Customer Reviews

The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition)

5 star:		(138)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Hi Folks,

Amazon.com is lumping all reviews together so I thought I'd clarify that I am reviewing the BLU RAY set!

It wasn't clear if there were any NEW bonus features from the lovely 2 disc version of the first classic film or the follow ups on this set..there are not. My recommendation is that fans WAIT for a release of the first classic instead of making the expensive mistake I did by purchasing this set. I think I was convincing myself that in hi-def I'd like the follow up films more...I don't and in fact the final installment still looks washed out and almost tv movie of the week quality. The first three do look improved in Blu-Ray but on the first classic film some flaws and grain are magnified by this format. The bonus features look nice in Blu-ray HD but there isn't anything new here.

Unless you are one of the few who liked the follow up movies , a lot, I'd wait for a single disc Blue Ray version of the classic film and save $40. This is a ploy to get suckers like me to jump at a package and price and I'm sure the first film will ultimately be available on its own. You do not gain much by blu ray so keep your DVDs and enjoy them until that day.

I have not seen "The Magnificent Seven" in widescreen since I first saw it in the theatre in 1960. I have been watching it in pan & scan for about 40 years now. It is my favorite motion picture. Seeing it in widescreen opened new vistas for me. It finaly seems like the large scale yet personal drama that it always deserved to be. I can greater appreciate the composition of the different camera frames by noticing facial expressions and the like that have gone unnoticed for years. There is more character development here than I even imagined. There is more beauty and detail to the landscape unto which the story unfolds. The film has now at last taken on legendary proportions thanks to this format. Yul Brynner as Chris, Steve McQueen as Vin, Charles Bronson as O'Reilly, Robert Vaughn as Lee, Brad Dexter as Harry Luck, James Coburn as Britt and Horst Buchholz as Chico are all imbedded into the psyche of anyone who ever saw this movie and felt its emotional impact. These are real screen heroes.

There is something very magical about this film. This is different from every other Western that came before it. I believe it is the nature of the seven gunfighters, their motives for that one chance at gallantry and redemption. That combined with the way the story is visually told makes for its greatness. It teaches us something about nobility, dignity and devotion. The hearse-ride taken up to Boot Hill with Yul Brynner driving and Steve McQueen riding shotgun sets the stage and tone for the entire film. Images such as when Charles Bronson, is bent over with a bullet inside and the three little Mexican boys clutch him crying out his name while in his death throes bring a tear to the eye. In another the viewer reflects along with Yul Brynner as he takes the lifeless James Coburn's knife out of the adobe wall and folds it gently in his hand. These are heart rendering and indelible images. Even Eli Wallach as the bandit Calvera gets his moment of pathos. After being mortally wounded by Yul Brynner's bullet, Calvera can not believe that the seven came back to save the village even after the villagers told them that they did not want their help anymore. "You came back. A man like you. Why?" asks Calvera as he dies. Yul Brynner has no answer for him. It was as if Brynner had committed some sacrilege.

Director John Sturges captured the ambiguities of the human spirit in this film. Just as he directed "The Great Escape," Sturges' directorial style is so smooth that his own storytelling glosses right over the depth and complexity of his own work. The ultimate shame is that all Sturges' profoundness is all right up there on the screen. He literally outdoes himself along with a little help from Elmer Bernstein's score and William Roberts' script. Bernstein's insertion of quick tempo snippets here and there into the score advances the film and pulls the viewer right into the narrative with an emotional fervor along with his unforgettable main title theme. William Roberts' script is so full of memorable and engaging dialogue that it too smoothly advances the story with ease and shear magnetism playing on our emotions.

For me Yul Brynner was the epitome of `cool' and aplomb. From his dark gray and black outfit down to the tip of his thin cheroot he was the kind of man others look up to but keep their distance. Yul Brynner as Chris, was a man of few words and often communicated by the mere gesture of the hand. Of the seven, he was the cohesive element that drew them together simply by his demeanor. The aura of his worldliness beckoned them all to the place he was heading. It was the same place they were all going. He was just the first to recognize it. Brynner too was the cohesive element that kept them all together. Brynner was the one who followed some unwritten code of honor that is only alluded to in a few passages. McQueen was perfect as the gunfighter who was "just drifting" and signed on with Brynner. The levelheaded McQueen represents the other characters' realizations one by one as they join. James Coburn was perfect, as the stoic knife throwing Britt, who lived only for the thrill of the moment. Charles Bronson as O'Reilly played his stoically rugged but sympathetic role better than any actor could have. Bronson had a unique visual presence whose kind facial expressions counterbalanced his pockmark face and strong physique. Bronson was a conundrum unto himself and perfect for the role. Brad Dexter's performance as the unlucky fortune hunter has gone unrecognized. He was the least noble of the seven and died the mercenary that he was, yet there is some nobility to one's profession in that. Still, he gains our sympathy after returning in the clutch and saves his friend Chris and in turn is killed. Dying in the arms of his friend, Chris lets him go to the grave with a lie. Robert Vaughn's character was probably the most interesting of the seven. His enigmatic portrayal of Lee the tormented soul and not really the coward he labeled himself somehow never stood out. Only his act of redemption, his gunplay and death during the finale lingers. Vaughn's portrayal is a success because as he said he was "the coward hiding out in the middle of a battlefield" and at that he succeeded. Horst Buchholz gave an energetic and bravura performance the only one of the seven that had not yet been corrupted by the world. At the end he symbolically hangs his guns up and roles up his sleeves. Brynner and McQueen say that "only the farmers have won" and they lost. As they ride off into screen immortality I think we all won.

Yul Brynner, back in the late 1950's, wanted to direct an American version of the SEVEN SAMURAI, as an western. So he bought up the movie rights. He wanted to cast Anthony Quinn in the lead, as Chris. Brynner had been directed by Quinn in the remake of THE BUCCANEER. Quinn would have been great as Chris, the leader of the Seven; and what a different film it would have been. But, alas, Brynner himself took the part, and put his own stamp of individuality on it. He walked like a cross between a panther and a ballet dancer; light on the balls of his feet. Ironically, as an actor, he was slow on the draw, and not used to Westerns. But artistically, this was never apparent in the finished film.

Many of the Seven's actors had seen the Kurosawa film, and they were very excited about transferring it to the American West. Eli Wallach, as Calvera, in just a few short scenes, found both the humor and the cruelty in the bandit chieftan. His accent and speech pattern were fairly authentic; more so certainly than the young German actor, Horst Buchholz, endeavoring to find a southwestern/Texan/Mexican drawl. Director, John Sturges, had great hopes for Horst; the camera loved him. But it was the trio of studs, Steve McQueen as Vin, Charles Bronson as O'Reilly, and James Coburn as Britt, that dominated the frame.

Steve McQueen, wearing skin-tight leather stovepipe chaps, spent a lot of time finding ways to upstage Yul Brynner. There was a rumor that he would have preferred playing Chico, the Buchholz character. McQueen's manic physical performance, lightning fast with a pistol and a quip, seemed to work well for him, and it gave him more than his share of focus. His Vin emerged as lethal, lean, and hungry; yet weary of the gunfighter's plight, and envious of the simplicity and the honor of the peasants fighting for their families and their homes.

James Coburn, as Britt, was laconic and dangerous, and living on the edge of his blade; competing mostly with himself for the next big thrill. Coburn got the part he wanted, and though he was given minimal dialogue, his deliveries were classic. This set the mold for his future career.

Charles Bronson as Bernardo O'Reilly, half-Irish, half Mexican, was solid as a rock; an experienced stone killer, and yet still a soft touch for the children of the village. His death scene touched us. He found the pulse of his character, and he was both dangerous and decent.

Robert Vaughn, as Lee, seemed uncomfortable and lost. His part had been rewritten, and expanded for him. Yet he seemed ill-suited for the part, and the genre. Even his costume seemed ill-fitting. Part of the problem was that his characters' inability to participate in the first couple of firefights left us with little sympathy for him. Later then, in his scene with the peasants, in which he admitted his fear, the emotions seemed forced and poorly conceived. His last moment heroics and death did little to balance the scales.

Brad Dexter was nearly invisible. He is the one actor in trivia games no one can remember. His character, Harry Luck, with twice the dialogue as Coburn, paled in comparison. Part of it was Dexter himself. He was a bland, middle-of-the-road, B-Movie heavy, and it was odd to cast him, and thrust him in amongst all of those young turks. He did a credible job, but he was completely outshined by the future super stars.

Vladimir Sokoloff, as the village's "old man", gave such a wonderful and touching performance, one did not realize the actor was not Latino. Like Eli Wallach, his talent as an actor transcended ethnic boundaries.

John Sturges, a veteran director of westerns, found just the right balance of action and character. Mexican farmers substituted fine for the original Japanese farmers. And brigands, or bandits, are cut from the same nasty mold no matter what the era, or geography. Kurosawa's classic runs like 3 hours in length, and it gave us much more in-depth character development; so that when these samurai began to die, we cared about them. In 1959, when SEVEN was filmed, three hour westerns were a non-existant species. Elmer Bernstein's musical score was revolutionary, and its pounding stacatto beat has become one of the most recognized pieces of music ever created for film.

