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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"The Magnificent Seven" is
based on the Japanese movie "Seven Samurai." It
stars Yul Brynner as Chris Adams, a retired
gunslinger forced to pick up his pistols to free a
small Mexican town from oppressive banditos
fronted by Calvera (Eli Wallach). The updating and
transmutation from the original premise -- that of
seven desperados out to avenge a ruthless
cutthroat's stronghold on a poor community -- is,
for once in the business of remaking movies
totally justified and worthy in its own right.
Steve McQueen is Vin, one of the six other
liberators. The film explores each man's motives
for signing onto the mission: Bernardo (Charles
Bronson) needs to belong to something and someone,
Lee (Robert Vaughn) is desperate to regain his
composure in the face of death, and Chico (Horst
Buchholz) wants to prove himself a hero to the men
he admires. The climactic showdown also points to
a revisionist perspective in Hollywood westerns: a
cinematic landscape where the good guys don't
always finish first and sometimes die trying to
make good on their honorable intentions.
MGM Home Entertainment gives us a tired, worn
print of this classic film, with faded colors and
a barrage of age-related blemishes -- all this,
while calling the disc a "Special Edition." Colors
can be rich and nicely balanced at times. However,
most of the movie's color scheme has suffered from
the natural ravages of time. Blacks are weak.
Browns, beiges and light grays all appear to have
the same muddy texture. Reds are slightly orange
and flesh tones are not very natural. There's a
considerable amount of edge enhancement and fine
detail shimmering throughout. Chips, scratches,
dirt and tears in the original print are evident
throughout. The audio is stereo but feeble, with a
forward sounding characteristic that is not
terribly engaging. The music is generally
well-represented. Extras include a making-of
featurette that falls somewhere short of a
full-fledged documentary but too long to be
considered a featurette. There's also a theatrical
trailer and an audio commentary.
Usually I don't critique DVD menus but this one is
just plain awful. Attempting to showcase a montage
of snippets from the film, the clips presented
suffer from excessive edge enhancement and
aliasing problems that render them impossible to
view. |
