The Magnificent Seven Ride

“The Magnificent Seven Ride,” released in 1972, ended the western series on a surprisingly stubborn way. The original film was a 1960 western based on Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” This 1954 classic involved an assorted team being brough together to defend a poor village from criminals. Padraig Cotter pointed out in his review, “Of course, Kurosawa's work proved hugely influential on international cinema, with his movie The Hidden Fortress inspiring George Lucas on Star Wars while Yojimbo formed the basis for both A Fistful Of Dollars and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing.”

“The Magnificent Seven” reimagined “Seven Samurai” in a western setting and formed a team including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson. The movie was enough of a hit that it become one of Hollywood’s first movies to have a series of sequels, with Brynner returning for the rightly titled “Return of The Magnificent Seven” in 1966. “Guns of the Magnificent Seven” continued the franchise in 1969 with George Kennedy playing Brynner’s character Chris – despite the two actors looking nothing alike. Cotter mentioned, “The Magnificent Seven Ride closed out the series in 1972, while a TV series arrived in 1998 starring Michael Biehn (Aliens) and Ron Perlman that ran for two seasons.”

“The Magnificent Seven” remake starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke was released in 2016, but it was modestly grossed, making a sequel unlikely. Lee Van Cleef plays Chris for “The Magnificent Seven Ride,” with his performance and the movie, generally, having a much darker tone. The movie starts with Chris having become a marshal and happily married to his wife, Arrila, played by Mariette Hartley. This is one reason he refuses an old friend Jim’s, played by Ralph Waite, request for help with defending a Mexican town from bandits, with the odds being clearly against them. Arrila is later kidnapped by a gang of teenagers after they rob a bank, who also damage Chris.

Cotter said, “Chris recovers after a few days to give chase, with The Magnificent Seven Ride firmly establishing its dark tone from the off. He discovers Arrila was raped and murdered, and guns down two of the robbers in cold blood after a curt interrogation.” He chases Donovan the leader, played by Darrell Larson, which brings him to the Mexican border town his friend Jim is trying to protect. Wanting vengeance, he again refuses to help, and the next time he comes back to the village he finds it was attacked by bandits, with all the men dead and the women were beaten and raped. Chris finally decides to help after finding the bodies of Jim and Donavan, so he hires five hardened prisoners (Luke Askew, James B. Sikking, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., William Lucking, and Ed Lauter) and his biographer Noah (Michael Callan) to take the fight to the bandits in an epic finale.

Cotter mentioned, “The Magnificent Seven Ride is much bleaker and dour than the previous movies. The first three entries still had high bodycounts, but their tones were more hopeful and humorous. The final movie, on the other hand, is harsh and unforgiving, and while this sets it apart from the other Magnificent Seven movies, its also not nearly as fun.” Lee Van Cleef’s Chris also feels very removed from the previous movies, but he’s still a charismatic person.

This may not be as good as the other sequels, but I still don’t think it would hurt if you checked this out on Tubi. See it for yourself and see how you feel. Judge for yourself if you like this film or not.

How is the 2016 remake? We will be looking at that next week in the finale of “The Magnificent Seven Month.”