One movie we managed to watch over the past week was the classic western “The Magnificent Seven”. This movie is based on the highly-praised Japanese film “The Seven Samurai” and stars such illustrious men as Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and Eli Wallach.
Now I’ve heard people talk very highly about this movie, but frankly, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Maybe it was just the mood I was in (read: tired), but I found this movie a bit boring throughout the middle, and the acting was appalling throughout some portions. Am I crazy?
The story is about a Mexican farming town under siege from the local gang. They set about to buy guns to protect themselves and end up bringing back 7 men for $20 pay each to help defend the town against the gang. The bulk of the movie once the men arrived in town just seemed to drag on and on and I’m convinced that at least 20-30 minutes of the movie could be cut out and not affect the storyline at all.
As far as westerns go, this will NOT be on my list of favorites, which includes “Silverado”, “Unforgiven” and “Tombstone” (maybe that was the problem – maybe the movie should have had a one word title like these three great westerns).
1/2 tumbleweeds out of five – and that’s only for Steve McQueen, who was the one great shining star in the movie.