HNC Photography, Introduction to Film Culture Blog, Part one - Heroes & Villians "re-made", Project 2 - Same story, different director
“The Seven Samurai” vs. “The Magnificent Seven.”
While almost identical on a superficial basis “The Seven Samurai” and “The Magnificent Seven” are very different films. These differences mainly come I feel from the cultural context of each movie.
“The Seven Samurai” is a story of Ronin, masterless Samurai, in feudal Japan. Japan at that distinct class structure and it was not possible to move within the classes or even for the classes to mix on a social level. Therefore, this brings into the story the issues that these Ronin are forever trapped as a Samurai. They have to survive in any way they can. Many Ronin did fall by the wayside and become bandits as they only way to survive, here we have seven men still fighting to keep their honour even if payment was just three bowls of rice.
“The Magnificent Seven” in contrast has the same plot line gunmen working defending a poor village for little pay, but the context is not the same. America is a classless society; there is freedom to move between classes and job – Steve McQueen’s character is, in fact, offered a job in a store which would pay far that being a gun for hire. The fact the seven men in “The Magnificent Seven” are choosing their own destiny – they are adventures or what we would call today adrenaline junkies.
The main leads in the film are very similar, other than the shaved head; both were portrayed as strong but kind principled men. For example Kambei shaves of his “top knot” a badge of great honour for samurai to rescue a child, Chris in “The Magnificent Seven” steps up to drive the hearse for a deceased Native American, who the is being prevented from being buried by the town’s prejudice. Both also reflect that they are never the winners in the fights they choose to have.
The of the remaining characters from “The Seven Samurai” John Sturges has done an excellent job in transferring them to the Western genre. He has combined Kikuchiyo and Katsushiro to form the Chico Character; a young want to be a gunslinger, who in reality is just running away from being a farmboy. This amalgamation was a wise choice as the role was an apprentice to a gunslinger did not exist therefore the combination of trainee and fool fit together nicely.
Kyuzo was directly translated into James Coburn’s Britt, the style the mannerisms were excellently transposed between the two films. Similarly, with Heihachi & Shichiroji, we ae introduced to O’Rielly (Charles Bronson) chopping wood for his breakfast and Harry is the loyal old friend of Chris. However, both characters are given a like western twist with the addition for O’Rielly, a love of children and Harry’s fortune seeking nature.
The final two characters in The Magnificent Seven are not transposed from the original but there more for their Western context; the gunmen with lost nerve, Robert Vaughan’s Lee and the drifter Vin played by Steve McQueen – although McQueen’s character does have some traits of Shichiroji.
Is one film better than the other is one director better than the other that is hard to tell because as they are the same story, they are apples and oranges by comparison.
“The Seven Samurai” is a stand out film; the whole the mise en scene is incredible, every tone, every shape, there is a sense not a second of screen time is wasted. That is considerable considering it 3 hours plus running time and as discussed contextually it fit fell with it historical background.
“The Magnificent Seven” is a visually beautifully film, filmed in technicolour, it employs that great US West /Mexican scenery to significant effect, it hard to look away from the characters because they portrayed by such stars and John Sturges as done pretty good job of translating the story to the American west. However, in comparison to its predecessor is baggy, overlong recruitment segment, and all the action in the last act – little build up. And contextually it is not the parable on the class system that the Japanese original was.
The best way can describe the overall mais en scene compares to each other is The Seven Samurai looks much more real than the shiny fantasy of the American west that The Magnificent Seven shows. However, should I criticise the John Sturges for the depiction? I think not: he was making the film for a particular audience – wasn’t until later with the advent of the spaghetti western did American audiences start to come to terms with the fact that the old west was dusty and dirty.
It’s a bit like comparing two models of Ferrari, are both films great just built for a different purpose..