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:

Wells Fargo | California | Sheriff | American Indian | Shot In The Back

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 Lt. 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:

Continuity: When Ben Stride is first wounded (he'd taken a bullet in his leg or foot), he uses his rifle in his right hand as a crutch. Later, when he comes out to face off with Bill Masters, he's using his rifle in his left hand as a crutch.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Budd Boetticher: An American Original (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Good Love

Outstanding western, Scott and Marvin are great.

Seven Men is a film much more about three men (Scott, Marvin, and Walter Reed) and a woman (Gail Russel), than about the seven men that have to be killed because in a shootout during a robbery they killed Scott's wife. Greer (Walter Reed) is apparently a weak man, he is described by Marvin as half a man, and Scott in a dialog with Greer's wife Annie (Russell), is doubtful of her love for Greer. Marvin is a man that lives by a Darwinian code, survival of the fittest, but with no morals attached. He is attracted to Annie, but knows that to him she is unreachable. Scott ranks well in Marvin's code, Marvin respects him because he is fit to survive, but Scott does not do well in his own code. The problem is that when in the past he was not reelected sheriff, he was too proud to take a job as a deputy. His wife had to become the provider by taking a job at Wells Fargo, where she was killed. Scott cannot forgive himself for that. Finding a job was also a problem for Greer, that is why he is going on a wagon to California. Lee Marvin is a great villain and Gail Russel quite a presence. This is a western that catches you off guard, a story that might be conventional, but presented in a unique, personal way.