Sunday, 28 June 2020

Of old westerns

Recently, I rewatched The Magnificent Seven. Not one of the many remakes, for which I care not, but the old 1960 film. And I know it is a remake of a Japanese movie, but the western is a classic and a great film in its own right. It must have been the third time I watched it. I remember distinctly the very first time I did, I must have been seven or eight. I watched it with my mother. She was never keen on violent movies and was never happy when dad made us watch some stuff that was really violent, but somehow she loved old fashioned westerns, the ones made before the spaghetti western craze, so we watched them with her. She particularly liked Yul Brynner in this one, so since then he's the one of the seven I root for the most. There's just something about a good guy all clad in black that makes him uber cool. But rewatching it, I also appreciated the villain played by Eli Wallach. What a magnificent bastard! What I also love in The Magnificent Seven is the end of era feel: these men are larger than life heroes of quasi mythical stature when we meet them, or at least this is what their reputation would let you believe, yet they truly are broken men looking for a job. Anyway, I think I might watch more westerns these days. If you have any suggestions, please give them to me in the comments section.

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