By 1972, The Magnificent Seven were about ready for their last hurrah (after all, the original movie came out in l960). Yul Brynner had long since dropped out of the franchise, to be replaced by Lee Van Cleef as the hard-bitten town marshal.
The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) finds Chris (Van Cleef) wounded by the psychotic Shelly (Darrell Larson), during a bank robbery; Shelly then kidnaps, rapes and murders Chris's wife, Arilla (Mariette Hartley). With nothing left to lose, Chris decides to accept an assignment that requires him to rescue some kidnapped American women from a gang of vicious Mexican bandits. He then rounds up Eastern newspaperman Noah Forbes (Michael Callan) and five cutthroats from a local prison (shades of The Dirty Dozen here), and heads south for the inevitable showdown.
Those expecting a typically stoic, flinty performance from Van Cleef as well as plenty of shootouts and action won't be disappointed in The Magnificent Seven Ride!. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the movie is spotting great character actors like James B. Sikking, Ed Lauter, Ralph Waite and Gary Busey in lesser roles. There may not be a lot of new ground broken in this Western, but there's plenty to satisfy fans of the genre and Van Cleef in particular.
Producer: William A. Caliham
Director: George McCowan
Screenplay: Arthur Rowe
Production Design: Joseph J. Stone
Cinematography: Fred J. Koenekamp
Costume Design: Eddie Armand
Film Editing: Walter Thompson
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein
Cast: Lee Van Cleef (Chris), Stefanie Powers (Laurie Gunn), Michael Callan (Noah Forbes), Mariette Hartley (Arilla), Luke Askew (Mark Skinner), Ralph Waite (Jim MacKay), Darrell Larson (Shelly), Pedro Armendariz, Jr. (Pepe Carral).
C-100m. Letterboxed.
by Jerry Renshaw
