The Magnificent Seven (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
April 2006 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

The Magnificent Seven opens with Elmer Bernstein’s magnificent score, one of the great works of film music and an influence on all western film music that would come after it. Listening to it afresh in this well-scrubbed and surround-ified version from Sony shows why composers like John Williams and James Horner still stay up nights trying to compose in the tuneful, muscular manner of Bernstein.

The story is a direct lift from Kurosawa’s 1954 film, Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai). That is not as extraordinary as it might seem. Kurosawa was a big fan of John Ford’s westerns and his Seven Samurai is one of his most Ford-like films. The Magnificent Seven is the story of a small Mexican village being serially raped by the outlaw Calvera (Eli Wallach). When the townspeople determine they cannot defend themselves from Calvera’s throng of bandits, they decide to hire their own band of seven magnificent gunmen.

Director John Sturges had already proved he knew how to make a good action/suspense film with Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and had achieved critical acclaim for his western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957. In re-making Kurosawa’s film, Sturges had to cast seven good guys plus one villain and fit it all in budget. Yul Brynner was the bankable star, fresh from an Oscar-winning performance in The King and I. McQueen was starring in a TV western, Wanted: Dead or Alive, that was more famous for the odd gun he carried than for any particularly interesting acting. Bucholz was known in Germany, but this was his introduction to the English-speaking world. The others were TV actors.

Kurosawa had a leisurely three and a half hours to create action, ruminate over honor and ethics, and off the bad guys. Sturges had to worry about getting the customers in and out of the theater so the theater owners could have an extra showing each day, so The Magnificent Seven is only 128 minutes long. The meditations now seemed rushed and trite, especially in the face of what came before (Ford, Hawks) and after (Leone), but the action is right on. From the scene where we meet McQueen and Brynner, driving a hearse to Boot Hill, until the dénouement, the fights are always exciting.

MGM’s remastering is superb. The picture is clear and clean with only occasional and miniscule problems. The sound is full and rich with deep bass and suitably subtle use of the surrounds. Both audio commentaries are worth hearing. The first is a reprise from the 2001 DVD release with James Coburn, Eli Wallach, producer Walter Mirisch, and assistant director Robert Relyea. All have interesting insights, especially Coburn, a student of Kurosawa, who offers constructive comparisons between the two films. The second commentary is from Sir Christopher Frayling, one of the most astute Western historians alive. The second disc has four background features, including a "making- of," one by Frayling, one about the famous score, and one with some unused scenes.

The new version costs $22 vs. the $12 old version. The new version’s picture is dramatically better, and the extras are a fan’s delight. Devotees should waste no time in replacing their old DVDs.

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