The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Movie
German title	The glory seven
Original title	The Magnificent Seven
Country of production	United States
original language	English , Spanish
Publishing year	1960
length	128 (24fps) minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	John Sturges
script	William Roberts
production	John Sturges Walter Mirisch
music	Elmer Bernstein
camera	Charles Lang
cut	Ferris Webster
occupation
The seven: Yul Brynner : Chris Steve McQueen : Vin Charles Bronson : Bernardo O'Reilly Horst Buchholz : Chico Robert Vaughn : Lee Brad Dexter : Harry Luck James Coburn : Britt Other people: Eli Wallach : Calvera Wladimir Sokoloff : village elder Rosenda Monteros : Petra, Chico's bride Jorge Martínez de Hoyos : Hilario Valentin de Vargas : Calveras Rico Alaniz : Sotero Natividad Vacío : Miguel Robert J. Wilke : Wallace (at railroad) Whit Bissell : Undertaker Chamlee Val Avery : Henry, businessman Bing Russell : Robert, Henry's traveling companion
chronology
Successor  → The Return of the Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven (original title: The Magnificent Seven ) is a western from 1960 by director John Sturges . The plot is based on the Japanese film The Seven Samurai , but is relocated to North America. The film was produced by the Mirisch Corporation for United Artists . It came to the cinema on February 24, 1961 through United Artists distribution in Germany. The movie was released in the US on October 23, 1960. The film is widely regarded as one of the best westerns ever made.

action

A poor Mexican village is regularly threatened and robbed by bandits. Some of the villagers go to a border town with the US to buy rifles for their defense. There they learn from the American Chris that rifles are of no use to them without combat experience. He advises them to hire men with guns for a period of time. Chris can be won over for their cause and manages to win five capable gunslingers from the USA for the expected fight against the bandits with the little money and valuables of the villagers. A young hot spur ("Chico") is accepted into the group after some urge and fuss. In terms of portrayal and appearance, the gunslingers appear very different and seem to have different skills, but are similar in combat. In the last battle, in which the villagers finally take part, the outnumbered bandits are defeated and almost completely wiped out. However, four of the seven fighters also perish. Chris comments on this with a quote from the village elder: “Only the farmers could win. We have lost! - We always lose! ” Chris and Vin ride away. Chico stays in the village with a girl he has fallen in love with.

Film music

Elmer Bernstein wrote the soundtrack . The soundtrack was released in various compilations by at least 19 labels. The original film LP contained only 12 tracks. The most complete compilations on CD to date contain 23 titles:

1. Main Title And Calvera
2. Council
3. Quest
4. Medley: Strange Funeral / After The Brawl
5. Vin's luck
6. And Then There Were Two
7. Fiesta - Elmer Bernstein & his Orchestra
8. stalking
9. Worst shot
10. The Journey
11. Toro
12. training
13. Calvera's Return
14. Calvera Routed
15. Ambush
16. Petra's declaration
17. Bernardo
18. Surprise
19. Defeat
20. Crossroads
21. Harry's mistake
22. Calvera Killed
23. final

synchronization

role	actor	Voice actor
Chris	Yul Brynner	Heinz Giese
Calvera	Eli Wallach	Arnold Marquis
Vin	Steve McQueen	Herbert Stass
Bernardo O'Reilly	Charles Bronson	Franz Nicklisch
lee	Robert Vaughn	Rainer Brandt
Harry Luck	Brad Dexter	Horst Niendorf
Chico	Horst Buchholz	Horst Buchholz
Britt	James Coburn	Friedrich Joloff
old man	Vladimir Sokoloff	Eduard Wandrey

Trivia

• The credits show that the level of awareness of the actors at the time of the creation was very different than in retrospect: Robert Vaughn and Brad Dexter are named before Charles Bronson and James Coburn.

• Composer John Barry quotes the theme song composed by Elmer Bernstein in his score for the James Bond film Moonraker - Top Secret .

• In 1998, an American television series took up the topic again under the title of the same name in 23 episodes.

• In the science fiction film Westworld (1973), Yul Brynner played a black-clad gunslinger android in the style of his portrayal from The Magnificent Seven . The role in Westworld was thus a homage , a parody and at the same time an imitation of his role in The Magnificent Seven .

• There is also a series of children's books by Alfred Weidenmann that also uses the name The Magnificent Seven .

• The material was edited for the theater by the Münster theater label Herz & Mund and premiered on October 1, 2004 in the Theater im Pumpenhaus in Münster.

