The Magnificent Seven was the first Western adapted from the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Although the film is almost a direct lift of The Seven Samurai, however, Kurosawa is not credited. The Japanese director didn't mind, pointing out that several plot elements from his film had been lifted, without credit, from John Ford's Westerns.

In adapting The Seven Samurai to the Western genre, director John Sturges dropped the Samurai code of honor that had figured so strongly in the Japanese film in favor of a sense of professionalism. Most of the members of The Magnificent Seven have teamed for the thankless job of defending a poor Mexican farming village to exercise their skills. The idea comes from the work of director Howard Hawks, whose Western and action films all feature teams of men tied together by their solid professionalism and resourcefulness.

Composer Elmer Bernstein's title music for The Magnificent Seven became one of the most famous in film history when United Artists sold it to Marlboro cigarettes for use as background music for their television commercials. The studio didn't realize what a goldmine the theme was, however, as they sold it for a mere $5,000.

The Magnificent Seven's box-office success would inspire three sequels: Return of the Seven (1966), with Yul Brynner repeating his role; Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), starring George Kennedy; and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972), a low-budget European effort shot in eight days and starring Lee Van Cleef. In 1998, MGM and The Mirisch Company launched an unsuccessful syndicated television series version with the original's title. Michael Biehn took over Yul Brynner's role as Chris, with Eric Close standing in for Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn returning from the original cast as a judge.

The famous story was adapted for another genre when Roger Corman produced a science fiction version of it - Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), featuring a clever script by independent film director John Sayles. Richard Thomas starred as the young space villager who hires the seven, and Robert Vaughn played a sci-fi version of his original role. Never one to let a good story die, Corman reset the story on a post-apocalyptic Earth for Dune Warriors in 1990, with David Carradine leading a band of "Mad Max"-style fighters.

Yul Brynner would draw on his image as the lone gunman when he starred as the robot assassin in the science fiction thriller Westworld (1973). In fact, he wore the same outfit in that film that he had as Chris in The Magnificent Seven.

The film would be parodied in Three Amigos! (1986), a western comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Chevy Chase, with Elmer Bernstein returning to familiar territory to write the score.

by Frank Miller