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My main takeaway from watching “The Magnificent Seven” for just the second time in my life is that with all its shortcomings Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, with Chris as the leader and Vin as his right hand, have brilliant chemistry, and it’s a pity they didn’t do another film together. Then I looked into it and found out why: They detested each other. Their chemistry is great on screen, but it masks reality.
Most of the answers lie in the doc “Guns for Hire The Making of ‘The Magnificent Seven’” from 2000 which is also a great overview into the suing, oneupmanship and serendipity of Hollywood moviemaking.
Apparently, by the mid-1950s, it seems like everybody in Hollywood had watched and loved Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”, and everyone saw the potential of remaking it as a Western. Brynner said he had the rights, but that went to the B-movie screenwriter Lou Morheim, who was a producer and bought the rights for the princely sum of $250. Later, Brynner bought the rights from Morheim and was looking to direct instead of star in the movie.
Freelance producer Walter Mirisch subsequently came into the picture and brought in John Sturgis, who had recently gained fame directing “Gunfight at the OK Coral” featuring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Sturgis hired Walter Newman to pen the script and then, brought together the rest of the cast which included future stars McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, and Robert Vaughn.
What worked for Newman was leaving out Kurosawa’s version, but he later struggled with Mexican censorship. Mexican audiences were so displeased with the Hollywood film “Vera Cruz”, that they ended up destroying theaters. This violence led to the formation of a censor board that had control over any movie that was filmed in Mexico. The censor board was there to ensure that no one made Mexicans look bad in movies produced in Mexico. Sound reasonable, right? In reality? One of the censors was concerned about how filthy the peasants appeared, and so they were shot in clean white clothing while the cool gringo gunslingers were captured looking filthy. (McQueen’s hat, for example.) Even worse, the board had issues with the idea that the farmers needed protective ‘outsiders’. This casts everything in a rather problematic context in Kurosawa’s non-issue version, as when everyone was Japanese; but here it’s weak Mexicans and gringo heroes. Their take on the matter? The three Mexican farmers seek instead of gunslingers. Even after meeting noble versions of the latter (Brynner, McQueen), the farmers don’t connect the dots. The responsibility lies with Chris, the gringo, to do it for them.
Is there an unspoken etiquette on sets where you don’t try to steal attention from the star? If it exists, then it was totally disregarded by McQueen. He was already more involved than he was supposed to be, such as making dollar bills move in the wind, tossing and wearing his hat, and even putting his hat into water streams while on the horse all of which antagonized Brynner. Worse still, he undermined his lead since he had spoken to the rest of the cast regarding Chris’ horse and his gun saying that those made him look ridiculous not to mention his horse was larger than theirs. He stirred the pot.
As the documentary states, “the set was filled with testosterone,” recalls McQueen’s ex. “There were these young Turks, and they were all on the screen trying to get noticed. And, they definitely got noticed. Most notably Steve.”
I have to say, as effortless as it may seem, that is a brilliant business strategy and he is very much the face of getting noticed very easily. I also have to say, for the better. It is like Brando in replacement where he is trying out Edie’s gloves before him in the jungle Edie fantasy scene in “On the Waterfront.”
The best scene for me, in the movie, is where McQueen-Brynner takes a horse and buggy hearse to Boot Hill even with the local racists who do not allow an Indian to be buried there, which is the jiggling the bullets-adjust the cap scene for them. There are snipers around, so to get shot is the best way of getting the bullets out. The dialogue is short and snappy:
Sometimes, silence is preferable over words. The salesman, who financed the coffin, is captivated by Chris, so he inquires about his origin. Brynner gestures indifferently. He then asks him about his intended destination. Forwarding a finger, he replies with an assertive ‘Yep’.
Chico, Horst Buchholz’s role, fuses together two characters from “Samurai” comic relief wannabe samurai Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) and handsome romantic Katsuhiro (Isao Kimura). These two characters how, however, do not get along. They do not get along especially when the Mexican farmer role is played by the German James Dean.
So, I guess you weren’t bothered by the cheesy, Stella Adler-like lack of dynamism Buchholz and Robert Vaughn performed. Bryant recently won an Academy Award for his performance in “Young Philadelphians” while Bucholz’s performance was borderline painful.
The plot is hurried. It lacks space, or, like Kurosawa’s is filled with counterpoint silence. The villagers are in particular treated with contempt. We do not have a parallel for Rikichi for instance, so we have less of an illusion regarding what is the struggle of the heroes.
Guns aren’t swords, because swords can only kill in close combat. A cloaked fighter can ambush an expert marksman, unlike the opposite where they will get killed.
But this is the golden nugget Sturgis ain’t Kurosawa. The film has a tinny ring to it. Sounds as though it was taken from a television set. Every frame of a Kurosawa film has some depth, while Sturgis’ stuff looks two-dimensional. His sets and characters are easily knockable over.
Shimada (Takashi Shimura) is the leader of the samurai because he’s a psychologist and strategist at once. He meticulously strategizes their survival during a bandit assault. The bandits assault not less than three times, four of the samurai die during the last one in the rain, but they are outnumbered and get slaughtered. Victory goes to the farmers.
What about Chris? He is cool, looks good, and has a moral center like Shimada and that is pretty much it. The Hollywood version is built around less thought-out plans and fewer assaults two, and during the latter, the Seven get betrayed and have their guns taken and subsequently are massacred in the village square.
Kidding. The bandit leader (the delightful Eli Wallach) simply lets them go. So they get caught and he stupidly lets them go. Only for them to come back and save the day, albeit looking quite foolish.
Still, you have that wonderful Elmer Bernstein score, plus there’s Brynner and McQueen. They might have hated one another, but at least they had character. And as Jules put it, character counts for a lot.
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