• In the work The Dark Tower by Stephen King (in the Wolf Moon part ) a reference is made between the main group of the book and the Magnificent Seven, and “We are travelers in lead” is a recurring sentence in this book. And there is also a setting - the Calla Bryn Sturgis  - pays homage to the leading actor and director.

• The Clash recorded a song of the same name in 1980.

• In the episode The Magnificent Ferengi ( The Magnificent Ferengi , season 6, episode 10) from the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - similar to The Magnificent Seven - six Ferengi come together on an initially hopeless mission.

• The film Sador - Rulers in Space is an adaptation of the science fiction genre . Robert Vaughn appears in a comparable role.

• The band Thunder named their seventh studio album based on the film The Magnificent Seventh .

Reviews

Joe Hembus notes that the film is "gloriously cast" and marks "the dawn of the Japanese era in westerns"; In Kurosawa, as in Sturges, the heroes are only left with “the bitter taste of homelessness”.

Phil Hardy calls the film "a highly influential western". Sturges' direction successfully emphasizes the setpiece shots, through which the individual characters are brought to life, but at the expense of the narrative flow.

"Successful Western implementation of the Japanese classic" The Seven Samurai "with action, suspense, psychology and a large star cast; the film was copied again and again - but never matched again. "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the dictionary "Films on TV"

"Acting performances, fantastic landscape shots and the exciting fight scenes make the film a Wild West masterpiece."

- Stern , Hamburg

"An exciting western that cleverly integrates folklore into the rough plot, has excellent camera work and, especially in the supporting roles, thrives on considerable acting achievements."

- Lexicon of international film

“This initially funny film by director John Sturges shows that the moral upgrading of the western to civic education is making progress. While the Colts are still smoking, the cowboys are already beset by doubts about the value of what they are doing, spread about the blessings of the local clod and extol the benefits of an orderly family life. While they are still fighting, they find the opportunity to speak to adventure-addicted youngsters to their consciences. In addition to the mostly cautious bald man Yul Brynner, Germany's star youth Horst Buchholz makes his Wild West debut with decency. "

- Der Spiegel No. 11 from March 8, 1961

Awards

Elmer Bernstein's film music was nominated for an Oscar in 1961 . The title theme is still considered to be one of the most famous western film scores ever and was later used in advertising, among other things. The best known was the version for a cigarette brand. The Magnificent Seven was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2013 .

Sequels and remakes

The Magnificent Seven found a total of three "official" sequels that also take place in the Wild West, but could not build on the success of the original:

• Return of the Seven (Return of the Seven , 1966)
• Guns of the Magnificent Seven (Guns of the Magnificent Seven , 1969)
• Death Ride of the Magnificent Seven (The Magnificent Seven Ride! , 1972)
• the TV series The Magnificent Seven , which was produced from 1998 to 2000, was added.

In addition, a remake of the same name was made under the direction of Antoine Fuqua , which was released in 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Release certificate for The Magnificent Seven . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2010 (PDF; test number: 23 962 V).
2. ↑ Overview of the various soundtracks for the film , accessed on September 13, 2013.
3. Jump up ↑ Jason Newman: Paranoid, Android: How 'Westworld' Pioneered Modern Science Fiction. In: Rolling Stone . December 8, 2014, accessed September 8, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Scott Von Doviak: If You Like The Terminator ...: Here Are Over 200 Movies, TV Shows, and Other Oddities That You Will Love . Limelight Editions, 2012, ISBN 978-0-87910-397-2 (English, excerpts from Google Books. [Accessed September 8, 2017]).
5. ^ Andrew M. Butler: Solar Flares: Science Fiction in the 1970s . Liverpool University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-84631-779-8 , pp. 214 (English, excerpts from Google Books [accessed September 8, 2017]).
6. ↑ Joe Hembus: Western Lexicon - 1272 films from 1894-1975. Carl Hanser Verlag Munich Vienna 2nd edition 1977. ISBN 3-446-12189-7 . P. 244 ff.
7. ^ Phil Hardy: The Encyclopedia of Western Movies. Woodbury Press Minneapolis 1984. ISBN 0-8300-0405-X . P. 276.
8. ↑ (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , pp. 309-310 (Rating: 3½ stars = exceptional)
9. ↑ The Magnificent Seven. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .  

Web links

• The Magnificent Seven in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The Magnificent Seven at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
• The Magnificent Seven in the online film database