This western, always listed in the top 50 best westerns, is a must-see. And the DVD version, in widescreen, is crisp and clear and colorful, and it helps us to recapture that magical feeling we had the first time we saw this film in a movie theatre.

This 2 disc Collector's Edition DVD is a disappointment. When I first opened it, it looked very impressive. The packing and graphics are first rate and artistically done. But I must stop with the superlatives at this point. There is hardly any more material here than on the single special edition single disc of this same title. The feature on Elmer Bernstein's score is cursory at best. This 2 disc DVD does not even contain any trailers for the film. The section on production materials only has 3 posters to step through. That's it. The transfer does look good and this is one of my favorite movies of all time. However, I was expecting much more. This is a 5 star movie but this DVD edition is assembled in a perfunctory manner and I can only give it 3 stars.

This review refers to the MGM Special Edition of this film....
In this time when we are looking for heroes to fight off terrorists, this is the perfect movie to watch.
Based on the Japaneese classic "The Seven Samurai", this story is set in a small farming village south of the border. A band of outlaws, lead by the ruthless Calvera(Eli Wallach), are terrorizing the town, taking the food and supplies of the hard working but meek farmers. They go the the elder of the town seeking advice. He tells them to buy guns and fight back. But guns are expensive and hard to come by. They gather up the little money they have and hire seven gunmen to help stave off the mauraders.The men accept, for little pay,mostly because they are broke,but we come to see they are moralistic and believe in the cause.
The gunmen are tough but each with his own special charisma.
These are not heartless anti-heroes(although at times some may seem that way), they bond with the townspeople, share food with them, teach them how to defend themselves. There are some touching scenes of them working together (one even forms a fatherly relationship with some of the children), and there's even a touch of romantic comedy.
The standoffs with the outlaws ensue, the gunmen and the farmers fight shoulder to shoulder.Although some of our heroes are lost, good does triumph over evil. This is a the definitive film for western lovers.
Not just a great western story, the cast is also magnificent.All these legends in one film, Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen,Charles Bronson,James Colburn, Robert Vaughn, and with Brad Dexter and Horst Buchholz. The musical score by Elmer Bernstein is a huge part of the film, just try to get it out of your head afterwards, you know the one, used to be the theme song for the "Marlboro Man". Director John Sturges gives a real western feeling and the cinematography to go with it.
Already know you love this film and wondering about the DVD?

The DVD lives up to the name of "The Magnificent Seven" The transfer is one of the better ones of a film from this era(1960), I think I saw one glitch(But I was looking for them)that was so fast, hardly worth mentioning, The colors are glorious, The widescreen is in the original theatrical format, and it's perfect,The Sound is in 5.1 Surround and also in the original mono, take your choice,the score is Magnificent,and dialouge crisp and clear,The Picture is bright, even the night time scenes are easily distinguishable,Nice Packaging (A nice case with booklet inside), and the "Extras" will keep you busy all day, there's a documentary making of, still photos(Lots),Trailers, and Audio Commentary which runs through the whole movie if you want to watch it that way, and more.
"The meek shall inherit....." with the help of "The Magnificent Seven" Enjoy....Laurie

also recommended:
Great Hollywood Westerns: Man Without A Star
The Wild Bunch (Special Widescreen Original Director's Cut)
The Greatest Western Themes

MGM has just released the DVD of "The Magnificent Seven", perhaps the very last of an epoch of classic westerns. Poignant and sad, yet thrilling and action-filled, this cinema classic became a model for 100 action flicks to come. It's an early peek at the emerging movie anti-hero of the 60's and the 70's. An embattled farming village in Northern Mexico hires an unemployed gunslinger from Dodge City. Chris, played by Yul Brynner, recruits six more guns and takes a bloody stand against forty invading banditos. The film opened in 1960 to mild reviews. It was sent off to Europe, where it exploded with positive response. "The Seven" returned to the U.S. to wide acclaim, and as co-star James Coburn says in the documentary, "It's been playing ever since..." John Sturges filmed "Bad Day at Black Rock", "Gunfight at the OK Corral", and "The Great Escape", but history confirms that the meticulous out-door director achieved his artistic peak with this star-studded spectacle, featuring Elmer Bernstein's now classic theme. The film was followed by 3 sequels and a TV show that ran for 2 years. The DVD sound dialogue is a bit muted. The anamorphic 16:9 picture is perhaps the clearest ever, though you'll see some grain fallout during the lap dissolves. An audio commentary track with producer Walter Mirisch and several actors comes with 2 trailers and photos from the actual shoot and cast party. The real jewel of this new DVD is a brand new 46-minute documentary featuring interviews with all the major surviving stars, except Charles Bronson, who just turned 80. Charles Coburn, Eli Wallach, and Robert Vaughn re-live the adventures of filming this epic on location in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Amusing tales of future super-star Steve McQueen are revealed by his ex-wife. McQueen intentionally crashed his sports car to leave his TV series, "Wanted Dead or Alive", and join the cast of "Seven". Yul Brynner so enjoyed his all-black gunfighter attire that he repeated the same exact outfit in at least 4 more movies. Yul Brynner died of lung cancer in 1985. Steve McQueen died of cancer in 1980. Thanks to this timeless and valuable DVD, "The Magnificent Seven" may never die. After the raging battle ends, Brynner's character looks down on newly dug graves for the brave villagers. "We didn't do it.."he says. "Only the farmers win. We never win..."

