The Magnificent Seven – Limited Edition Blu-ray Blu Ray – Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt

Antoine Fuqua directs this modern take on the classic 1960s Western. With the small town of Rose Creek under seige from the evil, corrupt businessman Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the residents seek the help of bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) to fight and help save their town. Joined by six other loyal men – gambler Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), shooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), tracker Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), assassin Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier) and outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) – Chisolm sets a plan in motion to defend the lives of the good people of Rose Creek.

Akira Kurosawa’s rousing Seven Samurai was a natural for an American remake–after all, the codes and conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once: Kurosawa’s Yojimbo became Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of ’60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. There’s nothing especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John Sturges (The Great Escape), but the storytelling is clear and strong, and the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the screen. If that isn’t enough to awaken the 12-year-old kid inside anyone, the unforgettable Elmer Bernstein music will do it: bum-bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum-ba-bum… Followed by three inferior sequels, Return of the Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent Seven Ride! –Robert Horton