in a way their predecessors hadn't), if done properly, a remake of the Magnificent 7 could be, well... magnificent.

Sturges himself admitted he had lost control of the film. You constantly are getting pulled out of the movie as the cast continually tries to upstage the scene and draw attention to themselves. Sturgis is no lightweight, and I am perplexed as to why he did not bring the hammer down on the cast (no pun intended).

The acting could have been so much better. And the Mexican cast... wow, terrible, wooden, B movie performances. The screenplay of 7 departed quite a bit from Akira's masterpiece. It would be great to see another pass made on this story that sticks closer to the original.

Did I hear right that Denzel Washington has been cast in the remake? Hmmm. Doesn't give me much hope.

But if a remake is done, rest assured that your favorite version will always be around. ;>

Cheers

ps - You can flame me, but only if you have seen the Japanese version. ;>

















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Just watched it for the first time and had the same impressions. A remake could potentially be very good.

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I've seen this movie dozens of times over the years--I literally grew up with it. John Sturgis died less than two miles from where I live.

But I've never cared for the way he staged the climatic gun battle. Very sloppy. The gun fight seems to be basically over when Bronson and Coburn die (like with Vaughn, always an unseen assailant). And zero suspense in the showdown between Brynner and Wallach. Always wanted it to be so much more.

We'll see what the new version brings. The early reviews are not promising.

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"I was struck at how badly John Sturges pulled off the film."

Laughing so hard I almost busted a rib.

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True Grit was a Coen movie, not some obnoxious Hollywood product - and it wasn't a "remake", but rather a re-adaptation of the original material. Also, Jeff Bridges is the Dude and there's no replacement (he was much better than Wayne in the Rooster role).

As for remaking this number here... you do realize the 1960 flick was already an exceedingly commercial-minded remake of one certain little-known cinematic work from Far East...



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

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Surely if the Coen's True Grit qualifies as a "re-adaptation" rather than a remake of Hathaway's 69 film, Sturges' The Magnificent Seven also deserves the same denomination when compared to Seven Samurai...
I mean on top of taking place 3 centuries later in another country, "Magnificient" is different from Seven Samurai in many more ways than True Grit 2010 is to True Grit 1969, no?

Which does not change the fact that Seven Samurai is in an entirely different league (hell, sport!) than The Magnificent Seven and that the Coens' film indeed shows truer grit than Sturges' (especially in its perfect closing scene).

As for The Dude not being The Duke, well...



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As for The Dude not being The Duke, well...

That remains to be seen: Jeffrey Lebowski is called "The Duke" instead of "The Dude" in the French version of The Big Lebowski...

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Whoa. That can only mean the French have no idea what "dude" means.

Oh well, I guess I'll have a Royal with Cheese and some Freedom Fries and watch the True Grit remake.

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True Grit was the exception, where the remake was a better movie. Usually remakes are crap.

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Just came back from the movies watching The Nice Guys, great film by the way. Anyway they showed the remake to Magnificent. When I heard it was being remade I was gonna give it a chance. But watching the trailer WHAT IN JUPITERS BALLS HAVE THEY DONE!? The actors jumping out of the way of bullits and doing Sly Stallone stunts all over the place. I don't need to waste two hours when I already know this movie is going to be a steaming pile of *beep*

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+1 corky. Thanx for the warning.

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. The trailer was Definitley aimed at the millennium generation. The authenticity of the real western was blown apart by this two minute trailer Ugh!

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I hadn't yet watched the trailer for this movie, but your description makes me very worried about this remake! Did it necessarily need to specifically appeal to millenials, for the heck of a remake? Never mind there have been sadly VERY FEW movies I'd seen this summer, and I wouldn't be surprised if 2016 becomes the worst year for movies in so many years. :( I'd never seen a summer, where so many movies felt blah and unappealing to me in some kind of way(i.e. sequel, feeling too formulaic *cough, superhero movies*, etc).

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Bottomline.......you don't remake classics, you'll lose every time. You remake bad to mediocre films that have potential to be better than they originally were.

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Tips for making "movies for millennials"...
Get every possible race and gender in it.....
Make sure no scene lasts more than 12 seconds.....
Let CG drive the story instead of cinematography and actual ACTING.....
Insipid dialog (never have the characters actually speak in sync with the period)
Guaranteed hit...

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Mmmm, after seeing the trailer I think 2K16 could produce a better one. They seem to have captured the films spirit which is most impertant, and the addition of an all star cast, and modern SFX will only help matters.

Hello...My name is Inigo Montoya...You killed my father...prepare to die.

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It had its good moments and I appriciate the anti white washing by representing the fact that the American Frontier was far from an all white affair.

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The remake has been released yet somehow the world has managed not to end.

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I agree. I went to a showing thinking how could this go wrong? Another great casts and Antoine Fuqua directing. But there was something missing from the original movie. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I re-watched the old one again to make the comparison and then I realized it and somehow I just knew all along, the character development was so much better than the remake, the director really took his time and patience to achieve this and of course he couldn't have done this without a great script to follow! at the end I still cared for these guys as I did when I first watched the movie some 20 years ago. I also think the music score for the original beats the re-make by a mile. I argued these points with my brother because he believed the remake was better. So I say to you as I said to my brother, a classic is like a puzzle, all the pieces have to fit together perfectly to make it a classic. And the original did this! The re-make simply did not. Therefore I came to the conclusion the original was a better movie and should not have been remade. Hollywood got lazy again! P.S. Robert Vaughn was and still is my favorite 7!

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Good post.

I thought this version, while a decent way to spend an evening, was really shallow. The original had an overriding theme that the day of the hired gun was coming to a close, and those who had been lucky enough to make it their profession and survive at it, had only empty lives and mostly empty wallets to show for it. That they rose to the occasion and literally worked for beans in order to try to rid a village of its predators made for a worthwhile plot.

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Your explanation was spot on brother! the story behind their reasons of helping the village people was a well concocted story, it tied everything together and it paved the way to making us believe, understand, and invest our emotions in these 7 heroes!

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Actually, the remake looks pretty good.

HARLEYS R4 YUPPIES
(my bumper sticker)

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Yeah. to anyone who stays home and spends most of their waking hours playing XBOX games.

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Not a gaming hipster.

HARLEYS R4 YUPPIES
(my bumper sticker)

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Perhaps of interest:

http://thefederalist.com/2016/10/17/skip-the-magnificent-seven-and-watch-the-magnificent-seven-instead/

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Thanks for the article. It was a very interesting read and I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels the classic was a far better movie.

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Actually, the remake looks pretty good.
It is pretty good. It doesn't have the magic of the original western, nor surprisingly, the score. But it's arguably has a more interesting collective set of 7, Denzel does do a very good Chris IMO, the gunfights are what you would almost have to expect in a 2016 version (very little blood however) and there are a few more female supporting characters. I'd have to disagree with the comments above about the lack of character development. The spotlight will always fall on certain central characters, but there are no (ridiculously) underdeveloped characters like Britt, in this version.🐭

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