Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
- Hilario
- (as Jorge Martinez de Hoyas)
- Villager
- (as Natividad Vacio)
- Miguel
- (as John Alonso)
- Director
- Writers
- William Roberts
- Akira Kurosawa(uncredited)
- Walter Bernstein(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAlthough the film received mixed reviews, Akira Kurosawa was so impressed he sent John Sturges a ceremonial sword as a gift.
- GoofsSteve McQueen wears Levi's jeans with the famous red tab, which were introduced in the 1930s.
- Quotes
Village Boy 2: We're ashamed to live here. Our fathers are... cowards.
[O'Reilly takes the boy over his knee and spanks him]
O'Reilly: [harshly] Don't you ever say that again about your fathers, because they are not cowards! You think I am brave because I carry a gun? Well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. And there's nobody says they have to do this. They do it because they love you, and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule every day with no guarantee anything will ever come of it. This is bravery. That's why I never even started anything like that... that's why I never will.
- Crazy creditsAnd Introducing Horst Buchholz
- Alternate versionsThe German theatrical release differs from the German VHS video in the scene where the magnificent seven have been taken by surprise and have to put down their weapons on the table. Chico is the last one and stands in enragement. In the theatrical version he then nevertheless unstraps his belt like the others. In the VHS video version Chris jumps at Chico just in that moment when he wants to pull the gun. Chris takes his gun and puts it on desk. Then Chico unstraps his belt.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Precious Images (1986)
- SoundtracksThe Magnificent Seven Theme
Written by Elmer Bernstein
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.
- Philby-3
- Jul 10, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Sedem veličastnih
- Filming locations
- Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico(desert, sets)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 8 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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