MovieChat Forums > Return of the Seven (1966) Discussion > What If?

What If?

posted 19 years ago by witter1980
6 replies | jump to latest

I just got through watching "Return of the Seven" for the first time in years....The story wasn't that great pretty much just a rehash of the original but does anyone else think that it might've been at least a little better with McQueen and Horst Bucholz back in their roles?? Plus, am I the only one that thought the woman playing Chico's wife looked JUST like the one in the original? i'm just glad i didn't pay as much as i did for the first one.

"Oh Renfield you disappoint me so"-Dracula

[–] zillion29 18 years ago

Yeah - and not having Coburn and Bronson in the cast was a bummer, too.
This movie is a freakin' mess from start to finish. Brutal abuse of animals, a completely uncompelling villain (he just looked like an old fat loser), and the shoddy screenwriting that tells us about major plot points that just so happened to have occurred offscreen. Oh yeah, and throw in that old Yul mumbles 90% of his lines (which are even worse than the ones they gave him in Adios Sabata).

[–] witter1980 18 years ago

well they couldn't bring Coburn and Bronson back they both died in the original....and yea i'd forgotten how sucky the villain is especially compared to Eli Wallach...turns out the bad guy in this sequel was a hugely respected actor in Mexico and he did some fairly decent work in another Bronson flick called Breakout but this was not a good part

"Oh Renfield you disappoint me so"-Dracula

[–] bullit2513 18 years ago

Thanks for bringing that up witter. I was about to say that Coburn and Bronson were both killed in the original.

As for McQueen, I think the movie would have been better overall, but still not on par with the first one. Robert Fuller does an ok job with the Vin role, but it still isn't on the same level as McQueen. On the other hand, I like the rest of the seven, especially Warren Oates as Colbee and Claude Akins as Frank.

Too bad though about McQueen turning down the role. If nothing else, there would have been that chemistry with him and Brynner.

"Congratulations, Major. It appears that at last you have found yourself a real war." Ben Tyreen

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BobStage 16 years ago

Steve McQueen did not need to come back, but definitely Horst Bucholz as Chico. He was one of the best actors in the first movie, and I was sad to see him not return.

The actor of Luis was wierd... should have been played by a then-unknown Al Pacino or something to make it better.

[–] diddymuck 13 years ago

I don't get where the gripes are coming from. Emilio Fernández, one Mexico's most famous actors, was an uncanny slightly mad tycoon who actually wasn't that "bad" of a bad guy. In fact he may have been justified to have demanded that all peoples help in rebuild the church as a memorial to the recent war heroes, particularly his once-weak, finally-men sons. Only problem was he went about it the wrong way...all he had to do was ASK!

Regarding the lack of star appeal in the sequel, true there's no James Coburn or Steve McQueen, but who could resist the magnetism of Warren Oates in one of his career building roles? Or international star Fernando Rey in a VERY rare English speaking part? Great writing, excellent delivery by one and all and a great resolution.