In my opinion, The Magnificent Seven is among the best movies of all time. It is made in the classic Western style, but perhaps due to the adaptation from the Seven Samaurai, it has a lot of the elements of modern movie characters: morally ambiguous anti-heroes who face a personal crossroads but ultimately choose the right path.

This movie adds new angles to the conventional Western plot. A group of 40 bandits led by a robust but ruthless leader named Calvera (Eli Wallach)continously raids a poor farming village for food and other provisions. A group of villagers go north of the border to enlist hired guns to protect them. Eventually, a cool gunslinger by the name of Chris (Yul Brynner) organizes a team of seven able mercenaries to defend the village for a meager fee. The group works well together and inspires the villagers to join the fight to drive Calvera out. After some success, the group suffers some adversity against considerable odds. In the end, both the visitors and the villagers learn about the price -- and payoff -- of resisting injustice.

This movie is truly driven by its great characters. Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, who plays Brynner's de facto lieutenant Vin, could have likely done this movie by themselves. Their chemistry reminds me of Newman and Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but with a drier humor. I would have loved to have seen them in more movies together.

I liked all of the Seven, but two others really stood out. Charles Bronson was impressive as the hard-edged O'Reilly, and played the role with a sense of humor and warmth without losing his stoic demeanor. Horst Buchholz was extremely impressive as the young gun ("Chico") who goes through an identity crisis as he is torn between the romanticism of being a gunslinger and the contrasting ethics of his heritage. Why wasn't he in more movies? Eli Wallach is superb as the boisterous, scenery-chewing Calvera, and Wallach brings gives a sense of humor and empathy to the role which distinguishes it from most movie villains I've seen. The village leaders were also very good.

The style and tone of this movie reminds me of the anti-hero type movies made in the late 60's and early 70's and the buddy/action-type movies of the current era. It also has two of the best cinematic gunfights I have ever seen. You owe it to yourself to at least see this one. I plan on adding The Magnificent Seven to my library and hopefully showing it to my kids someday.

I am a huge fan of Steve McQueen and as such purchasing The Magnificent Seven on Blu Ray was a no brainer for me, a true must purchase item.

This movie is a classic and set a very high standard for all Westerns to come. With that said, this review is going to deal with the actual Blu Ray transfer , both video and audio , and not the plot or performances contained in it.

This being another 'quickie' catalog release from MGM, a studio in bankruptcy, I was not expecting too much here and afraid the technicians would just slather the image with tons of DNR, Edge Enhancement and call it a day. Luckily for me and all fans of this film I was wrong! Phew!

Here is the good news: This film has not been DNR'd to death at all. I can't see any actually, and as for edge enhancement, I just don't see that either. GREAT! A pretty natural looking image, nothing spectacular, but solid color and an almost fully stable image. There are a few very short instances of 'image/telecine wobble' but nothing too severe and only a few times. Chances are most folks won't even notice it.

Generally the image is pleasing,. Although there are SOME soft shots, a few horrible looking grainy shots, a bit of mosquito noise on certain blue sky shots and a grainy blurriness every single time the picture dissolves/fades into another scene, rather than a clean cut. I watched this carefully and noticed that most of the video problems occur in the first 50 minutes of the film, with the remaining hour and 18 minutes being just about issue free and VERY nice to look at for a 1960 film. Seriously, unless you are picking it apart, you will just notice a few soft grainy shots and everything else should look pretty good to you, bordering on very good.

Note that this transfer is not anywhere near a reference catalog title and stands no chance of winning Blu Ray release of the year or anything like that. I absolutely think most video reviews on name brand reviewer sites have inflated the video quality of this transfer. It was no where near as good as I was expecting, but then again no where near as bad either! Did I enjoy watching it? YOU BET! I can honestly say this is the very best this film has looked in home release format. EVER! Period!

