The team assembled in "The Magnificent Seven" consisted of quite a few actors whose names are well known today, but at the time, the only bona fide movie star was Yul Brynner. A lot of the others- Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and Robert Vaughn, for example- were just starting out. Steve McQueen was known only as a television actor, the star of the western show "Dead or Alive". Actually, due to his commitments to the show, McQueen wasn't going to be able to accept a part in "T.M. 7", so he deliberately crashed his car and made the movie while he was "recuperating".
"The Magnificent Seven" is a classic western movie which was released in 1960. As most people are aware, it was a remake of the 1954 Japanese movie, "The Seven Samurai". In that film, a village victimized by bandits hires Samurai to defend them. This was the archetype for movies which involve assembling a team of heroes to accomplish some purpose or fight a specific battle. Films which follow this model include ones as diverse as "The Guns of Navarone", "A Bug's Life", and "Avengers". And of course, "The Magnificent Seven", which is the closest in plot to "The Seven Samurai": seven gunmen are hired to protect a Mexican village from bandits. The team assembled in "The Magnificent Seven" consisted of quite a few actors whose names are well known today, but at the time, the only bona fide movie star was Yul Brynner. A lot of the others- Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and Robert Vaughn, for example- were just starting out. Steve McQueen was known only as a television actor, the star of the western show "Dead or Alive". Actually, due to his commitments to the show, McQueen wasn't going to be able to accept a part in "T.M. 7", so he deliberately crashed his car and made the movie while he was "recuperating". Brynner's character Chris Adams is the leader of the Seven, though at first glance, "magnificent" doesn't seem a particularly apt adjective to describe them. 'Motley' or 'sketchy' might be a better description of this particular group. None of them are likely to win any citizenship awards, but as Chris points out, they're not going to a church social. They have a violent- potentially deadly- job to do, and for it they need men capable of violence and deadly force. We never learn very much about these seven men, as far as their personal lives and past histories are concerned. But that's sort of the point: when a man is a drifter, not putting down roots, having family or close friends, no one ever gets to know him well. The past is somewhere miles behind, the future somewhere beyond the horizon, so all you know of this person is what you see. This is best exemplified when one of the townsmen asks Chris where he's from, and he points behind him. Asked where he's going, he points ahead. Naturally, over the course of the film, we do get to know a little of the men's characters and what motivates them- which is an important question, because on the face of it, there seems little to be gained by signing up to defend a small, one-horse town over the Mexican border. It's certainly not for the money, as it's clear that the Mexicans have little to offer... the only one who seems to believe that they may reap some monetary benefit is Harry Luck. Even this, I have a feeling, is willful self-deception, since it's painfully obvious that the townspeople are as poor as Job's turkey. It's also not for glory or fame. No one is going to notice what occurs in a small unknown farming community, or be particularly interested in what happens to a two-bit bandit like Calvera. Calvera isn't some powerful crime lord; he's a small- time bandit leading a pack of petty thieves. The villages that they hit are so poor and so picked-over that the bandits are barely scraping by, and are in danger of starving. So if not for money or fame, what motivates the Seven? There is the motive of justice for the people of the town... doing what's right because it is what's right, which certainly comes into play- especially for Chris. But while these men have a nodding acquaintance with law and order, it's an uneasy relationship at best. Most of them aren't so enamoured with fairness and justice that they'd risk their lives to bring it to this podunk town where they don't know anyone. Of course, they do become emotionally invested when they've interacted with the farmers and bonded with some of them- it does become more personal. But when they agree to go, the men don't have this connection. I think they signed up for this mission - in part, anyway- as an escape. For some, like Robert Vaughn's character, Lee, this is an escape from something they've done, from what they've become because of it. For others, it is an escape from the mundane and humdrum existence to which they've been consigned. For men accustomed to action and adventure, addicted to the adrenaline rush, it can be a struggle to settle down to the grind of an everyday, ordinary life. Of course, part of the draw, especially for Britt, is the challenge of facing down seemingly impossible odds. To a certain extent this also motivates Chico, though as a gunfighter wannabe, he's more interested in proving himself to the rest of the seven, whom he admires and wishes to emulate. As the movie progresses however, and we learn more about Chico, it becomes clear that he is not just looking for excitement. A Mexican from a farming background himself, he has personal experience with this sort of thing, and is angrily determined never to be a victim. This is why he is so scornful of the villagers when they arrive at the town, accusing them of being cowards and blaming them for not fighting back against Calvera and his men. But this is the hasty judgement of someone who has no one and nothing to lose. In this, Chico is much like the village boys who condemn their fathers as cowards for capitulating. As Bernardo O'Reilly points out, these men have families and farms to worry about, and opposing Calvera would very likely lead to the destruction of both. On the other hand, not fighting back will likely result in slow ruination and starvation as the bandits gradually take everything they own and have worked for, so it could be argued that they're merely prolonging the inevitable. Any way you look at it, the villagers are in what looks like a no-win situation, so it's easy to see why they lose their nerve. One may disagree with the choice they make, yet understand why they make it. Speaking of Calvera, he's an interesting villain. Eli Wallach makes the most of his limited screen time and gives us a character who is more than just a one-note baddie. He is despicable, certainly, but not as bad as he could be. While he doesn't hesitate to use violence when he deems it useful, he doesn't go out of his way to brutalize the villagers unnecessarily. Also, he could have killed the seven after he and his men take them prisoner, but opts not to. Of course, as he says, he doesn't want trouble with the American army which might result from the killing of American citizens. But also, as I said previously, Calvera seems to use only as much violence as he calculates is necessary to get people to do what he wants. He figures that he has made the cost of defending the town more than Chris and the others are willing to pay- certainly more than he considers it's worth. This is why, when he's dying, Calvera's primary emotion is bewilderment- why on earth would they risk their lives for a miserable little Mexican village? Why, indeed. Certainly, the reasons mentioned above play a part in the Seven's determination to defend the town at any cost, but for Chris and Vin, and to an extent, all of them, I think their motives are more complex. These are men who no longer quite fit into their environment. When the West was less settled and less civilized, men of their particular skill set were needed. However, as frontier towns become more organized and stable, law and order gradually take root and flourish. Which is, of course a good thing; peace and good governance are necessary for successful towns. But as civilization advances, it generally leaves behind those who employed the violence and vigilantism previously used to settle disputes and bring order. They become uncomfortable and unwelcome reminders of a dangerous and violent past. Chris and Vin and the others- excepting Chico- are "yesterday's men" and they know it. I think ultimately this is why they were so willing to take on this fight. It is a last-ditch effort to avoid becoming anachronisms, and to hold onto- for a little longer, anyway- a way of life which is quickly fading away. I think, in a perverse way, risking death in this manner makes them feel more alive. Of course, this feeling is short-lived; once the gunsmoke clears, it is obvious that Vin and Chris fit no more comfortably into this town than they do in any other. Their world has changed, and if they are unable to do so as well, they'll no doubt continue to drift... "like the wind".
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