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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Carly Kocurek

Apparently, if your Mexican peasant village is being harassed by a band of thieves, the thing to do is to enlist the help of a black hat-wearing cowboy. He'll hire some other wild west figures and come to your defense. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN tells the tale of a tiny village kept at the brink of poverty by Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his bandits. Unable to defend themselves, the villagers enlist Chris Adam (Yul Brynner) and six other gunmen to defend them. The gunmen all choose to help for different reasons, and much of the film is dedicated to characterizing the gunmen as they help the town get ready to fight back against Calvera's gang.

Is It Any Good?

4

The Magnificent Seven is a classic western based on an earlier Japanese film, Akira Kurosawa's 1954 masterpiece, Seven Samurai. The film is steeped in elements of the Western genre, from the pistols to the saloons to the good guy/bad guy plot. That being said, The Magnificent Seven is a particularly good example of the genre. The cast does well, and Yul Brynner is especially charismatic on-screen. The film has not aged particularly well, though, and the pacing will feel slow to viewers not used to films of the period.

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