‘The Magnificent Seven,’ While Far From Living Up to Its Title, Is Worth a Watch — and a Listen

Let’s cut to the chase: Elmer Bernstein’s score for John Sturges’s “The Magnificent Seven” (1960) is significantly better than the movie in which it was featured. If you think you don’t know Bernstein’s rousing theme song, don’t fool yourself: You do. That propulsively stuttering rhythm coupled with that sweeping, ascendant melody: They’ve been embedded in our pop culture DNA. Bernstein’s piece has been the subject of scholarly tracts, poached upon for advertising, and paid homage to and or/satirized by a daunting number of entertainers. Have you heard “Magnificent Ska” by the Skatalites? Bet you didn’t know that cowboys could skank.As we’re overstating the obvious, let’s also note that “The Magnificent Seven” isn’t esteemed as highly as its inspiration, Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” (1954). Kurosawa was sometimes considered the most Western of Japanese filmmakers — a reason being, one could suppose, that he was profoundly influenced by a director of Westerns, John Ford. So what did Kurosawa make of the American remake? One story has him bestowing a samurai sword on Sturges as a measure of admiration; other reports have Kurosawa slagging off the picture as “a disappointment.”Conflicting accounts don’t necessarily exclude the truth: Kurosawa had his opinions, just as he was possessed of a degree of politesse. What is more certain is that critics at the time didn’t think much of “The Magnificent Seven.” The Times found it “pallid, pretentious and overlong”; Variety, “long and cluttered.” Even the kindest of commendations proved mild. The box office receipts stateside were similarly soft. Internationally, though, Sturges’s oater proved hugely successful, not least in the Soviet Union. Could audiences in the USSR have been pulling for the Vladivostok-born Brynner?Via Wikimedia CommonsShout! Factory will be releasing a steel-box edition of “The Magnificent Seven,” a package that will include a 4K restoration as well as commentaries by James Coburn, Eli Wallach, and a British culture maven, Sir Christopher Frayling. The critical consensus on the film has improved over the years, largely because of its indomitable cast. Brynner was a known quantity back in the day, what with winning an Oscar as best actor for “The King And I” (1956), but Steve McQueen? Just another television hack at that point. As for Charles Bronson and James Coburn: still minor players both. Retrospect does wonders for star power.The plot is simple. Representatives of a Mexican village seek outside help in fending off the villainous Calvera (Eli Wallach, chewing the scenery). Backed by his ruthless gang of banditos, Calvera repeatedly takes advantage of the farmers and their peaceful ways, raiding the community for foodstuffs and supplies. When Calvera up and shoots a citizen in a fit of pique, the villagers decide enough is enough. On the advice of the township’s unnamed éminence grise (Vladimir Sokoloff in oracle mode), three men set out to procure arms.Upon traveling to the U.S., our emissaries meet Chris Adams (Brynner), a gunslinger of persuasive character and fashion-forward all in black. After convincing them that “men are cheaper than guns,” Chris corrals six roustabouts of various skill sets whose moral compasses, in the end, turn out to be stronger than their avarice. The selection process is among the picture’s high points — the scene in which we’re introduced to Coburn’s character will be manna for those who like their mythos lean, mean, and funny — and the Seven’s first encounter with Calvera and company is as satisfying as it’s intended to be. Good guys are good and bad guys are bad: Would that life were that simple.But then there’s the third act, in which grit, gumption, and gunplay are compromised by audience-pleasing gimcrackery: a love interest here, cute children there, and a reminder that our heroes are soft and cuddly. That, and the final stand-off is oddly anticlimactic: George Lucas did a better job when he appropriated it for “Star Wars.” “The Magnificent Seven” is less than magnificent, but should you be pining for some old Hollywood swagger, it will do in a pinch.

‘The Magnificent Seven,’ While Far From Living Up to Its Title, Is Worth a Watch — and a Listen

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