The score for The Magnificent Seven has to rate as one of the great movie scores of all-time. Elmer Bernstein has had many a great musical score for classic movies (The Ten Commandments, The Great Escape, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, Airplane!, Cape Fear, and Animal House,but the music for this Classic has to be perhaps his best After seeing this for perhaps the 10th time in my lifetime it never is tiresome to the ears. You will be humming the music forever! ENJOY!

Released in 1960 and directed by John Sturges, "The Magnificent Seven" is about a Mexican peasant village oppressed by a group of bandits, led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). The village leaders resort to hiring seven gunfighters from America to help defend their town. The seven gunmen are played by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and Brad Dexter.Despite the contrived plot, based on Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" (1954), you can't beat the lusty score, the superlative locations and the excellent main cast (the villagers, by contrast, are mostly weak). Unfortunately, the movie's ruined by hokey script flaws. For instance (***MILD SPOILERS ENSUE***), Chico (Buchholz) is able to effortlessly infiltrate Calvera's bandits, utterly fooling them, even though there were only 32 of them by this point (rolling my eyes). Even if Calvera & his brigands failed to make out Chico's face, which is a big IF, his dialogue & accent would've given him away. Keep in mind that he was just an unseasoned teen.Another prime example is the village leaders' sudden cowardly turnaround (i.e. betrayal), which totally contradicts their earlier resolve. Yes, I realize they learned that the bandits weren't run off and that they were going to return to the village out of desperation, but there were only like 30-32 bandits left at this juncture and the combined forces of the seven gunmen and the fighting villagers now had the opportunity to annihilate the thugs for good (***END SPOILERS***). The sad thing is that both of these script hitches could've easily been fixed, but this kind of lame writing reflects too many Westerns before the 60s when the modern Western came to the fore with "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961), "Hombre" (1967) and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969).The film runs 128 minutes and was shot in Mexico and Old Tucson, Arizona.GRADE: D+

I saw this film umpteenth number of times in the late 80s n early 90s on a VHS. Revisited it recently on a DVD after watching the remake (Denzel Washington one). Well this movie itself is a western remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. As a fan of western films n being a big fan of Mcqueen, i enjoyed it more than Seven Samurai. The film is an engaging n adventurous western, awesomely directed by John Sturges. The story is simple, poor farmers hire seven gunslingers to protect them from a small army of bandits.Yul Brynner is full of attitude n terrific as the leader of the seven. Steve McQueen really shines as the right-hand man. Charlie Bronson in his leanest physique wearing a stylish full sleeves tshirt n denim shirt. James Coburn is cool but very deadly with his knife than guns. His body language speaking louder than any of his lines. Robert Vaughn as the man who loves to live life king size n who's fightin his inner demons. Brad Dexter is the big muscular guy with a good sense of humour. And then there is Eli Wallach as the bandit leader. Watch out for Wallach's statement on generosity. The film has a lot of great scenes involving the action and shootouts that is engaging to watch. The Magnificent Seven is not complete without mentioning Elmer Bernstein's legendary score.

Long but thoroughly absorbing, "The Magnificent Seven" is one of those classic Westerns that even non-fans of the genre will probably like. The director, John Sturges, sustains a near-perfect balance between action, humor, character development, and introspection. There are great lines ("I've been offered a lot for my work....but never everything", "No, I'm doing this because I'm an eccentric millionaire!", "With me, only one decision: do what I say"), and powerful scenes (Bronson's response to the kids saying their fathers are cowards, Brynner's lie to the dying Brad Dexter, etc.). The cast is truly magnificent; they make the characters both human and larger-than-life. And of course Elmer Bernstein's score is rousing and unforgettable. It was followed by three sequels, which were mediocre at best, if memory serves. As for the recent remake, the trailer alone says everything that needs to be said. ***1/2 out 4.