Kurosawa in Chaps

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)

KUROSAWA IN CHAPS

Yul Brynner, back in the late 1950's, wanted to direct an American version of Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI. So he bought up the movie rights. He wanted to castAnthony Quinn in the lead, as Chris. Brynner had been directed by Quinn in the remake of THE BUCCANEER. Quinn would have been great as Chris, the leader ofthe Seven; and what a different film it would have been. But, alas, Brynner himself took the part, and he put his own stamp of individuality on it. He walked like a cross between a panther and a ballet dancer, light on the balls of his feet. Ironically, as an actor, he was slow on the draw, and was not used to acting in Westerns. But artistically, this was never apparent in the finished film.

Many of the Seven's actors had seen the Kurosawa film, and they were very excited about transferring the story to the American West. Eli Wallach, as Calvera, in just a few short scenes, found both the humor and the cruelty of the bandit chieftan. His accent and speech pattern were fairly authentic. More so, certainly than the young German actor, Horst Buchholz, endeavoring to find a southwestern/Tex-Mex drawl. Director, John Sturges, had great hopes for Horst; the camera loved him.

Calvera: You do much better on the other side of the border. There you can steal cattle, hold up trains..all you face is sheriff, marshal. Once I rob a bank in Texas; your government get after me with a whole army--whole army! One little bank. Is clear the meaning: in Texas, only Texans can rob banks. Ha Ha.
(they look at him in silence)
Calvera: Aios!

Calvera: New wall.
Chris: There are lots of new walls, all around.
Calvera: They won't keep me out!
Chris: They were built to keep you in.
Calvera: I should have guessed when my men didn't come back. How many of you did they hire?
Chris: Enough.

Calvera: Last month we were in San Juan. Rich town, much blessed by God. Big Church. Not like here--little church, priest comes twice a year. BIG one. You would think we'd find gold candlesticks. Poor box filled to overflowing. Do you know what we found? Brass candlesticks. Almost nothing in the poor box.
Sidekick: But we took it anyway.
Calvera: I KNOW we took it anyway. I am trying to show him how little religion some people now have.

Calvera: Generosity...that was my first mistake. I leave these people a little bit extra, and then they hire these men to make trouble. It shows you, sooner or later, you must answer for every good deed.

But it was the trio of real studs; Steve McQueen as Vin, Charles Bronson as O'Reilly, and James Coburn as Britt, that dominated the frame. Steve McQueen, wearing skin-tight leather stovepipe chaps, spent a lot of time finding ways to upstage Yul Brynner. There was a rumor that he would have preferred playing Chico, the Buchholz character. But McQueen's manic physical performance, lightning fast with a pistol and a quip, seemed to work well for him, and it gave him more than his share of focus. His Vin emerged as lethal, lean, and hungry; yet weary of the gunfighter's plight, and envious of the simplicity and honor of the peasants, who were fighting for their families and their homes.

Vin: We deal in lead friend.

Vin: You elected?
Chris: No, but I got nominated real good.

Calvera: What I don't understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hmm? Why?
Chris: I wonder myself.
Calvera: No, come on, tell me why.
Vin: It's like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him the same question, why?
Calvera: And?
Vin: He said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Hilario: The feeling I felt in my chest this morning, when I saw Calvera run away...from us--that's a feeling worth dying for. Have you ever felt something like that?
Vin: Not for a long, long time. I envy you.

Vin: You know--I been in some towns where the girls weren't all that pretty. In fact I've been i some towns where they're downright ugly. But it's the first time I've been in a town where there are no girls at all, cept little ones. You know, if we're not careful we could have quite a social life here.

vin: Yeah--everything, sure. After awhile you can call bartenders and faro dealers byk their first name--maybe 200 of them! Rented rooms you lived in--500. Meals you eat in hash houses--a thousand! Home--none! Wife--none! Kids--none! Prospects --zero. Suppose I left anything out.
Chris: Yeah. Places you are tied down to--none. People with a hold on you--none. Men you step aside for--none.

Vin: You know the first time I took a job as a hired gun, fellow told me, "Vin, you can't afford to care." That's your problem.
Chris: One thing I don't need is somebody telling me my problem.
Vin: Like I said before, that's your problem. You got involved in this village and the people in it.
Chris: Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?
Vin: The reason I understand your problem so well is that I walked into the same trap myself. Yeah. First day we got here. I started thinking; maybe I could put my gun away, settle down, get a little land, raise some cattle. Things that these people know about me be to my credit--wouldn't work against me. I just don't want you to think you were the only sucker in town!

James Coburn as Britt, was laconic and dangerous, and living on the edge of a blade; competing mostly with himself for the next big thrill. Coburn got the part he wanted, and though he was given minimal dialogue, his deliveries were classic; and this actually set the mold for his future career.

