I'd heard about "The Magnificent Seven" for years, but only recently watched it on DVD along with its interesting "Making Of" documentary. I'm one of those who never saw the original "Seven Samurai", so I won't be comparing the two. Naturally I loved the music from TMS! It was interesting to hear what the documentary had to say about how competitive the "seven" were about getting noticed on-screen, especially Steve McQueen. I did wonder why he was always putting his hat on and off, for no obvious reason! Apparently, Yul Brynner told him that if he didn't stop it, he (Brynner) would remove his own hat, and that would be the end of it! ;-)
Another interesting story was the one about the censors. Apparently, Mexicans were so insulted by the way they were portrayed in a previous Hollywood film shot in their country, that the Mexican government sent along minders on this one to see that Mexicans were shown in a more favorable light. IMO, the villagers in this film were still shown as fearful, helpless, brown-skinned people, looking to the brave, strong, benevolent white Americans to solve their problems, but it *was* an improvement over previous Hollywood offerings. At least the smaller roles were played by actual Hispanics, though the main "Mexican" roles were played by white actors, including a Russian and a German(!). Actually, I didn't even realize Horst Buchholz was supposed to be Mexican, despite his brown eyes and hair, until I watched the documentary! I can't complain too much about Eli Wallach, because he did such a good job, but these days the non-Mexican-ness of Chico and the Old Man are glaringly obvious.
I did notice a sign of early-sixties liberalism when Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen's characters offered to see to the transport of a dead man who was being denied burial simply because he was Indian. As per usual for the era, the actresses had little to do except show fear and weep over their fallen husbands' bodies, with one as the rather boring love interest (though at least the actress who played her was Mexican).
I liked Yul Brynner, the good guy dressed all in black, and quite sexy at 45 (or 40, depending on what source you go to). He did a good line in inscrutable and mysterious, as did James Coburn, though it got to be a bit much in the end. Everybody was so terminally cool (with one exception) that it started to feel a little two-dimensional. Just once I would have liked to see Brynner's character relax and let out a real laugh, even if he went straight back to being inscrutable and mysterious a minute later. Somebody mentioned the economy of the script - it's true, it conveys a lot with few words. The plot of the movie seems rather predictable now, but that may be because it's been copied so many times since! I appreciated the fact that the opening credits admitted straight out that this film was based on "The Seven Samurai". I wish this rule were enforced for all remakes!
Another interesting story was the one about the censors. Apparently, Mexicans were so insulted by the way they were portrayed in a previous Hollywood film shot in their country, that the Mexican government sent along minders on this one to see that Mexicans were shown in a more favorable light. IMO, the villagers in this film were still shown as fearful, helpless, brown-skinned people, looking to the brave, strong, benevolent white Americans to solve their problems, but it *was* an improvement over previous Hollywood offerings. At least the smaller roles were played by actual Hispanics, though the main "Mexican" roles were played by white actors, including a Russian and a German(!). Actually, I didn't even realize Horst Buchholz was supposed to be Mexican, despite his brown eyes and hair, until I watched the documentary! I can't complain too much about Eli Wallach, because he did such a good job, but these days the non-Mexican-ness of Chico and the Old Man are glaringly obvious.
I did notice a sign of early-sixties liberalism when Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen's characters offered to see to the transport of a dead man who was being denied burial simply because he was Indian. As per usual for the era, the actresses had little to do except show fear and weep over their fallen husbands' bodies, with one as the rather boring love interest (though at least the actress who played her was Mexican).
I liked Yul Brynner, the good guy dressed all in black, and quite sexy at 45 (or 40, depending on what source you go to). He did a good line in inscrutable and mysterious, as did James Coburn, though it got to be a bit much in the end. Everybody was so terminally cool (with one exception) that it started to feel a little two-dimensional. Just once I would have liked to see Brynner's character relax and let out a real laugh, even if he went straight back to being inscrutable and mysterious a minute later. Somebody mentioned the economy of the script - it's true, it conveys a lot with few words. The plot of the movie seems rather predictable now, but that may be because it's been copied so many times since! I appreciated the fact that the opening credits admitted straight out that this film was based on "The Seven Samurai". I wish this rule were enforced for all remakes!
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