The Magnificent Seven (1960)

1960 • 128 minutes

About this movie

A bandit terrorizes a small Mexican farming village each year. Several of the village elders send three of the farmers into the United States to search for gunmen to defend them. They end up with 7, each of whom comes for a different reason. They must prepare the town to repulse an army of over 100 bandits who will arrive wanting food. An Americanization of the film, The Seven Samurai

Ratings and reviews

Horribly overrated remake of Seven Samurai, the only saving grace is the incomparable Yul Brenner and underused Lee Marvin. Seriously, The Three Amigos was a much better and entertaining remake of Kurosawa's brilliant SS than the weak characterisations in this waste of 150 minutes. Also one of the worst westerns I've ever sat through.

Everyone loves a good old 'shoot em up' western. And this one delivers. Who on earth thought the opening title song was the correct one for this was..... just so wrong.

A classic western with some great character actors and the music alone sets it apart. The Seven Samurai did it better but it has the same mostly sad ending with pointless deaths (instead of heroic deaths) that pretty much sums up what violence comes too. But it mostly follows the myth of the west and many will like that. I'd rather see a movie depicting the west as it really was but for entertainment's sake it's a fun ride up to the anti-climatic ending. I'll still watch it just for fun's sake and you can't really go wrong with Steve McQueen. I still give it 5 stars.