The Magnificent Seven Collection [1960] | ![The Magnificent Seven Collection [1960]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3aB1XsqL._SL160_.jpg)
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| Directors: John Sturges, Paul Wendkos, Burt Kennedy, George Mccowan
Actors: Yul Brynner, Julian Mateos, Warren Oates, Claude Akins, Lee Van Cleef
Studio: MGM Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £39.99
Buy New: £8.87
You Save: £31.12 (78%)
New (28) Used (10) from £7.95
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 7329
Format: Box Set, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Region: 2
Number Of Items: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 2.4
EAN: 5050070006438
ASIN: B00005OA80
Theatrical Release Date: 1960
Release Date: October 15, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Go on you know you want one gZoop it NOW!! All gZoop products are dispatched from the Channel Islands & take approx 3-5 working days (excluding weekends) from order to delivery.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turn samurai into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once: Kurosawa'sYojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars) and Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samuri was a natural for an American remake through this movie--after all, the codes and conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of 60s stardom: Steve McQueen, JamesCoburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. There's nothing especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John Sturges (The Great Escape), but the storytelling is clear and strong, and the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the screen. If that isn't enough to awaken the 12-year-old kid inside anyone, the unforgettable Elmer Bernstein music will do it: bum-bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum-ba-bum... followed by three inferior sequels, Return of the Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent Seven Ride!--Robert Horton, Amazon.com
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| Customer Reviews:
7 heaven March 9, 2008
Mr. D. Gough (south wales)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
all western fans should own this set just to listen to the music .the first film is probably the most famous cowboy film ever made with many great actors staring in it and is unforgettable.the 3 follow ons get weaker and weaker but are still quite watchable and enjoyable.
One big hit, and 3 misfires. June 26, 2007
Mr. Stephen Kennedy (Doha, Qatar)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
It's difficult to make one sweeping statement about a box set that has such a wide range of quality in it... 5 stars to one star in the same box set...
Suffice to say The Magnificent Seven is a classic - a movie inspired by a greater classic, `Seven Samurai'. There is a truly elegiac and iconic quality that few other Westerns ever reached. The score, the acting, the actors who all (well, almost all) went on to become big stars, and a message of hope for the average man and redemption for men who are willing to stand up for them. Crucially there is a baddie who is fully fleshed out, in a wonderfully nuanced performance by Eli Wallach - a part which is often overlooked in the success of the movie. If you haven't seen it, then this special edition is the way to go, with remastered sound and full of extras.
The others fail massively in two respects - firstly, none of them have a baddie as fully fleshed and worthy of the fight as Wallach. The `good guys' are focussed on with the baddie filling a mere two dimensional part of the story. Secondly, John Sturges who directed the original excelled as an ensemble director - every character in the original is memorable and given their moment to shine. The same is sadly not true of the others, which tend to focus primarily on the role of Chris, the principal gunfighter.
On the plus side, Elmer Bernstein scores them all - the classic and instantly hummable music almost becoming a character in the movies, and carrying the weaker sequels through their doldrums.
So how do the sequels shape up?
- Return of the Magnificent Seven ***
From the original in 1960, 6 years passed before a sequel came about. Yul Brynner returned, but Steve McQueen, by this time a rising star, did not. The replacement Robert Fuller in the role McQueen made his own, is a gaping black hole with his charisma and conviction sucked out, from which the movie does not recover. This movie is less heroic than the first - 10 years have passed and Chris and Vin have become melancholic as the West they know disappears, and the life they know with it. However, they find themselves going back to rescue their friend from the same village featured in the first movie. It is a bit of a stretch of a plot to wring out a sequel - the problem is that this sequel has nowhere to go... however it does make a stab at advancing the characters, while not shirking on the final gunfight, and Brynner has his moments of redeeming the others in his band as the journey progresses. Ironically the director, well known for TV but not theatrical movies, went on to film another TV sequel to a John Sturges movie - The Great Escape II.
- Guns of the Magnificent Seven ***
This time, George Kennedy fills Brynner's boots - or rather actually quite different boots. This is still the character of Chris, but now he has lost the trademark dark clothes, gained a head of hair and become more chatty.. however, he does keep his passion for long cigars...
This time Monte Markham co-stars as a Steve-McQueen-like role, significantly better than Fuller did in the previous movie. And George Kennedy is certainly no disaster in the role - he plays it with conviction and the same moral compass from the previous outings. This movie, as `Return...' was, is shot in Spain, and somehow the result is that the Mexicans are more believable characters. Again, the music and memories of the characters from the original, help carry through the plot holes and weak story. Kennedy does elevate the proceedings above forgettable, but not by much.
- The Magnificent Seven Ride! *
This surely must have been a TV movie - the acting, the sets, everything about it is downscaled. Even the music is done by a diminished orchestra - while still recognisable from its classic origins, it is a pale shadow of its past - the same for which can be said about the rest of the movie.
In fact, there is almost a nasty side to this movie. All the women they rescue have had their husbands killed and been raped multiple times - and yet when Chris's thugs (this time taken from prison) come into town to reluctantly rescue them, they respond by flirting and at the end we see one of the Seven stay to form a life with not one, but three of them! Even the character of Chris as played by Lee van Cleef is a nasty piece of work - embittered, refusing to help a friend and completely lacking the moral code from the previous movies. Perhaps this was truly a sign of the times as the disillusionment of the 70's broke the optimism that was the trademark of the American Western, and the revenge cycle of Italian Westerns became the norm.
In short, the sequels are not disasters, but don't deserve to share the same name as the original. Casting is sporadically interesting, but lacks the genius of the original. No extras other than trailers on any of the sequel discs.
If you're a Western fan , or just have to know what the sequels to a classic movie are like, then this is the way to get them - preferably as a rental. But if it is the original you want and you're wondering whether to go the whole way and get all four..? I suggest stick to getting the original.
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