(Britt has just shot a fleeing bandit off his horse)
Chico: Ahhh--that was the greatest shot I've ever seen.
Britt: The worst! I was aiming for the horse.

Britt: Nobody throws me my gun and says run...nobody.
Vin: It took me a long, long time to learn my elbow from a hot rock. Right now, I belong back in that village sleeping on clean sheets.

Charles Bronson as Bernardo O'Reilly, half Irish and half Mexican, was solid as a rock; an experienced stone killer, and yet still a soft touch for thechildren of the village. His death scene touched us. He found the real pulse of the character, and he managed to be both dangerous and decent.

Chris: There's a job for six men, watching over a village, south of the border.
O'Reilly: How big's the opposition?
Chris: Thirty guns.
O'Reilly: I admire your notion of fair odds, mister. What's the job pay?
Chris: Twenty dollars.
O'Reilly: That's not much, but right now, twenty dollars sounds like a whole lot.

(Noticing Chico following them)
Chris: Nah, leave him alone. It's a free country.
O'Reilly: And it's his.

Village Boy: We are ashamed to live here. Our fathers are cowards.
O'Reilly: Don't you ever say that again about your fathers, because they are not cowards. You think I am brave because I carry a gun; well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until it finally buries them under the ground. And there's nobody says they have to do this. They do it because they love you, and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule every day with no guarantee anything will ever come of it. This is bravery. That's why I never started anything like that...that's why I never will.

Village Boy #1: If you get killed, we will take the rifle and avenge you.
Village Boy #2: And we see to it there's always fresh flowers on your grave.
O'Reilly: That's a mighty big comfort.
Village Boy #2: Told you he'll appreciate that!
O'Reilly: Well, now don't you kids be too disappointed if your plans don't work out.
Village Boy #1: We won't. If you stay alive, we'll be just as happy.

Robert Vaughn, as Lee, seemed uncomfortable and lost. His part had been rewritten and expanded for him. Yet he still seemed ill-suited for the part, and the genre. Even his costume seemed ill-fitting. Part ofthe problem was that his character's fear, leading to an inability to participate in the first couple of firefights left us with little sympathy for him. Later then, in his scene with the peasants, in which he admitted his fear, the emotions seemed forced and poorly conceived. His last moment heroics and death did little to balance the scales.

Lee: Yes. The supreme idiocy. Coming here to hide. The deserter hiding out in the middle of a battlefield.

Brad Dexter was nearly invisible. He is the one actor in trivia games no one can remember. His character, Harry Luck, with twice the dialogue of Coburn, paled in comparison. Part of it was just Dexter himself. He was a bland middle-of-the-road B-movie heavy, and it was odd to cast him, and thrust him in amongst all those young turks. He did a credible job, but he was completely outshined by the future super stars.

Harry Luck: I heard you got a contract open.
Chris: Well, not for a high stepper like you.
Harry: A dollar bill always looks as big to me as a bedspread.

Vladimir Sokoloff, as the village's wise old man, gave such a wonderful and touching performance that one did not realize the actor was not Latino. Like EliWallach, his talent as an actor transcended ethnic boundaries.

Vin: One of the men has made room for you in his home.
Old Man: His conversation would bore me to death!
Vin: Well, maybe somebody else then?
Old Man: They are all farmers. They talk of nothing but fertilizer and women. I have never shared their interest for fertilizer--and women, well, I became indifferent when I was 85.
Vin: What are you going to do when Calvera comes?
Old Man: At my age, a little excitement is welcome. Don't worry. Why should he kill me? Bullets cost money.

[Vin and Chris are about to leave the village]
Old Man: You could stay, you know? They wouldn't be sorry to have you stay.
Vin: They won't be sorry to see us go, either.
Old Man: Yes. The fighting is over. Your work is done. For them, each season has its tasks. It there were a season for gratitude, they'd show it more.
Vin: We didn't get any more than we expected, old man.
Old Man: Only the farmers have won. They remain forever. They are like the land itself. You helped rid them of Calvera, the way a strong wind helps rid them of locusts. You are like the wind--blowing over the land and...passing on. Vaya con dios.
Chris: Adios.

John Sturges, a veteran director of westerns, found just the right balance of action and character. Mexican farmers substituted fine for the original Japanese farmers. And brigands, or bandits, are cut from the same nasty mold no matter what the era, or the geography. Kurosawa's classic ran three hours in length, and gave us much more in-depth character developement; so that when these samurai began to die, we cared about them. But in 1959, when SEVEN was filmed, three hour westerns were a non-existant species. Elmer Bernstein's musical score was revolutionary, and its pounding staccato beat has become one of the most recognized pieces of music ever created for a film.This western, always listed in the Top 50 of Westerns, is a must see. The DVD version, in widescreen, is crisp and clear and colorful, and it helps us to recapture that magical feeling we had the first time we saw this film in a movie theatre.

Glenn Buttkus 2003