Seven Men from Now (1956)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Budd Boetticher

Writer:

Burt Kennedy (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

4 August 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Ex-sheriff Ben Stride tracks the seven men who held up a Wells Fargo office and killed his wife. Stride...

Plot Keywords:

California | Wells Fargo | Sheriff | Shot In The Back | Gold

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Ben Stride
Gail Russell	...	Annie Greer
Lee Marvin	...	Bill Masters
Walter Reed	...	John Greer
John Larch	...	Payte Bodeen
Don 'Red' Barry	...	Clete (as Donald Barry)
Fred Graham	...	Henchman
John Beradino	...	Clint
John Phillips	...	Jed
Chuck Roberson	...	Mason
Stuart Whitman	...	Cavalry Lieutenant Collins
Pamela Duncan	...	Señorita
Steve Mitchell	...	Fowler
Cliff Lyons	...	Henchman
Fred Sherman	...	The Prospector

Also Known As:

7 Men from Now (Australia) (UK) (DVD title) (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17817) | West Germany:12 | Australia:PG | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

John Wayne had originally intended to play the lead role himself, but was prevented from doing so due to his busy schedule.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The man dragged by the horse looks nothing like Randolph Scott.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Good Love

John Wayne Wanted this one himself

John Wayne's Batjac productions was the producer of this fine B western and it shows the clout of star power. According to a book I have about those last three B western heroes, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Audie Murphy, Wayne liked the script and wanted to do it himself, but at the time was tied up with The Searchers. He peddled the script which he owned because Burt Kennedy who wrote it was under contract to Batjac and was doing it under Wayne's auspices to a number of people before getting Randolph Scott. When it premiered Wayne cursed himself that he hadn't done it.

If he had it would have become a classic like The Searchers. Wayne was at the height of his career at that point and Randolph Scott was doing good critically acclaimed, but B programmers that filled the second half of double bills at that time.

Hard to see how the Duke would have been better than Randolph Scott. He's a former sheriff out hunting the men who robbed a Wells Fargo express office and killed his wife who was working there. While on the hunt he runs into Walter Reed and Gail Russell who are a homesteader and wife traveling to California. Scott helps them out and rides along with them. Their story and his get enmeshed as the plot unfolds.

Gail Russell was a tragic figure who was a good friend of Wayne's. She had a lot of problems both emotional and with substance abuse. Like the Duke was wont to do, he gave her a part in this hoping for a comeback. Though she was good, it was not to be the case.

Her husband in the film, Walter Reed, got another chance to work with John Wayne this time in The Horse Soldiers as one of the officers on the raid that Wayne was leading. So did Stuart Whitman who has a bit role as a young army lieutenant. Their chemistry in The Comancheros was legendary.

Speaking of The Comancheros, Lee Marvin is memorable here as one of the villains with some highly mixed motives. And he too would get to work with John Wayne in the future.

Seven Men from Now is a fine film which but for a previous commitment could have been an A picture and a John Wayne classic. But Randolph Scott could hardly have been topped for the performance he gave.