The Magnificent Seven and Remakes in General

 

What is the point of a remake? Why would someone want to tell the same story over and over again? I assume there are many reasons, since we keep getting classic films remade again and again. The Magnificent Seven (1960), which itself is a remake of the Akira Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai (1954), is the latest. And you know what, I think I like the new version to the original. 

The 1960s version of The Magnificent Seven was probably one of the best films to get remade since the original was not the best film to begin with. It’s very much a product of its time, a testosterone filled romp through the desert, the only female character in the whole thing is basically a love interest, and there are some questionable casting choices when it came to the Mexican characters. But I guess Germany and Mexico have similar enough accents to make it work (Horst Buchholz who played Chico was actually from Berlin). 

But what the original suffers from the most is pacing issues; the film just gets boring by the third act. The remake fixes these problems. 

First of all, it stands by itself as its own film. This is the basic thing that all remakes should achieve. Who wants to see the same film twice? This is probably why a lot of horror remakes fail, because they just rehash the original film (looking at you, 1998 Psycho). The story is essentially the same, but by adhering to modern filmmaking techniques it becomes original. The pacing is faster, the explosions are bigger, and the fight scenes are shot with more interesting camera work. 

The characters are also different, with a diverse cast to show off a more historically accurate Old West. Not only are there white American characters, but also an African American (Denzel Washington), an East Asian immigrant (Lee Byung-hun), a Native American (Martin Sensmeier), and a Mexican (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). And what is even more amazing is that they are all played by actors of that race. Even in 2016 standards it’s rare to see this sort of diverse casting, and even rarer to see Native American characters actually played by Native Americans (looking at you, 2013 The Lone Ranger). 

While the majority of the cast is still male, there is one female character played by Haley Bennett. What is so refreshing about her character is that, unlike in the original, she doesn’t end up as a love interest and actively takes part in the final showdown. Plus, it has Vincent D'Onofrio running around and screaming at things, which is always a welcome part of any film!

It’s not a perfect film, but neither was the original. It’s a really good popcorn, an enjoyable romp to watch with friends. And unlike some other remakes, it reflects the diversity of our times and celebrates it while still remaining historically accurate. 

References:
The Magnificent Seven 1960, DVD, United Artists, USA, directed by John Sturges. 

The Magnificent Seven 2016, Feature Film, Columbia Pictures, USA, directed by Antoine Fuqua.

The Seven Samurai 1954, DVD, Madman Entertainment, Australia, directed by Akira Kurosawa.