Return of the Seven (1966)

By Filipe Manuel Neto

**After “The Magnificent Seven”, we have "The Magnificent Sloth".** Despite the aura it gained, Kurosawa's “Seven Samurai” pales a lot when compared to the grandeur of the film “Magnificent Seven”. However, and following the success achieved, the studios decided to make more films and sequels. I'm going to see them all, but I can tell you right now that this one isn't even half as good as the first film. Let's start with the redeeming qualities, so we don't lose the will to write: Yul Brynner is an excellent actor, he is absolutely comfortable with the material given to him, and he has a profile for the film. Incidentally, he is the only actor from the first film who returned to play his character a second time – even imposing, as a condition, the dismissal of Steve McQueen, with whom he had had difficult disagreements behind the scenes of the original production. We still have good action scenes and shootings. The performances of Claude Akins, Robert Fuller and Warren Oates are also not far behind, with a great effort from the actors. Everything else, however, is disappointing, starting with the script: it's exactly the same as the one used in the first film, with the same story and the same structure. The village that the Seven are going to help is exactly the same one they saved before, so the sets and costumes seem to have been reused. The soundtrack is exactly the same as the first film... that is, this film copied the first one, but with less great and notable actors. Frankly unfortunate… if the studios were that lazy to invest and make a decent film, they might as well not have done anything.