Just when you think they're releasing more and always inferior "Magnificent Seven" sequels solely because people can't get enough of Elmer Bernstein's legendary musical score, comes the final and (in)arguably best follow-up of the whole franchise. John Sturges' 1960 original, although merely just a blatant imitation of the Japanese milestone "Seven Samurai", can righteously be considered as a true American western classic, but parts II and III are downright shameless, uninspired and totally redundant rehashes without any entertainment value whatsoever. The character of Chris Adams, twice depicted by Yul Brunner and once by George Kennedy, grew out to become some sort of philosophical prophet who always does the right thing and the rare highlights of the sequels were just vague copies of similar moments featuring in the original. With this fourth and final installment, we arrived in the decade of 70's cinema and is this ever noticeable or what? What the Italian directors already knew throughout the entire 1960's had now suddenly become clear in the USA as well: westerns need to be mean and dirty, with despicable characters (even the heroes!), graphic violence and plenty of sleaze and smut! Even the traditional goody-two-shoes Marshall Chris Adams has suddenly become an embittered and narcissistic persona, though admittedly the performance and natural charisma of Lee "the Bad" Van Cleef adds a great deal to this transformation. Not once but twice Chris rejects the cry for help of an old pal, who begs him to come and fight an unfair battle against a Mexican posse that terrorizes a small little town near the American border. Instead of that, he chooses to go after one sole juvenile delinquent who raped and murdered his own wife. Only when Chris discovers that his pal killed off the youthful thug because he joined the posse, he feels responsible to take over the good cause and defend the remaining widows of the little community. Chris' six "noble" helpers aren't heroic lonesome cowboys, but convicted criminals who only participate because it's their only chance for parole. This minor chance in the formula actually makes this final entry more like a crossover between "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Dirty Dozen". And last but not least, the allegedly poor and defenseless town women are actually more like luscious and horny widows. They don't exactly appear mournful over their brutally slaughter farmer husbands and pretty much throw themselves at the robust macho thugs. It also has to be said that they don't really look like Mexican farmer women, but more like the ensemble staff of a luxury brothel. All this is perhaps a bit of an abrupt alternation of the franchise, but it's the best damn thing that could have happened to it! The gunfights are quite nasty, with lots of blood spurting out of people's stomachs and heads, and the climax is short but exhilarating. Van Cleef is awesome as always (by God, I love that guy) and there are terrific supportive roles for Luke Askew, Ed Lauter and William Lucking. And, not to forget, a modest but memorable cameo appearance of a still very young Gary Busey.
Review of The Magnificent Seven Ride!
