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DVD
BRYNNER,YUL
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
John Sturges
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Actors: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn
Spectacular gun battles, epic-sized heroes and an all-star cast that includes Academy AwardÂ(r) winners Yul Brynner* and James Coburn**, together with Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach and Charles Bronson, make The Magnificent Seven a legend among westerns. Spawning three sequels and a successful television series, and featuring Elmer Bernstein's OscarÂ(r)-nominated*** score, thisstunning remake of The Seven Samurai is "a hard-pounding adventure" (Newsweek) and "an enduringly popular" (Leonard Maltin) cinematic classic. Merciless Calvera (Wallach) and his band of ruthless outlaws are terrorizing a poor Mexican village, and even the bravest lawmen can't stop them. Desperate, the locals hire Chris Adams (Brynner) and six other gunfighters to defend them. With time running out before Calvera's next raid, the heroic seven must prepare the villagers for battle and help them find the courage to take back their town or die trying!
Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samurai was a natural for an American remake--after all, the codes and conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once: Kurosawa's Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of '60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. There's nothing especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John Sturges (The Great Escape), but the storytelling is clear and strong, and the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the screen. If that isn't enough to awaken the 12-year-old kid inside anyone, the unforgettable Elmer Bernstein music will do it: bum-bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum-ba-bum.... Followed by three inferior sequels, Return of the Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent Seven Ride! --Robert Horton
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| Don't Think About It -- Buy It. |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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You know all about this movie, and you know you want it for your DVD collection. So what are you waiting for -- Blue Ray?
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| the King of all westerns |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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After having seen this movie scores of times it still is worth seeing again. I could not believe that this film, still, keeps me going from beginning to end. 50 years since it's release, this box office block buster western, is STILL great!! When you put together an all - star cast with a great storyline, and terrific script, you have the Magnificent 7.
To go back to 1960 Hollywood, one has to realize that this western was a springboard for some in this cast of Mag 7. It is a great movie for the ENTIRE family to view, and the price is right for value. For you videophiles: It has been restored very nicely too. Buy it and let your whole clan enjoy top notch western entertainment by seeing the KING of all westerns. I would'nt give you a "bum steer" pard'ner.
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| The Tradition Continues |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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John Ford defined the Western genre. Akira Kurasawa borrowed from it but created an entirely new genre with "The Seven Samurai". Director John Sturges borrows liberally from both but pays homage and creates something wholly new and original. By extension you can say that this film also paved the way for the work of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah in keeping the Western alive and vital. Divorcing this film from it's influences it's a rousing good time. Solid story and characterization with terrific action. Yul Brynner projects cool as the leader of the seven. Steve McQueen begins to cement his reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Charles Bronson and James Coburn offer solid support. Horst Buchholz chews the scenery badly. Eli Wallach does it magnificently. Elmer Bernstein's score stands as an inseparable Greek chorus to the action onscreen. This picture is pure poetry.
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| The Russians are coming!!!! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This is one of the best Westerns ever made, as well as one of the best American films ever produced....never mind that it's an interpretation of a Japanese classic, THE SEVEN SAMURAI. Everyone knows the story, which is elegant in its simplicity: seven hired gunmen travel to Mexico to defend a small community of farmers against a predatory gang that outnumbers them about 10 to 1.
The acting is beyond great. Steve McQueen, the epitome of cool, steals every scene he's in. James Coburn and Robert Vaughn do justice to the script. Even characters who have only a few lines, like some of the villagers, are well-developed.
The leader of the Seven is Yul Brynner, as graceful as a panther and with a kind of Zen thing going on. The leader of the villagers is the Old Man, fellow Russian Vladimir Sokoloff. I guess you could also count Charles Bronson as part of that little "Bloc" vibe--at that point in his career, he wasn't far removed from his early life as Charlie Buchinsky, child of recent immigrants. (I should mention here that I have always LOVED Bronson.)
When you rent or buy this movie, try to get as close as you can to a big screen experience--you won't regret it.
As for appropriate libations during viewing: tequila or vodka-- that's up to you.
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| Classic Western--great character actors |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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A remake of Magnificent Seven as a Western, this movie is more than a knock-off of Kurosawa. The story is familiar, perhaps--a band of misfit heroes must defeat the evil bandits who are terrorizing a village. But the acting in this movie is what makes it great. The Good Guys are lovingly portrayed by classic actors of the 1960s (Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughan, Steve McQueen, to name a few) and even the leader of the Bad Guys is beautifully and complexly portrayed by Eli Wallach. You have to wonder how much fun they had making this movie, with a cast like that!
If you are a fan of Spaghetti Westerns and all the modern remakes of the genre (Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma, etc.) then you really owe it to yourself to see where the revival began. Thanks to Kurosawa and the various remakes of his movies, the Western took on a new life, with a darker, more modern feel and a far more complex story line. This is not the simple scenario with the hero in a white hat defeating the man in black. Instead, the film creates an entirely new hero mythology. If you're looking for "reality" you won't find it in this movie, but if you're looking for the enduring myths and values that continually draw us to the "frontier", and all the fascinating characters that populate that landscape, then this is your film. The director, John Sturges, explores the complexity of a series of flawed heroes as they struggle to redeem themselves by saving others. We see many of the stock characters of modern movies--the restless macho men who can't settle down (Brynner and McQueen), the gunman who has lost his nerve (Vaughan), the perfectionist who can't rest until he's sure he's mastered himself (Coburn). Many of these characters are richly drawn and unforgettable, which is why this film is a classic. If you've never seen it before, you're in for a real treat.
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