kellym40 film review

More than heroics prevail in ‘Seven Samurai’

Rating 4/5

There has been much said about this film. Many consider it a great film. Obviously, it was great enough to spawn a remake, several war stories, and the idea of the group protagonists assembled together on a single mission. It can be said it has even introduced the spaghetti western. Moreover, this film, and Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, even gave inspiration to a young George Lucas to create his Star Wars saga. In that regard, it is most certainly a great film.

This film was released in 1954 and it might have been considered a great film – even a masterpiece – at the time, and I enjoyed the film for those reasons. The elements such as cinematography, sound, and music were great attributes and added to the film’s story and tone. However, the length of the film, at nearly three and a half hours (with an actual intermission), just appeared a little lengthy. It was a little tricky to navigate the long running time. During my first viewing, I had to stop about a quarter way through because of a reluctant interruption and it took a little wile to get back to continue the film. I was able to view a little more before I was interrupted again. Finally, I was able to sit down and view it in its entirety. I believe I was able to appreciate it more in that last viewing. Seven Samurai is more than a classic story of heroism and the underdog being triumphant over the forces of evil, it is a story of rich Japanese culture and tradition within the 1600’s, for which this film is set. The length here is the same reason why I thought The Magnificent Seven seemed a bit lengthy and “drag” in some places because some of those sequences of character and story development didn’t work quite as well for me in the Western remake.

The plot centers around a small farming village that is terrorized by bandits who take most of the food they have, barely leaving enough for the villagers to survive. The fearful villagers convene and there is some disagreement as to what the best course of action is. One thing is for sure that they are fed up with the way things are. It is later agreed that they hire samurai to help them fight the bandits. A small group of villagers go on a quest to find the samurai and ultimately hire seven. Of course the farmers have little to offer in the way of funds, so they repay the samurai by giving them rice and shelter until the village is free from the tyranny of the bandits. And during this time, it is not appropriate for farmers to be mixing with samurai (or vice versa). This is where social conventions come in play. This also leads to a subplot of the film where one of the local female villagers falls in love with one of the seven samurai. Eventually discovered, there is discussion about the situation and a common ground is met to appease the modern audience.

Questions arise during this heroic, social commentary. Why do the samurai take the job in the first place? What propels them to put their lives up for these farmers? The samurai are bound by honor and so to keep with societal obligations, they help stand with the farmers to fend off the bandits. The samurai begin training and preparing the locals to fight. The samurai lay out a strategic plan to battle these ruthless bandits and it is clearly seen the samurai and bandits persevere through each of the battles. However, the bandits soon realize the village is being well defended but continue their assault until the climactic showdown.

The film was beautifully crafted and has all of the elements to make a great film. The story and characters were there and it skillfully showed the life of the samurai and villagers and their place in the social caste system of the 17th Century. For some films, lengthy run times can be detrimental. But if masterfully done, it can add so much to a film as it did with Seven Samurai.

 

kellym40 film review

‘The Magnificent Seven,’ a classic story of good and bad

Rating 3/5

I’ve said many times that they just don’t make movies like they did in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. I mean I haven’t come across too many (from the films I have seen) that have not delivered in some fantastical way to say, “That was a great film.” And while this film was a great film and I did enjoy it, something missed for me in its final production.

Some may say this is one of the greatest films of all time. They may even say it’s one of the best westerns of all time. Either way, I can’t really argue. What missed for me were parts of the first act and small portions of the middle seemed to drag a little, which then threw the pacing off for me. Not enough to take me out of the film entirely, but just enough skew my impression of the film. But I figured with the recent remake released, I would take a look at this one (which is an Americanized version of the Japanese film, Seven Samurai).

The story is set in a small farming village, just south of the border. A bandit named Calvera (Eli Wallach) rides in with his army of bandits and steals most everything he can get his hands on. The villagers decide they should fight back. A few head north to buy guns so they can fight back. Instead, they meet Chris (Yul Brynner), a gunfighter who recommends they hire men to help with their problem rather than buy guns. Chris then agrees to help, recruiting six other gunfighters, each with different backgrounds. He ultimately rounds up the six others and together they ride back to the village. The odds seemed stacked against them, but with faith and determination on their side, well…odds be damned.

The acting lineup was superb and each actor brought his own to the characters and commanded the use of dialogue from writer William Roberts. Most of these actors were relatively unknown at the time, with the exception of a few. But they played their roles well and commanded the screen with their presence. Brynner leads the cast with Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz rounding out the Magnificent Seven. Taking his turn as the antagonist is Wallach. These character portrayals are genuine and bring individuality, which adds to the unique chemistry between them. They don’t really have any other commitments. They go along from job to job just living their lives, which propels them to do the best job they know how.

Director John Sturges blends together the action, dialogue, and story into a thrilling, nearly linear, adventure (except for those aforementioned parts of the film). This straight forward approach to the film brings the characters to the forefront that much more with each character’s varied and interesting backgrounds. The story, character interactions, and the gun fights are what kept me wanting to see the film to the end. The cinematography and music, helmed by Charles Lang and Elmer Bernstein respectively, added much to the film while underscoring key elements such as the gun fights or the lower, deeper music played when the bad guys entered the frame. And the fact the film was Oscar-nominated for Best Musical Score, proves the great effect it had on the film and audiences.

The Magnificent Seven runs 128 minutes (which might account for some of the slow pacing moments), but it gets into the story and characters quickly and gives the audience what it needs to go along for the ride. It might be just shy of magnificent, but it holds its own and has become an instant classic.