First, secure the rights to a classic, critically acclaimed Samurai film...made 6 yrs earlier.....set it in the old west.........cast your lead w/ a bald, Russian/Mongolian emigre...pass him off as a gunfighter of "Cajun" heritage......throw in a "TV Cowboy"...whose few screen credits included a starring role in "The Blob", as your second lead...a relatively unknown Lithuanian-American actor as a Mexican/Irish half breed....a German actor named Horst as a young Latino known as "Chico"......a well known character actor born in Moscow as a wise old Mexican peasant........and a Jewish method actor from the Broadway stage and TV as a ruthless Mexican bandit........& waddya get? Not the best western ever made (although certainly a case can be made for it's being one of 'em).......but possibly the most fun. It worked...maybe because it was so rousing..& so much fun..w/ that superb score..that you just want it to work..need it to work...& let it take you wherever it leads. Numerous wonderful scenes .. One that sticks out for me is..after Chris & Vin have driven the hearse back down from the cemetery..a guy comes up & offers Chris a drink...and asks "Where ya from"?........answered w/ a thumb pointing back over the shoulder............."Where ya headed"?....... a wordless point ahead. A simple scene...yet resonant & memorable...& defining. .................Very much a "Hollywood" western......but when was it ever done better? .....Consistently colorful and exciting....wonderful characters....often eloquent... The total package is a great adventure.
Review of The Magnificent Seven
