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TheMagnificentSeven11960 5161

Note: This is about the film. For the ensemble/plot, see The Magnificent Seven Samurai.

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 Vin: I guess right about now you kinda wish you'd given your crops to Calvera, huh?

Hilario: Yes. And no. Both at the same time. Yes, when I think of what he might do. No, when I remember the feeling in my chest this morning as I saw him running 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, uh, I envy you.

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Mexican villagers, plagued by a band of bandits, send a few of their number north to the border, to buy guns so they can defend themselves. They end up hiring seven gunmen to help them instead.

The Magnificent Seven is a western retelling (in both senses of the term) of The Seven Samurai (with a brilliant and memorable score, to boot). This film has so much testosterone that a girl risks getting pregnant just by watching it. It is widely considered one of the last great westerns.

Tropes used in The Magnificent Seven include:


  • Accidental Aiming Skills — Britt kills a bandit fleeing on horseback with a single rifle shot from a long distance. When Chico praises it as the best shot he's ever seen, Britt replies that it was the worst - he was aiming for the horse.
    • Also subverted, because the reason that he was aiming at the horse is that they wanted to take one of the bandits alive so they could question him about how strong the bandit force really was.
  • Action Film Quiet Drama Scene — Vin and Hilario having the page quote conversation in the middle of a firefight. Also Lee's scene in which he wakes from a nightmare and talks about losing his nerve.
  • Adaptation DistillationAkira Kurosawa was so pleased with the result, he gave the director, John Sturges, a samurai sword.
  • Adaptation Expansion — Regarding Calvera, given that the bandits' leader is given zero characterization in Seven Samurai, and only gets about five minutes of total screen time.
  • Affably Evil — Calvera. Although maybe Faux Affably Evil, its hard to tell.
  • All-Star Cast — Quite possibly the coolest in the history of cinema: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz are the Seven, and at least five of them went on to become A-list stars, in part thanks to this movie. (Eli Wallach is no-one to sneeze at, either.)
    • Horst Bucholz didn't become an A-list star in America, but he did become exceptionally popular in European cinema, meaning poor Brad Dexter was the only member of the main cast who didn't become a big star in some way.
    • The 2016 remake was no slouch on this either, starring Denzel Washington, Chrios Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, etc.
  • Anyone Can Die — It's a western based on a movie by Akira Kurosawa. What'd you expect?
  • Avengers Assemble — Chris delivering The Call.
  • Beard of Evil — Calvera.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill — Chico, yet again. You have to wonder: Did Chris write a song about him, as promised?
  • Badass — All the seven, really. Also Badass Crew.
  • Badass BoastWe deal in lead, friend.
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 Chris: No enemies?

Lee: Alive...

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  • Bald of Awesome — This could be said of almost any role Yul Brynner has played, but this one stands out the most.
  • Bandito — Calvera and his gang.
  • Batman Cold Open — A Western variation (escorting a dead Indian to a cemetery whilst under fire) of the Batman Cold Open Kambei undergoes in Kurosawa's original. It establishes not only Chris and Vin's creds as awesome gunslingers, but also solidifies their respect for each other.
  • Bittersweet Ending — The bandits are all dead, but so are four of the seven. One of the survivors gives up on adventure, while the other two ride off to a future without prospects. "The old man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We'll always lose."
  • Boomerang Bigot — Chico really hates farmers.
    • This is directly taken from The Seven Samurai film from which The Magnificent Seven was based. There it explains why the seventh member tries so hard to be a Samurai, constantly boasting and showing off before tearfully admitting he came from a family of selfish farmers.
  • Call to Agriculture — Chico, in spite of explicitly stating in an earlier scene that he had no intention of settling down.
  • Catapult Nightmare — Lee scrambles across the room in a panic when he awakens from a nightmare.
  • Changed My Mind, Kid — A couple of times during the Avengers Assemble section, but the best example of the trope is Harry returning for the Final Battle.
  • Chekhov's Gun — Subverted with Britt's knife-throwing. In the final gunfight he draws the blade — and is killed before he can throw it.
  • Composite Character — Chico, whose character combines those of Katsushiro and Kikuchiyo from the original film.
  • Crowning Music Of AwesomeThe main theme. Elmer Bernstein's Masterpiece.
    • Actor Eli Wallach, who delivers a great performance as the bandit leader, Calvera, remarked that if he'd have heard Elmer's music while they were filming the movie, he'd have ridden his horse better!
  • Deadpan Snarker — Vin.
    • O' Reilly as well:
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 Chris: Morning. I'm a friend of Harry Luck's. He tells me you're broke.

O'Reilly: [chopping wood] Nah. I'm doing this because I'm an eccentric millionaire.

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 Harry: Well, there comes a time to turn Mother's picture to the wall and get out. The village will be no worse off than it was before we came.

Chris: You forget one thing. We took a contract.

Vin: Not the kind any court would enforce.

Chris: That's just the kind you've got to keep.

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 Harry: "Come on, Lee. If they want to get killed, let 'em."

Chris: "Go ahead, Lee. You don't owe anything to anybody."

Lee: "Except to myself."

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