The sound fares better than the picture I think. A decent DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 track is your only option. Basically this film is front heavy and center heavy. Every now and then you might get a gunshot or ricochet in a surround speaker, but most all the action and sound takes place up front and in the center channel. On the other hand, there is more LFE for your Sub than you would expect. Only a few lines of dialogue here and there were hard for me to hear, even with my surround system cranked up a bit. Most of it is clear as a bell with both music and sound effects sounding fine. I ran into a small segment towards the end where the audio/video sync was off. It was not my system and I could duplicate it multiple times with the problem always occurring in the same spot. When Charles Bronson paddles the kids behind, you see it, then hear the whack whack whack! Since the mouths are moving BEFORE the sound, the delay adjustment on your receiver will be useless. Fortunately, this disappears in a few minutes as if it had never happened and mouths and words match up once again. I have only ran into an actual disc/audio problem once before and that was on the last Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool. I am convinced that both discs have some sort of authoring problem that causes this.
**If you see the same sequence and the sound IS in synch please write a comment on my review so I know it is my gear and not the disc. Thanks.

There is a pretty nice selection of extras on this disc. Most come directly ported over from the 2 DVD collectors set. The audio commentary is particularly good, with stars James Coburn and Eli Wallach, plus the producer and assistant director. Not bad and at times quite entertaining and informative. When I really love a movie I tend to eat this stuff up and this was no exception. Also included is a very nice 46 minute 'making of' type documentary that offers lots of good stories and trivia. Another 15 minute documentary on composer Elmer Bernstein's score, and yet another shorter 'making of' piece called 'The linen Book'. Add to all of that two trailers and you can see this is a pretty hefty offering for bonus features.

The Magnificent Seven was a big hit, first in Europe and then in America. It is still revered today by both classic film buffs and Western genre fans. I love it because it launched Steve McQueen into stardom. It has a lot of appeal that works on many different levels. The score in particular is as rousing and inspirational as has ever been heard in a Western and all by itself it is an American Icon. You immediately conjure visions of the Old West and wide open spaces when you hear this music. Add an all star cast and great direction from John Sturges and you get one heck of a Western and one heck of a movie, period! Highly recommended!

Brings me back to the time I saw the movie as a kid. You can make all the "Avatar" movies you want ......... But when the dust clears .......... "The Magnificent Seven" is still a must have for your video collection. The Blu Ray has the sound and picture quality of the original movie, as seen in theaters.

Farmers oppressed by bandits (and their guns) finally tire of giving their crops over to hungry mouths and grumbling bellies because they, too, hunger and want. Thinking it is time for action, they decide to cross the border and find guns to place a little steel mentally in their vein and physically into their tormentors. If this means collecting the meager valuables that the farmers therein then that is fine, too, because freedom will bring more to their tables. A crossing of paths changes their minds, however, and they find themselves in the market for "men" instead of more expensive weaponry. With Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) recruited first and at the gunslinging helm, he helps choose six others to make a solid seven willing to fight only for food, a place to sleep, twenty dollars, and whatever sense of nobility they get from being heroes. And then its on...

This remake of Seven Samurai did for westerns what its predecessor did in the samurai arena. It crafted a legendary tale of men and weapons as they go off to fight the "good" fight for the people. The Magnificent Seven pays homage to Seven Samurai in many scenes, too, recreating some of those notable characters and some of those climactic scenes where they can be easily recognized. I personally liked that touch, finding Seven Samurai to be something well worth mentioning in many a genre of filmmaking. That said, this movie only takes from Seven Samurai in some aspects and fills-in-the-blanks the way it wants to in others, forging its own celluloid destiny. Where the first is overcast in somewhat grounded themes, The Magnificent Seven becomes more of a morality tale and makes its own mark by taking an idea and purifying it, producing more of an issue sheathed in "good vs. bad" than one beset with strong undercurrents. While that would have been a detractor from Seven Samurai, it worked really well in The Magnificent Seven and let the telling becomes one of heroics and what goes into motivating "men."

Not only is the creation of the tale done well in the aspects of filming, but the acting accents it in memorable ways. Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson come together with other talented performers and give their characters depth as the movie moves across that "save the farmers" frontier. This leads to romance with a farmer's daughter, the way a man sees death after hundreds have died before him, what bravery amounts to, and countless other themes birthed by the way those individual gunfighters are showcased. And that's always a good thing, because cardboard cutouts don't really mean anything as they struggle against death for life.