The Magnificent Seven

Starring: Eli Wallach, Yul Brynner Director: John Sturges Original UK Premiere: 1960 Dvd Release: 25th June, 2001 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish

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The Magnificent Seven is one of the English language titles for the Akira Kurosawa film Shichinin no samurai, also called The Seven Samurai. vs. The movies famous theme tune was by Elmer Bernstein, later being reused for the Marlboro-commercials. The score was nominated for an Oscar in 1961. The shot of the seven gunfighters striding toward the camera is one of the most oft-copied shots in cinematic history, appearing in such diverse films as The Right Stuff & Monsters, Inc. & the opening sequence of the animated Justice League. There were three sequels - Return of the Seven - Guns of the Magnificent Seven & The Magnificent Seven Ride!, but all three were not as successful. The movie has also inspired a television series & a parody in which a poor Mexican village hires three Western actors to protect their village from bandits. In Westworld, Yul Bryner played an android impersonating his black-dressed gunfighter role as Chris Adams. It also inspired the Kazakh film Wild East.

Akira Kurosawas rousing Seven Samurai was a natural for an American remake, after all, the codes & conventions of ancient Japan & the Wild West are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys . The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once & for all. The gunmen are cool & capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of 60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. Theres nothing especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John Sturges , but the storytelling is clear & strong, & the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the screen. If that isnt 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, & The Magnificent Seven Ride!

Eli Wallach is an American film & stage actor. Wallach was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the University of Texas but gained his first acting experience at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his Broadway debut in 1945 & won a Tony Award in 1951. His film debut was instantly accomplished in Elia Kazan s Baby Doll & he went on to become a prolific player, although rarely in a starring role he was memorable in many of his early films, especially The Misfits, The Magnificent Seven & as Tuco in Sergio Leone s The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. He also continued to work on the stage as well as doing made-for-TV films. Posters Of The Hunter

Editors Choice: Uninvited, Anatomy Of An Illness, The Hunter, Romance Of A Horsethief, Stateline Motel, The Good The Bad And The Ugly, The Magnificent Seven, View DVDology

Yul Brynner, original name Yul Bryner or Taidje Khan was an exotic actor born in Sakhalin, Russia who appeared in many movies & stage productions. His mother was Russian & his father was the Swiss-Mongolian consul general to Russia. Brynners best-known role was that of King Mongkut of Siam in both the stage & film versions of the musical The King & I, for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor. He is one of only seven people who have won both a Tony Award & an Academy Award for the same role. He made an immediate impact upon first starring in films in 1956, appearing not only in The King & I that year, but also in major roles in The Ten Commandments & Anastasia. He later starred in such films as Solomon & Sheba, The Magnificent Seven & Westworld. Brynner died in New York City at the age of either 65 or 70 of lung cancer caused by smoking. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial.

Editors Choice: Romance Of A Horsethief, The Light At The Edge Of The World, The Magnificent Seven, Morituri, Invitation To A Gunfighter, Anastasia, Solomon And Sheba, The King And I, View DVDology

John Eliot Sturges Known as The dean of big-budget action movies made during the 1950s & 1960. Sturges movies include The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Gunfight at the O,K. Corral, Ice Station Zebra & Marooned. He started in Hollywood in 1932 as an editor. In World War II he started directing documentaries & training films for the US Army Air Corps. Sturges mainstream directorial career began in 1946 with The Man Who Dared the first of many grade-B movies. He then use widescreen CinemaScope format imaginatively by placing Spencer Tracy all alone against a vast desert panorama in the suspense Bad Day at Black Rock. Posters Of The Great Escape

Editors Choice: Chino, The Eagle Has Landed, Marooned, Joe Kidd, The Great Escape, The Hallelujah Trail, The Magnificent Seven, Thunderbolt, View DVDology

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