Return of the Seven (1966) ⭐ 5.5 | Action, Drama, Western (original) (raw)
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It Can't Ride With 'The Magnificent Seven'
One of my all-time favourite music scores is Elmer Bernstein's thrilling theme from 'The Magnificent Seven'. I was practically dancing in my seat when I got to hear it again during the opening sequence in 'Return Of The Seven', the first of 3 sequels to John Sturges' classic western. My enthusiasm was short-lived. Bernstein and star Yul Brynner are the only major players to return for this 1966 rehashing of the first picture. Their work is solid---even though they just do the same things they did in Sturges' film---but writer Larry Cohen and director Burt Kennedy don't have any new ideas of their own.
It's impossible to replace actors like Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson with Warren Oates, Fernando Rey and a slew of unknowns, but that must have been the best they could do. It's just as foolish to remake the remake (let's not forget that 'Magnificent' was a redo of Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai'). A completely different story might have worked better. Since only 3 of the original 7 survived---and neither McQueen or Horst Buchholz return as Vin or Chico)---you can't help noticing that the B team is just not good enough to match what the A team did with Brynner in 1960.
So brace yourself as Chris Adams (Brynner) and company ride into battle against Mexican bandits all over again. This time they've got to save Chico and the other male villagers they saved years before. Same result? Not telling, but there are 1 or 2 fun moments along the way. Any excuse to hear Bernstein's music is a good excuse, especially when the movie is on free TV. All the same, I think I'll skip the other sequels. 'Return Of The Seven' isn't horsepoo, but it's certainly not worthy of riding with 'The Magnificent Seven' either.
A friend of Chris is living peacefully in a small village. One day all the men are kidnapped and Chico's wife comes to Chris for help. Chris puts together a group of men and rides to rescue the villagers. They find that the men have been kidnapped and are being used as slaves to build a village church.
Basically, following any classic film is very difficult. This does it by rehashing the basic elements as best they can without copying it letter for letter. This time the quest of the seven (well, six for most of it) is a bit more noble but it is essentially the same. We even have Chris talking down the merits of his job as well as the farmers claiming they are cowards etc. just like the first film.
However that fresh feel of fun and style the first film had is worn thin here. The action is less exciting and are just like any other western. Whereas the first film had a mix of sweeping grandness as well as a sense of fun this has both but in lesser quantities. The dialogue is OK and has some nice lines but it'll never match that used in the first film. The outcome is obvious and no real surprise.
The characters are less well defined. In the first movie all of the seven had a presence mainly due to them all trying to outdo Brynner (watch McQueen very few lines but he is always doing something in the background). Here most of them are nameless and you would struggle to name more than three, they all seem happy to let Brynner be the star only Fuller and Oates really stick in the memory. Even the bad guy is poor before he was an oppressor without care or reason, here he is a slave trader but he also has a history that gives him a sympathetic edge but do you want that in a bad guy?
Overall this is an OK western but when you match it up with the original film then you automatically put it in a huge shadow that it can't get out of. As a sequel the flaws just scream off the screen because you know how much better it was last time round.
Yul Rules In Decent Enough Sequel
Though not as good as the original, The Return Of The Seven brings back Yul Brynner for another appealing turn as black-clad anti-hero Chris Adams, with Claude Akins and Warren Oates providing memorable support. However, the rest of the seven are kind of bland, but alright.
Burt Kennedy was one of the best and least heralded directors that the western genre has to offer. Here, he doesn't disappoint, filling the screen with the type of excellent screen composition that his old collaborator Budd Boetticher was known for and from whom he no doubt learned to direct.
The afore mentioned direction, good production values, and exciting action sequences, as well as the performances of Brynner, Oates, Akins and Emilio Fernandez all help make up for the slow spots in the script.
Speaking of Warren Oates, the same year he also starred in the art-house/drive-in western The Shooting. Such a great actor he is, that Oates doesn't even seem like the same person in both movies! Three years later, he and villain Fernandez were opposite each other again in The Wild Bunch.
In some ways, it almost seems unfair to compare a sequel to the original, that we should judge it on it's own merits. However, usually the only reason we are watching a sequel is because of the original, so my review consists primarily in comparison.
The most interesting thing about Return is how hard the makers tried to make it like the original. They were largely successful. Burt Kennedy's direction is good and recreates the visual feel of the original. Of course, Bernstein's score highlights the film. The story, different in particulars, is goes through essentially the same stages: armed men attack the village, the call for help, the gathering of the seven, traveling to the village, defying the villain, the first attack beaten off, a pause where we get to know the characters and their motivations better, the final attack. The only difference is that the villagers do not 'betray' their protectors, as in the Magnificent Seven. A character even sneaks into the enemy camp in much the same fashion as in the earlier movie.
The real weakness of the sequel is the script. Along with the excellent acting and music, the dialogue in the first film was very well written and something of a departure from earlier westerns. It was terse, oftentimes funny, filled with meaning. In Return the delivery and the tone is the same, but the words spoken so solemnly are utterly commonplace and with no humor. Robert Fuller would have been a good replacement for McQueen, but the character is written completely differently and is far less interesting.
The acting, also, is inferior to the first film.
Another problem with the film is the portrayal of the peasants. They are a not characters, as in The Magnificent Seven, but a mass. This film is solely about the 7 Americans riding to the rescue to the rescue of defenseless peasants and at times seems to have a pro-intervention (pro-Vietnam?) political subtext that the in first film, which was a translation of Seven Samurai to the New World, was either absent or more subtle.
All this said and out of the way, film has lots of action, a good score, and Yul Brynner, who is always fun to watch in a western whether it is The Magnificent Seven or Adios, Sabata. Fans of westerns and action films will probably find it entertaining.
Familiar face Emilio Fernandez, who played Lorca, acted in over 70 films, starting in Mexico, and wrote and directed many of them. The relationship between his character, his dead sons, and Chris could have made a very compelling film. Unfortunately it was not expanded on.
Yul Brynner returns as gunfighter Chris, who is recruited by old friend Chico(now played by Julian Mateos, taking over from Horst Bucholz) to return to his village that has been raided by a powerful landowner, who has kidnapped the men for his own purposes. Chris agrees to help, and enlists old friend Vin(Robert Fuller, taking over from Steve McQueen) and new members of the "7", including actors Claude Akins & Warren Oates.
Disappointing sequel has some good action, but a limp plot, and is generally an inferior rehash of the first, though Brynner is still good, and Fuller a decent substitute for McQueen.
This must have done well though, since two more sequels were made(without Brynner!) Haven't seen them, don't plan to.
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What is the French language plot outline for Return of the Seven (1966)?