directed by John Sturges
Yesterday I recommended you to see the classic by Akira Kurosawa, which was also the inspiration for today’s American remake. In 1960 they decided to use the idea of “Seven Samurai” and set it in their own “western reality”. So instead of a Japanese mountain village we get a Mexican village that is constantly being attacked by a gang led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). In order to protect themselves, the villagers approach a very talented gunfighter Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) and convince him to help them. And as it was in Kurosawa’s film, the leader recruits six other men and decides to fight with the bandits. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of remaking everything, especially by Americans, because despite their skills in cinema, they sometimes miss the point of the productions made in other countries. I believe some films should be left untouched, but in this case I say “bless you America!” Personally, I believe this remake is fantastic. The idea of seven brave men protecting poor villagers works very well in this western form. They chose magnificent actors for each of the roles, especially Yul Brynner – he has so much charisma and mystery in this film that I couldn’t stop watching. And if you follow my blog, you may remember that I’m not a big fan of westerns. But you know what? Thanks to this production I can say that I love westerns! If westerns were like that, please give me more! Actually, I can share a fun fact with you: I pay a lot of attention to details and this one thing that made me smile was the part where Chris is recruiting people to his team and each new member is signalised with a hand showing the right number of fingers. Perhaps you think it’s trivial, but this small element really made me enjoy the recruitment process more. Am I weird? Maybe. But you’ll get used to that. And music? Oh holy spirits, fairies and all the magical creatures! The music is fantastic. You can really feel adventurous vibes coming out of it and it completes the story very well. So to sum up my excitement in this post, I’m a big fan of the remake and I think it’s probably the best western I’ve seen in my life. Don’t you dare missing it!
My rating: 8/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 