Best non-Wayne western ever!

"The Magnificent Seven" is the ultimate in western shoot-outs. An ode to the dieing western that was actually a western (ie non-spagetti westerns), this film ended up beating all other weserns. Brynner does an excellent job as a gunslinger, as does McQueen. Heck, all the acting is good! And the action is perfect; not too intense, but the movie is definantly not boring. The musical score is another success for Elmer Bernstein (he also did the incredible score for "The Great Escape"). All told, this is one of my favorite movies of all time and a must-have for any western fan.

It was the villagers fault

Let's see if I understand this movie. An "innocent" village of farmers is terrorized by a band of 40 outlaws who periodically raid their village, steal their food and wealth, and rape their women. Villagers then hire gunfighters to free themselves of this menace and in the end, the village is free, the outlaws are dead, and the people live in peace.

Really now, who in the world can believe that? Surely, it was the villagers fault. Perhaps they didn't share enough of their prosperity with the outlaws. Maybe they had the condescending idea that working with your hands, producing your own wealth and taking care of your families was a noble pursuit. Did they not realize how culturally inferior they made the outlaws feel? If this isn't cultural jingoism I don't know what is.If the villagers gained any measure of prosperity, it must have been at the expense of the outlaws. Rather than having the parochial idea that farming the land and taking care of their families was superior lifestyle to being an outlaw, they should have tried to understand why these men hated them so much. Maybe if the villagers instituted some diversity training and invited the outlaws to their fiestas and got to know them better, all this violence could have been avoided.

Certainly, hiring outside mercenaries to fight for them was a breach of every international protocol. What chance did these poor local bandits have standing up against the Magnificent Seven. The M7 should have shown more restraint. I think I saw at least a half-a-dozen of the banditos shot in the back. Where is the justice in that? Shouldn't the M7 be tried for murder? Let's get real, the poor bandit was just trying to flee for his life. No verbal warnings, no warning shots, just a bullet in the back. Magnificent Seven- no way. I think this movie should be renamed, the War Crimes Seven.

terrific!

All around wonderful western. You couldn't ask for a better cast. Direction is solid. And that exceptional score! Wow.

You also get a behind the scenes mini movie on how the film came together. Anyone who remembers and appreciates this flick should check out the great Japanese film it was based on: Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.