JohnHowardReid Third of the Magnificent Seven series. The others: The Magnificent Seven (1960), Return of the Seven (1966). This one is a sort of "A"- grade "B" western, with many of the features of the latter — a minor-league cast; a script with no romantic interest, dialogue that varies from the merely serviceable to the downright dull, and a plot that contrives to save just about all its action for the climax. The direction rates as competent enough in its uninteresting and undistinguished way, and the same can be said for most of the other credits — including Bernstein's score which goes through its Magnificent Seven reprises in a totally unimaginative and somewhat less than forceful style. Acting varies from the merely capable to the barely tolerable.On the other hand, even the most jaded viewer will notice far more costumed extras milling around on actual locations than the "B" western can usually afford. And the action, when it does arrive, is rather more enthusiastically and destructively staged.

billybonney This has to be the best one of the series, end of story, the plot is bigger and badder than ever before. The characters OMG are cooler than Steve McQueen's Vin, you got Chris the lead again, Keno, Slater, Max, Levi, Cassie and P.J.! When I saw it, I had just moved and this made me love westerns forever! The plot based on the others is completely new the first two and the last one is all about saving towns, in this the stakes are harder, and badder a prison break. It's impossible in the beginning but possible in the end. Even Cassie thinks it's a joke "For money or for laughs?" Then Chris awesomely say's, "Well as much as you'd make in a year a hundred dollars, not very much laughs." Everyone is expendable in this. They might not like each other when they all meat but they all bond, for instance Levi and Emo, Chris and Keno, Slater and Cassie who are both a former confederate and a black man and this is 1969 when Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech aroused true diversity! The only negative about this film was P.J. the guy was just there to be the seventh. He's only got like two lines, we didn't know much about him other than he had tuberculous. If you look up the actor Scott Thomas he's basically an extra. He had no character development. This film will always be forever one of the Magnificent's of '69

MartinHafer I was going to say that "Guns of the Magnificent Seven" isn't as good as the original, but the original would be Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai". Well, the original American remake of this film, "The Magnificent Seven", is pretty much what you're getting here--but with a much less exciting cast. Otherwise, it's very, very familiar--like a remake of the remake! While George Kennedy, Joe Don Baker, Bernie Casey, James Whitmore and the rest try, you can't help but think that they are a second-rate cast compared to Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and the rest in "The Magnificent Seven". This is especially a problem because Kennedy is supposed to be playing Brynner's character--a man who looks and acts nothing like him!! Kennedy is a fine actor--but not nearly as menacing and intensely cool as Brynner. I tend to think of him as the nice-guy character from "The Dirty Dozen" or the likable lug from "Cool Hand Luke". Heck, they even forgot to dress Kennedy's character up in black! As for the rest, it's pretty much the same--nice actors but that's all. The music, by the way, is exactly the same as in the first film. The only real differences were the bad guys--federal troops instead of just bandits AND the racial element which was included in the 1969 version since race had become a HUGE national issue between the films. Overall, a very entertaining but stale film. It's just not different enough and seems like a remake of "The Magnificent Seven" instead of further adventures of these men. It is, however, marginally better than the previous film "Return of the Magnificent Seven".

Michael_Elliott Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Third film in the series has a Mexican rebel leader (Fernando Rey) captured and thrown into a sadistic prison where he's being held until he will release information about the group wanting to overthrow the government. One of his followers hires gunman Chris (George Kennedy) who finds six others to come up with a plan to break into the prison. GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is certainly a major step up from the previous entry in the series but it's somewhat of a disappointment because with a few changes I think the film could have been even better. I'll get the negative stuff out of the way first and I think the biggest problem is that at 105-minutes the film runs way too long as there are way too many scenes that just drag on to the point where you can't help but feel the movie would have been better with some editing. The big showdown is of course going to take place at the end but it just seemed like there was so much talk leading up to it that you wish they would have cut this and just got down to the action quicker. In all seriousness, the dialogue scenes that drag on really don't add anything. Outside of that we're left with a fairly entertaining picture and I especially liked some of the darker violence. While nothing is too graphic, the suggested violence is still pretty strong including a bit early on where a group of followers are murdered. I'm not going to ruin how they're killed but it's a very memorable sequence. Another memorable one happens inside the prison when the guards are trying to get the leader to talk and they've got some of his followers buried in the group up to their necks. Again, I won't ruin what follows but it's extremely well done. The performances are also pretty good here with Kennedy in fine form playing that lovable brute. Fans can debate on whether this "Chris" was supposed to be the same one Brynner played but to me it really doesn't matter. Rey, his second appearance in the series, is also good here as is James Whitmore, Monte Markham, Bernie Casey and Joe Don Baker. The finale is pretty exciting, although I will admit that the plan seemed a tad bit too easy.