The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Director:

John Sturges

Writer:

William Roberts (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

23 October 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

They were seven - And they fought like seven hundred!

Plot:

An oppressed Mexican peasant village assembles seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.

Plot Keywords:

Exploitation | Spanking | Ensemble Cast | Slap In The Face | Shotgun

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 8	12:30 PM	AMC
Wed. July 9	1:30 AM	AMC

Cast

Yul Brynner	...	Chris Adams
Eli Wallach	...	Calvera
Steve McQueen	...	Vin
Charles Bronson	...	Bernardo O'Reilly
Robert Vaughn	...	Lee
Brad Dexter	...	Harry Luck
James Coburn	...	Britt
Horst Buchholz	...	Chico
Jorge Martínez de Hoyos	...	Hilario (as Jorge Martinez de Hoyas)
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Old man
Rosenda Monteros	...	Petra
Rico Alaniz	...	Sotero
Pepe Hern
Natividad Vacío	...	Miguel (as Natividad Vacio)
Mario Navarro
Danny Bravo
John A. Alonzo	...	Tomas (as John Alonso)
Enrique Lucero
Alex Montoya
Robert J. Wilke	...	Wallace (as Robert Wilke)
Val Avery	...	Henry (corset salesman)
Whit Bissell	...	Chamlee (undertaker)
Bing Russell	...	Robert, (Henry's traveling companion)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roberto Contreras	...	Villager (uncredited)
Valentin de Vargas	...	Calvera henchman (uncredited)
Larry Duran	...	(uncredited)
Joseph Ruskin	...	Filene (uncredited)

Directed by
John Sturges

Writing credits
Akira Kurosawa		(screenplay "Shichinin no samurai") uncredited &
Shinobu Hashimoto		(screenplay "Shichinin no samurai") uncredited &
Hideo Oguni		(screenplay "Shichinin no samurai") uncredited
William Roberts		(screenplay)
Walter Bernstein		uncredited and
Walter Newman		uncredited

Produced by
Walter Mirisch	....	executive producer
Lou Morheim	....	associate producer
John Sturges	....	producer

Original Music by
Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography by
Charles Lang		(director of photography) (as Charles Lang Jr.)

Film Editing by
Ferris Webster

Art Direction by
Edward Fitzgerald

Set Decoration by
Rafael Suárez		(as Rafael Suarez)

Makeup Department
Emile LaVigne	....	makeup artist (as Emile Lavigne)
Daniel C. Striepeke	....	makeup artist (as Daniel Striepke)

Production Management
Francisco Day	....	production manager (as Chico Day)
Allen K. Wood	....	production supervisor
Hubert Fröhlich	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jaime Contreras	....	assistant director
Robert E. Relyea	....	assistant director
Emilio Fernández	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Sam Gordon	....	property

Sound Department
Del Harris	....	sound effects editor
Rafael Ruiz Esparza	....	sound (as Rafael Esparza)
Jack Solomon	....	sound

Special Effects by
Milt Rice	....	special effects

Stunts
Larry Duran	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Henry Wills	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Henry Wills	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Don Stott	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Music Department
Bob Bain	....	musician: guitar (uncredited)

Other crew
Thom Conroy	....	dialogue director
John Franco	....	continuity
'Chema' Hernandez	....	head wrangler (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Mirisch Corporation, The
• Alpha Productions (as A Mirisch-Alpha Production)

Distributors

• United Artists (1960) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1961) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1961) (France) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1980) (USA) (VHS) (reissue)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1989) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Video (1993) (UK) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vidéo (1997) (France) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2000) (France) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (Europe) (2001) (UK) (DVD) (special edition)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2001) (France) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (special edition)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (????) (Netherlands) (VHS)

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) (2005) | USA:Approved (certificate #19668) | West Germany:12 (f) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Brazil:12 | Netherlands:6 (DVD rating) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, México D.F., Mexico

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Body count: 55

Goofs:

Continuity: When Calvera and his gang first ride into town in the beginning of the movie, they are seen taking chickens and food. When they ride out of town, they do not have any of the loot with them.

Quotes:

Chico: But who made us the way we are, huh? Men with guns. Men like Calvera, and men like you... and now me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Larger Than Life (1996)

A classic all right

Re-make are seldom as good as the original, but here Hollywood or rather John Sturges managed to capture some of the spirit of Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai' which itself owes something to the 'Three Musketeers' and which Sturges duly acknowledged in the credits. Partly this is due to some inspired casting. With the exception of Yul Brynner, none of the actors was particularly well known at the time. Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Eli Wallach and Horst Buchholz (an unlikely Mexican) all went on to successful acting careers. The format of this film was replicated in many later films.

The plot couldn't be simpler. Desperate Mexican villagers, bled white by local bandits, retain a group of almost equally desperate gunslingers from the other side of the Rio Grand to deal with the bandits. A lot of the fun arises early on as leader Cajun Chris seeks out half a dozen suitably deranged but deadly types for the job. Ostensibly they are doing it for the money but it becomes apparent early on that they are really on the team just for the hell of it. Once they are together things don't quite go to plan, but the camaraderie holds up, and their mission is accomplished, though at considerable cost.

Despite all the action it is a character-driven piece in some ways. Eli Wallach's Calvera the bandit leader is more than a cardboard cut-out villain and Yul Brynner's enigmatic Chris keeps us guessing. The villagers, despite their matching white smocks, are not all lily-white and each of the Seven has at least one interesting weakness.

A strong feature of the film is the music, penned by the ubiquitous Elmer Bernstein, and entirely appropriate, with a main theme which seems to be permanently welded into my brain.

'The Magnificent Seven' was made at a time when the appetite for westerns was going into decline. Whereas westerns were staple film and TV fare in the 50's, the sixties saw a sharp decline, as spy dramas and sex farces burgeoned. One interesting theory I've heard about this is that it's not so much that the audience tired of westerns, but that TV executives discovered that they were being watched by the people too poor to buy their sponsor's fine products. Anyway this film holds up very well after 45 years, a true classic and satisfying to watch.