The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Eli Wallach: Calvera

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Calvera has just captured the Seven] 

  Calvera : What I don't understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hmm? Why, huh?

  Chris : I wonder myself.

  Calvera : No, come on, come on, tell me why.

  Vin : It's like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, "Why?"

  Calvera : And?

  Vin : He said, "It seemed to be a good idea at the time."

• Calvera : If God didn't want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.

• Calvera : [dying - to Chris]  You came back - for a place like this. Why? A man like you. Why?

• Calvera : Generosity... that was my first mistake. I leave these people a little bit extra, and then they hire these men to make trouble. It shows you, sooner or later, you must answer for every good deed.

• [the village Calvera's raiding has changed] 

  Calvera : New wall.

  Chris : There are lots of new walls, all around.

  Calvera : They won't keep me out!

  Chris : They were built to keep you in.

• Calvera : Last month we were in San Juan. Rich town. Sit down. Rich town, much blessed by God. Big church. Not like here - little church, priest comes twice a year. BIG one. You'd think we'd find gold candlesticks. Poor box filled to overflowing. Do you know what we found? Brass candlesticks. Almost nothing in the poor box.

  Sidekick : But we took it anyway.

  Calvera : I KNOW we took it anyway. I'm trying to show him how little religion some people now have.

• Calvera : Now, to business! I could kill you all. You agree?

  [Dead silence] 

  Calvera : Well, you don't disagree!

• [as the seven are about to leave the village] 

  Calvera : You'll do much better on the other side of the border. There you can steal cattle, hold up trains... all you have to face is sheriff, marshall. Once I rob a bank in Texas; your government get after me with a whole army... whole army! One little bank. Is clear the meaning: in Texas, only Texans can rob banks. Ha ha.

  [they look at him in silence] 

  Calvera : Adios!

• Calvera : I should have guessed. When my men didn't come back I should have guessed. How many of you did they hire?

  Chris : Enough!

• Calvera : Somehow I don't think you've solved my problem.

  Chris : Solving your problems isn't our line.

• Calvera : We have a saying here: a thief who steals from a thief is pardoned for one hundred years.

• Calvera : What if you had to carry my load? The need to provide food, like a father, to fill the mouths of his hungry men?