More Than 7 Reasons to See ‘Seven’ Films

It’s the kind of film entertaining enough to eat.

That’s the way Japanese director Akira Kurosawa described one of his most influential films, “Seven Samurai” (1954, 203 minutes, 4 discs, full feature format, standard play, CAV, Criterion, $125).

The American remake, “The Magnificent Seven” (1960, 178 minutes), is an exciting adaptation of the original featuring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn and a cast of yet-to-be stars that included Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz and Charles Bronson. It is now available along with its first sequel, “Return of the Seven” (1967, 95 minutes), in a special wide-screen MGM Double Feature laser set (MGM/UA, two discs, CLV, $50).

Few Westerns boast a more appealing blend of humor and choreographed violence than the neatly plotted “Magnificent Seven.” The plot is as simple as it is entertaining: Brynner hires a group of gunfighters to protect a poor Mexican village from vicious bandits. The American version also has one thing the original doesn’t have--one of the most influential and powerful musical scores ever created for a Western, written by Elmer Bernstein. Its memorable theme adds a heroic, mythic dimension to the film.

The performances, directed by John Sturges, are more than up to the challenge of creating a classic Western, and the wide-screen, pristine laser transfer, with rich color, captures every nuance of the big-screen composition.

Few sequels live up to the original and “Return of the Seven,” directed by Burt Kennedy, doesn’t have the cast or the script to compete. Still, Brynner is back and Warren Oates and Claude Akins take up some of the slack as they search for a partner who has been taken hostage by a band of desperadoes. The Bernstein score covers over the rough spots.

(A second and third sequel, “Guns of the Magnificent Seven” and “The Magnificent Seven Ride!,” are not available on laser disc.)

If you want to go back to the original “Seven Samurai,” the Criterion Collection CAV version is breathtaking in its clarity and production. Besides the black-and-white film, there is an audio essay by Michael Jeck discussing the making of the film and the collaboration between actor Toshiro Mifune (in the part Brynner took over) and director Kurosawa.

There are 29 chapter stops making it easy to replay any segment of this fast-moving epic about a band of samurai warriors defending a 16th-Century farm community from a marauding army. Mifune as Kikuchiyo, the high-spirited samurai leader, offers one of his most engaging performances. But it is Kurosawa who makes this such a memorable adventure with his innovative editing techniques, slow motion (the sword-fight scenes, Chapters 4 and 7, are some of the best ever put on film), and direction of the incredible climactic battle scenes (you can look at them frame by frame on Chapters 23, 25 and 28).

The film’s real strength, however, is what makes “The Magnificent Seven” so successful: the flawless story. The film may run more than three hours, but Kurosawa’s film moves forward with such energy and complexity that it always totally engages the viewer.

“Seven Samurai” is vastly superior to “The Magnificent Seven” because it doesn’t offer any simple solutions or good vs. evil characters. The villagers in the past took advantage of the samurai whom they now turn to for help. The samurai are truly heroic figures: They get nothing for their efforts and their odds of winning are almost impossible. They fight out of a personal sense of honor and a love of the adventure of the battle. Watching their destiny play out makes for the kind of satisfying climax that few films, including “The Magnificent Seven,” ever achieve.

Then Came Clint: Kurosawa’s classic influenced a generation of Westerns, including Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” and the so-called spaghetti Westerns directed by Sergio Leone. Three of Leone’s films starring Clint Eastwood have been packaged in a special “Clint Eastwood Box Set” (four discs, CLV, $100) by MGM/UA Home Video. The films, together on laser disc for the first time, are presented in the full-width letterboxed format that captures Leone’s startling vistas and tight close-ups. The original theatrical trailers of the three films are also included.

These are the 1960s classics that made Eastwood an international hero. “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) and the best of the three, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966), are Western visions created by an Italian who was influenced by a Japanese director featuring an American who would come to symbolize the lone Western avenger of all time, “The Man With No Name.” The four-disc package has enough on-screen violence to send Janet Reno & Co. scurrying for cover and warning labels. The rest of us can sit back and keep our finger on the freeze-frame--or fast-forward--button.

Laserbits

New Movies Just Out: “In the Line of Fire” (Columbia TriStar, $40); “The Man Without a Face” (Warner, $35); “Hard Target” (MCA/Universal, $35); “Menace II Society” (New Line, letterboxed, $40); “The Real McCoy” (MCA/Universal, letterboxed, $35); “Coneheads” (Paramount, letterboxed, $35); “Poetic Justice” (Columbia TriStar, letterboxed, $35); “The Meteor Man” (MGM/UA, letterboxed, $35); “Indochine” (Columbia TriStar, $40).

Older Titles Just Out: “Artists and Models” (Paramount, 1955, $35), a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy featuring Shirley MacLaine; “Dressed to Kill” (Orion, 1980, letterboxed, $40), director Brian De Palma’s thriller, co-starring Michael Caine and Angie Dickinson; “Legal Eagles” (MCA/Universal, 1986, letterboxed, $35), the romantic comedy featuring Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah.

Upcoming

HBO’s “A Bronx Tale,” featuring Robert DeNiro--who also directed--is due April 6, at $40; “Flesh and Bone,” starring Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, will be released by Paramount April 20 at $40; Columbia TriStar’s “The Age of Innocence,” with best supporting actress nominee Winona Ryder, is due May 4, at $40. The 35th-anniversary edition of “Ben Hur,” with supplemental material that includes behind-the-scenes footage, is due in March from MGM/UA at $100.