Wonderful Westerns: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ Sequel Retrospect
In my first entry of Wonderful Westerns, I talked about probably my favorite Western of all time, The Magnificent Seven (1960). In that film, a group of colorful rogues join together to fight against a bullying bandit. I mentioned in my article that there are three sequels to it, which I’d promised to revisit in the future. Well, why not now?
I’ll be covering all three of them in this article, because while they’re certainly worth talking about, there isn’t as much to cover as the original film.
Return of the Seven (1966)
Taking place 10 years after the original film, Chris (played again by Yul Brynner) is recruited by the wife of Chico (played by Julian Mateos this time), one of the survivors of the previous film, to rescue Chico and other men from the village who were captured by a ruthless land baron (Emilio Fernandez). Chris recruits the ladies man Colbee (Warren Oates), the death-wish seeker Frank (Claude Akins), the suave bandit Luis (Virgilio Teixeira), rambunctious orphan Manuel (Jordan Christopher), and the other surviving member of the original seven, Vin (played this time by Robert Fuller).
This movie has a clear drastic decrease in quality from the first film, mainly in technical quality and writing. The main evidence is the fact that barely anyone from the previous film was involved with its sequel. The only returning crew member is composer Elmer Bernstein, but even the use of his music seems like randomly placed bits of soundtrack.
As for the story, it largely misses the character moments that made the original so great. The back stories and character development is just sort of rushed, leaving most of the seven as one-note characters, or at best, with a very rushed arc. The one character given the best moments is the young orphan Manuel. In the beginning, he’s seen crashing a bull fighting match and taking part in cock fighting, thus giving Chris a good feeling that he’d be perfect for the group. Later on, Colbee tells Chris that after the whole ordeal is done, Manuel plans on moving into one of the raided villages to help rebuild it and hopefully be a part of it.
The only other positive thing about the film is the villain Lorca, who’s slightly more complex than Calvera. There’s almost a King-Lear-ish angle to him, in that only after he drove his sons away and they met their demise did he realize the error of his ways. But other than that, there isn’t that much to the sequel.
Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
In this Zapata-style Western, Chris (George Kennedy taking over for Brynner) is recruited by a young rebel named Max (played by Dirty Harry’s first onscreen partner Reni Santoni) to help rescue a revolutionary leader (Fernando Rey) from the fort of a sadistic military colonel (Michael Ansara). Chris recruits not only Max, but also a hand-to-hand combat expert Keno (Monte Markham); Cassie (Bernie Casey), a hot tempered demolition man; a one-armed sideshow gunslinger named Slater (Joe Don Baker); the tubular infected wrangler P.J. (Scott Thomas); and the retired gunfighter turned family man Levi (James Whitmore).
This is, without a doubt, the best of the sequels, due to writer Herman Hoffman and director Paul Wendkos taking the time to give each character a moment to shine and be more defined. Cassie and Slater are given nice moments to chat about the difficulties they both face, P.J. gets a cute little love interest, and Levi becomes the temporary father figure for a young boy whose father is held prisoner.
The movie also includes probably the most colorful cast of all these films included a former football star (Casey), the original Buford Pusser (Baker), the voice of Mr. Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series (Ansara) and the Oscar-winning actor George Kennedy filling in rather nicely as the protagonist.
The movie also features some of the best gunfights and probably the best cinematography of all these films. If you’re going to check only one of the sequels, this would be the one.
The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972)
In the final and weakest film of the franchise, Chris (Lee Van Cleef) has settled down as a Marshal with a wife (Marietta Hartley) and everything remains relatively quiet until an old friend named Jim Mackay (Ralph Waite) asks Chris to help track down and stop a notorious bandit, Juan De Toro (Ron Stein). He refuses at first, but after Mackay kills the teenage boy who kidnapped and murdered his wife, Chris decides to take up his friend’s mission and recruits a newspaper writer (Michael Callan), a knife-wielding outlaw (Luke Askew), a Mexican bandit (Pedro Armendariz Jr), a gentle giant (William Lucking), a former Confederate soldier (James Sikking), and an engineer (Ed Lauter). Can you already see a problem?
For one thing, this story is too jumbled. It starts off with a revenge plot, but then divulges into the typical plotline you’d expect from this franchise, which I think is its biggest fault. Chris could have taken his seven on a personal vendetta quest, and while on the way, the other members could try to talk him out of it, and he realizes he’s heading down towards a dark path, especially since, again, the person he’s after is a teenage boy. That seems to be the way it was going, with Chris killing two of the boy’s accomplices — one of whom is played by a young Gary Busey — in a very cold-blooded manner. But this is all essentially tossed out the window, and Chris then gains a new love interest (Stefanie Powers).
The other big fault is the characters: these are such cookie-cutter stereotypes that you almost know how any and all scenes with them are going to end. The only surprise in the film is that Askew’s character turns out to be a Mormon. And the villain De Toro is so boring; he doesn’t even show up until the final gunfight, and there’s almost nothing to the guy. His only lines in the movie are shouting “vamanos” multiple times.
Overall, I’d say if you want to expand your Magnificent Seven horizons, then definitely check out Guns of the Magnificent Seven. As for the other two… don’t expect too much.
Are you a fan of the Magnificent Seven sequels? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
