The Magnificent Seven - John Sturges - 1960

★★★★-I didn't watch many westerns growing up and having a gaping hole in my knowledge of the genre. Not sure why this is as I'm crazy about the genre now. So I've never seen this before.. It's fantastic. Sturges directing Brynner, Coburn, McQueen, Mother Fuckin Charlie Bronson. Shit yeah. 

Gist is a group of seven skilled gunfighters are hired to protect a small Mexican village from a band of ruthless bandits. Favorite part was when they go and wrangle up all the gunfighters. It's a western-style remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film, “Seven Samurai.” Also fucking sick. 

Directed by John Sturges. Other movies of his I love include Bad Day at Black Rock, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, andThe Great Escape. Stars Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. The movie kind of kickstarted his career. Rounding out the seven are Charles Bronson, Horst Buchholz, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, and Robert Vaughn. The big bad is played by Eli Wallach, I mostly think of him as Tuco (The Ugly) in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, one of my faves, and Don Altobello in The Godfather Part III. 

Apparently, McQueen and Brynner hated each other and even had a physical altercation. Too much ego. McQueen supposedly took over the production, much to everyone's irritation. He especially hated Brynner and tried to fuck with him constantly. Something I found watching a video about their issues were Brynner, who was like 5'6”, would kick up these little dirt mounds to stand on to look taller while filming. McQueen would then kick over these mounds. Dumb stuff. But pretty funny. 

McQueen and James Coburn jump off the screen. Bronson is pretty cool, but doesn't know how to chop wood for shit. One of the things I loved about his character is how the kids warm up to him. He is a real badass. 

Amazing musical score by Elmer Bernstein. He was nominated Academy Award for Best Original Score. Lost to Ernest Gold for his work on Exodus. No idea. Bernstein's music for this film was No. 8 on the AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores list. I think it's the “Beef. It's what's for dinner” song. 

Horst Buchholz is terrible and irritating. He really hams it up in a grating/distracting way. There is also a forced love interest for him that doesn't make a lot of sense. There is this really stupid scene where he waltzes up to the bad guy posse and hangs out. This is like a group of like 25 guys and they just assume he is one of them, which seems unlikely. 

Overall, solid film. An unquestioned classic western, from what I've seen. But not perfect. Mostly good to great, but the sentimental shit and bad actors take it down a peg. Watch the Kurosawa version for an all-time great.