WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUN...
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUNE X X
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I really should known better. Last night I told hubby to just put a film on instead of sitting there flicking through the TV channels trying to find something decent to watch as he was driving me mad. To my horror this is the film which he chose.
The film is about a Mexican town which is under threat from a man called Calvera, played by Eli Wallach, and his gang. They have said that they will be coming to take all of the harvest and money from the town. The towns people discuss whether they should fight the gang or move away to stop them but after a talk with an old towns man they decide that they will go and get guns and stay and fight.
We then move on to a different town where some of the people are trying to get an Indian buried but a lot of the men of the town are against this so 2 strangers come together and ride the hurse to the grave yard and bury the Indian themselves. The one man is called Chris Adams and he strikes up a sort of friendship with the other man.
The three men from the threatened village turn up and meet Chris Adams, played by Brynner,
and ask him if he will get them some guns but he suggests that it would be better and cheaper for them to hire gun men instead. Chris sets about finding men to join him and fight Calvera and his gang. They signal new members by a show of fingers which relate the amount of men they have. As we know from the title of the film there are 7 members.
The seven men set of to the village and when they arrive they sound the warning alarm but none of the towns people are prepared to come out and help them. Will Chris be able to get the town ready to fight and just how many will survive if they are successful in getting rid of Calvera?
I was so not impressed when I came into the front room to find this film waiting for me but I have to say that was quite surprised by it. Firstly I was amazed that it did not star John Wayne. Yul Brynner played the main character of Chris Adams and I have to say that this is the first western which I have seen him in, he played his role very well and I totally believed in his character. There were also a lot of other well known actors in this film, hubby was so shocked when I told him I had not heard of any of them, these include, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter and James Coburn. They all played a character of the main 7 men and they were all very good.
The story for the film was average with a town trying to fight off a gang of bullies but it was watch able and the way the actors bought it to the screen was good. The setting for the film was on the Mexican border which is how they got away with half of the characters having American accents. There are some parts at the beginning of the film where they do speak in their own language but we do get subtitles at the bottom of the screen so can easily follow this and this only happens a few times. The scenery and settings were all very good and I did notice some nice vies of the desert and mountains when they were riding out on their horses which made the film slightly more enjoyable for me.
The music was typical of a western and I do give a lot of praise for Elmer Bernstein who wrote all of the music as it was good and fitted in with the film extremely well.
The DVD which we have is the special edition version which does have lots of bonus features which include:-
Digitally Remastered Picture Remastered Audio track Exclusive Audio Documentary Feature Length Audio Commentary with members of the cast and crew Theatrical Trailer Theatrical Trailer No 2 Extensive Stills Gallery Return of the Magnificent Seven Trailer Guns of the Magnificent Seven Trailer The Magnificent Seven Ride! Trailer Collectable 8 page Trailer
Personally I have no interest in any of these features but hubby has seen a few and says that they are worth a watch if you have them but not to go out and buy this special DVD just to watch them if you are not particularly interested in behind the scenes information.
The running time of this film is 2 hours and 5 minutes which I feel is just slightly too long and this would have been much better if it was condensed down to around1 hour and 30/40 minutes. The film has a certificate of PG as it contains some very mild violence and I do agree with this.
I bought this DVD for hubby several months ago on offer for £3 at Woolworths. The price does vary so shop around for a bargain, I do recommend this film if you like a good western that does not have John Wayne in!
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Ive never been into western film i find them lame and mind numbingly boring - i think i would prefer to peel brussel sprouts - how can you stand them?!?
RICHADA 02.04.2009 22:09
I'm not into Westernsd either - buty I actually view this film as a classic in its own right, even the musicwas in a class of its own. Richard.
missy0303 02.04.2009 20:21
Never never ever let a man choose the film...a lesson to be learned for us all LOL
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