The Magnificent Seven (1960) on Netflix
NR19602h 8mActionAdventureWestern
Calvera's bandits take a Mexican village's crops and stores. Three villagers are sent to buy weapons; the gunslinger Chris Adams tells them to hire fighters instead, and leads the recruiting.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.7/10111,884 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
Bandits under Calvera descend on a poor Mexican village, seizing food and supplies and killing a villager. The village leaders visit an elder who lives as a hermit, and he tells them to resist. Carrying the few things they own, three villagers cross the border to a town, where the gunslinger Chris Adams argues that hiring men costs less than buying guns. Chris agrees to lead them and gathers Vin Tanner, Harry Luck, Bernardo O'Reilly, Britt and Lee. A young shootist named Chico trails the group and is allowed to join. At the village the seven build defenses and drill the farmers, who have hidden their young women from the newcomers. Petra pursues Chico.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Steve McQueen could not get a release from his hit TV series Wanted Dead or Alive, so on his agent's advice the experienced race-car driver staged a car accident, claimed a whiplash injury, wore a neck brace, and used the "recuperation" to appear in The Magnificent Seven.
- Steve McQueen, unhappy that his character had only seven lines in the shooting script, upstaged Yul Brynner by flipping a coin during Brynner's speeches and rattling his shotgun shells; Brynner piled up earth to look as tall as McQueen, and McQueen kicked it away as he passed.
- Anthony Quinn, lined up to star with Yul Brynner, sued Brynner for breach of contract after Brynner set up the Seven Samurai remake with producer Walter Mirisch and United Artists, claiming the two had developed the concept together; Quinn lost because nothing was in writing.
- James Coburn, who had watched Seven Samurai 15 times while studying with Stella Adler, was hired for the expert knifethrower role after Sterling Hayden and John Ireland turned it down, getting the part after bumping into former Los Angeles City College classmate Robert Vaughn in the street.
- In the Soviet Union, the country Yul Brynner was originally from, The Magnificent Seven sold 67 million tickets and became the highest-grossing Hollywood film ever released there.
- Script credit was disputed: associate producer Morheim hired blacklisted writer Walter Bernstein for a first draft, Walter Newman's version ended up on screen, and William Roberts was brought in during filming in Mexico to make changes demanded by Mexican censors. When Roberts asked the Writers Guild of America for a co-credit, Newman asked that his own name be removed.
- Elmer Bernstein's theme has been quoted widely in media and popular culture; starting in 1963 the theme was used for years in U.S. commercials for Marlboro cigarettes.
- Lou Morheim bought the US remake rights to Seven Samurai for just $2,500, then sold them to Yul Brynner's production company for $10,000 up front plus $1,000 a week as a producer and 5% of the net profits.
