The Magnificent Seven

[Ted C]

This looks like a terrible remake.

http://youtu.be/q-RBA0xoaWU
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[akiratubo]

Aw, man, is that Chris Pratt? 

[Jim H]

Aw, man, is that Chris Pratt? 

Yep.  I like him, but I'm still not sold on him as an action lead, even a cocky and jokey one.  Jurassic World he didn't really work, though he did in Guardians of the Galaxy.

I think it looks OK.  Antoine Fuqua is a pretty good director.  We'll see.  It's already a remake of a remake of a ripoff, so whatever at this point.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Good, bad, or indifferent. It is one of my most anticipated films this year. Then again I always anticipate seeing any version of what I call "The Magnificent Seven" variation of a group of highly varied individuals--age, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation--trying to defend the indefensible from the undefeatable. And I'll have more to say about it, when it comes to a theater near me, which should be sometime around September 23 of this year or 2016.

[messedup]

This actually looks like fun...when you don't compare it to all the source materials it has. I quite like the cast and the Fuqua has a lot of good movies in his credit.

[Neville]

The trailer sucks, too much "attitude" for a serious western. Anyway, Fuqua is a decent director, and he should really trying to get a worse movie than "The Equalizer". From there, he can only improve.

[bob]

I really like the cast. That alone will make me see it.

[Trevor]

I'm taking Mom to see it in two weeks: it's screening in IMAX here.

[Jim H]

I'm taking Mom to see it in two weeks: it's screening in IMAX here.

Did she see the original back in the day? May provide interesting perspective if so!

[BoyScoutKevin]

I'm taking Mom to see it in two weeks: it's screening in IMAX here.

Did she see the original back in the day? May provide interesting perspective if so!

I'm no one's Mom, but . . .?! If we want to go back to the original, then we have to go back to 1954's "7 Samurai," which, by the way is being remade, some 60 years after the original.

Which was followed by the remake in 1960 "The Magnificent 7," and (IMHO) one of the better remakes out there, and with the death of Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughan is the last of the major actors in it, still living.

And that was followed by its sequels . . .
"The Return of the 7" (11966)
"The Guns of the Magnificent 7" (1969)
and "The Magnificent 7 Ride" (1972.)

And then you have remakes of the remakes . . .
"The 7 Magnificent Gladiators"
"Stunt 7"
"The Devil's 8"
and "Battle Beyond the Stars,"
etc.

All of which I have seen, more or less, to my enjoyment. Though, that is just a short list, as to my knowledge, there are o'er 60 films, so far, that are some variation, more or less, of the 1954 original.

[Jim H]

Yeah, there was also an anime version of Seven Samurai a few years ago, which wasn't that good.  Battle Beyond the Stars itself is getting a remake.  I'd also call Three Amigos to essentially be an unlicensed remake, and A Bug's Life an unofficial remake of Three Amigos. 

Also, another small link - the Indian character in the new Magnificent Seven is named Red Harvest, a nod to the Dashiel Hammet novel (a fast read BTW, worth a look) which Kurosawa himself kind of ripped off for Yojimbo - only to then be ripped off himself for A Fistful of Dollars.

[Neville]

"Red Harvest" itself is also one of the most adapted / copied storylines ever.

[Jim H]

"Red Harvest" itself is also one of the most adapted / copied storylines ever.

I'd have to agree.  The basic concept is so primal (itinerant soldier type wanderer comes to a once good town with two factions at war in a city, plays them against each other to destroy both) it feels like it should be a Greek myth or something much older.  But I've never seen the basic storyline in any format earlier than Red Harvest.

[Trevor]

I'm taking Mom to see it in two weeks: it's screening in IMAX here.

Did she see the original back in the day? May provide interesting perspective if so!

 

She did: when I told her the title, she said "I saw that seven years before you were born." 

[Archivist]

Battle Beyond The Stars is a Seven Samurai/Magnificent 7 remake??  I never thought of it that way.  I'll have to watch it agina with that in mind.