#79-B: SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

No

BEST SEQUENCE

The final battle in the pouring rain and the mud

BEST LINE

"Again we are defeated. The winners are those farmers, not us” - Kambei, the leader of the seven, reflecting on their hollow victory; the last line of the movie

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

100%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Arguably Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A veteran samurai, gathers six samurais to protect a village from the cruel bandits. As the samurais teach the natives how to defend themselves, the village is attacked by a pack of 40 bandits."

THOUGHTS

• Well, it's a seminal movie, groundbreaking and influential as hell. The genesis of several classic movie tropes, a few people have even called it the first modern action movie. It shows up time and time again on lists of the greatest movies ever made. And in my opinion, it was just fine
• There's definitely some good filmmaking here, with exciting and dynamic battle scenes, engrossing camerawork, and some lovely scenery. But as a whole story, it didn't have my attention locked down
• Part of this may be due to the 3 1/2 hour runtime, with things only really getting into gear during the last hour or so. The long buildup might have been intended to develop the characters and make the action more meaningful, but I didn't really form strong opinions about any of the characters aside from the leader of the group, Kambei, who I thought was wise and brave and well acted by Takashi Shimura
• And really, despite this being considered an important movie, one that I've heard about my whole life, that's about all I have to say about it. It was fine. It was long. I'm not sure I'll have the urge to come back to it ever again. I have it to thank for all the other movies and directors that it inspired, but I'll just watch those other movies, thanks. Do we have any dissenting opinions out there? By all means, tell me what I may have been missing

Up Next: Gaslight, a thriller from 1944, which did indeed inspire the common term used today!

#79: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5 (The Magnificent 7.5)

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Nope

BEST SEQUENCE

The climactic shootout is really exciting, as is the scene when the seven first ambush the bad guys

BEST LINE

"Now, to business! I could kill you all. You agree?" [Silence] "Well, you don't disagree!" - Calvera, the bad guy, after he gains the upper hand

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

89%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"The Magnificent Seven transplants Seven Samurai into the Old West with a terrific cast of Hollywood stars -- and without losing any of the story's thematic richness."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits."

THOUGHTS

• I'm not well versed in Westerns, but this one was pretty fun. A movie like this gets by on the appeal and charisma of its leads, and if all the leads weren't quite at the same level, the ones who brought it really brought it
• Horst Buccholz played Chico, a young hothead, and his performance was the only one I actively disliked. Too much overacting, and a little too cutesy at times
• Robert Vaughn and Brad Dexter were Lee and Harry Luck, respectively, and they were fine but I found it hard to distinguish between the two characters. I'd also never heard of or seen these actors before, so that's probably a big contributing factor to that
• Charles Bronson and James Coburn, as Bernardo and Britt, had some great moments. Coburn had the best introductory scene - he gets challenged to a duel, Coburn using a throwing knife and the other guy using a gun. I almost picked it for my favourite scene of the movie
• Yul Brynner played Chris, the leader of the seven, and he was such a good lead. Stoic and in control and cool as a cucumber
• And finally, Steve McQueen was Vin, Chris's right-hand man, and he was my favourite. All the best lines, and just as cool as Chris but with a bit more levity. Sounds like McQueen was kind of a dick during filming, though, always trying to draw focus and upstage the other actors. Also, what's with all the neckerchiefs?
• Brynner and McQueen also had a great introductory scene, giving us some good early-movie action and showing us the goodness of their characters in an efficient way
• I also liked Eli Wallach as Calvera, the villain. He may not go down as one of my favourite villains in cinema, but I liked that he was more practical than just evil (aside from the "robbing the villagers" part)
• Lots of overlap between this movie and one of my favourite movies ever, the war movie The Great Escape. I've mentioned it before, and I'll mention it again - it's movie #19 on the list. McQueen, Bronson and Coburn all starred in both movies, and both movies were directed by John Sturges
• It's always fun to see a "getting the gang together" sequence, which constitutes the first 40 minutes or so. And there were some really exciting gunfights towards the end. The middle part drags a bit, but whatcha gonna do
• And finally, what a score! Elmer Bernstein's music will be showing up again, including in the aforementioned Great Escape, and his music for The Magnificent Seven is iconic. You probably recognize it even if you don't realize you do. Give it a listen.
• 
  

Up Next: Supplementing the list with another movie I haven't seen, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which The Magnificent Seven was based on

#80: REBECCA (1940)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never, and I knew nothing about the plot

BEST SEQUENCE

The scene in the beachside cottage between Maxim and the second Mrs. de Winter when they have a frank discussion about Rebecca

BEST LINE

"What was Rebecca really like?"

"I suppose she was the most beautiful creature I ever saw"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

99%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Hitchcock's first American film (and his only Best Picture winner), Rebecca is a masterpiece of haunting atmosphere, Gothic thrills, and gripping suspense."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence."

THOUGHTS

• As has happened a few times now, the full movie is available on Youtube. It's quite good, I definitely recommend it, so you might want to watch it before reading this review (although I won't spoil anything). Here's the link
• The main character is not Rebecca. Rebecca was the first wife of the aristocratic Maxim de Winter. The main character, instead, is Maxim's second wife, and her name is never even provided to us. This lines up perfectly with the main thrust of the movie - the second Mrs. de Winter fears that she can never hope to live up to the glamorous and beautiful Rebecca, whose presence lingers throughout Manderley, the mansion where they live
• But despite the IMDB synopsis above, there's nothing supernatural about this movie - Rebecca's belongings remain in the mansion, and the memories of her remain firm in peoples' minds, but this isn't a ghost story. It does have the trappings of one, though. I kept wondering if something more otherworldly was about to occur
• It's a bit of a slow burn, but an effective one, and things really pick up towards the end
• Laurence Olivier played Maxim in this, and he's quite good. Charismatic yet aloof, and really kind of a jerk. He proposes to the second Mrs. de Winter by saying, "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool." Olivier will appear in a couple more movies on this list, Spartacus and Marathon Man, and maybe others that I'm not aware of
• This is a bit of a milestone movie for us, as it's the first appearance of Alfred Hitchcock, the most represented director on the AFI list. Including Rebecca, the list has nine of his movies. It's a good Hitchcock movie, just not as thrilling as some of his others, so I have no problem with this placement
• Based on the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I never read the book and I didn't know anything about the plot, so I was happy to be surprised by the movie. Another interesting connection between Hitchcock and du Maurier, she wrote a short story called The Birds, which Hitchcock loosely adapted into the movie of the same name. The AFI holds The Birds in high regard, placing it at #7. Hot take alert, I only saw The Birds once, and I don't remember thinking much of it
• Finally, Netflix released a remake of this story in 2020. I didn't see it, but it seems like the general consensus was that it wasn't great and didn't have much reason for being since the 1940 version already existed. Especially since it's so easy to watch on Youtube, whether you saw the Netflix movie or not, give this one a try!

Up next: The Magnificent Seven from 1960, the first Western movie on the list