Western Magazine Digest: Denzel Washington in "The Magnificent Seven" (2016)

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Denzel Washington in "The Magnificent Seven" (2016)

The 2016 The Magnificent Seven is 'magnificent!'
Several days ago I had the fortune to intercept this Denzel Washington flick on my Amazon Firestick. When I saw it was Denzel, I knew it had to be a good one.

About the Production of the Movie

The Magnificent Seven is a 2016 American western action film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk. It is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, which in turn is a reimagining of the 1954 film Seven Samurai. The film stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, and Peter Sarsgaard. It is the final film of composer James Horner, who died the previous year after composing part of the score; his friend Simon Franglen completed the music.

Principal photography began on May 18, 2015, in the north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Magnificent Seven premiered on September 8, 2016, at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in the United States on September 23, 2016, in conventional and IMAX theatres.[4] The film received mixed reviews from critics, although the cast and action sequences were praised, and grossed $162 million worldwide.

Source: Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/2z2qadT)

The premise of the movie is a small town, Rose Creek, under the control of a group of thugs and criminals who work for Bartholomew Bogue, the owner of a gold mine. A brave woman from the town whose husband had been killed by Bogue left town to assemble a group of men who could free the town from the grip of Bogue and his gunfighters. She asked Sam Chisolm, a licensed bounty hunter, played by Denzel Washington. She and Chisolm managed to recruit the help of six additional gunfighters on the way to Rose Creek.

The New Flick is the Best Flick

When I spoke with my partner, Gary Miller (WMD Author), about this week's Weblog article, he took the time to view both clips (trailers, below). Where originally he had said that he doubted a modern Magnificent Seven could outdo the last version, he now had to agree, the 2016 version is better then the 1960 one.

We're not the only ones who find the 2016 to be superb:

"The Magnificent Seven grossed $93.4 million in the United States Canada, and $68.9 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $162.4 million, against a net production budget of $90 million.[2] The film had a global 2D IMAX opening of $4.3 million from 606 theaters. (Wikipedia, http://bit.ly/2z2qadT).

The movie draws you into the personalities and lives of the characters (see below for a list of main cast members). The music, the script (plot), the gun play, it all pulls you deep into the movie to the point where you're actually disappointed when the smoke clears and you realize it's over.

Here's a 9-minute sample of the movie followed by the main actors. Following this, you will have an opportunity to watch a clip from the original 1960 movie along with a listing of the main cast:

The seven 2016 magnificent seven movie includes:

Denzel Washington as Sam Chisolm, an African American United States Marshal warrant officer from Wichita, Kansas, and leader of the Seven.
Chris Pratt as Joshua Faraday, a gambler with a fondness for explosives and card tricks.
Ethan Hawke as Goodnight Robicheaux, a former Confederate soldier and sharpshooter who suffers from PTSD.
Vincent D'Onofrio as Jack Horne, a very religious tracker and mountain man.
Byung-hun Lee as Billy Rocks, an East Asian immigrant and companion of Robicheaux. An assassin, he uses knives.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Vasquez, a Mexican outlaw who has been on the run for several months.
Martin Sensmeier as Red Harvest, an exiled Comanche warrior and the youngest of the Seven.

There's a similarity between the 2016 and an earlier 1960's movie. The Magnificent Seven 1960's movie centers on the need to protect a similar town, only from a Mexican gang. Both renditions features fast action that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Here's the official trailer from the earlier film: