Wizard-8 This first sequel to "The Magnificent Seven" is a disappointment. It is not a BAD western - there are a few bits of genuine merit to be found here and there. It was given an ample budget so that the production values look pretty good, and director Burt Kennedy captures the Spanish landscape well. He also directs the action sequences fairly well. The main problem, however, is the script (by Larry Cohen, of all people.) While the story runs a half hour or so less than the original movie, it feels like it moves a lot slower, with a lot less action sequences sprinkled in. An even worse problem is with the depiction of the characters. Most of the seven protagonists are given very little detail; we hardly learn a thing about them. It's even worse with the villain - we have to wait until almost half the movie has passed before he makes his first appearance, and while his motivations for what he is doing are kind of interesting, in total there's not enough done to make his character a strong and memorable villain. The best that can be said overall for this movie is that it's not the worse entry in the series - that dubious honor goes to "The Magnificent Seven Ride".

Tweekums Ten years after 'The Seven' saved a Mexican village from a group of bandits it falls prey to another gang; this one rides into town, rounds up all the men then takes them away. The men taken away include Chico; one of the original seven who stayed in the village and married a local girl at the end of the previous film. She and her son seek out Chris once again and he and Vin set about recruiting a new Seven to find out what happened to the men and return them to their village. It doesn't take long before they find the men; they had been captured by a rich and powerful man called Lorca who was using them as slave labour to build a church in memory of his two sons. Chris and his men liberate the captured men with surprising ease but Lorca has no intention of letting him keep them; if they are to live free they must stand up and fight when Lorca and his men return.If the first film had never been made this would probably be considered just another B-western, albeit one made in Spain rather than California... unfortunately for this film though it will always be compared to the original 'Magnificent Seven' and when compared to that it is a distinctly inferior product. Yul Brynner reprises his role as Chris and does a decent job; unfortunately he is the only one of the original cast to return; Vin may be back but this time he is played by Robert Fuller. He does a good enough job but he is no Steve McQueen! The rest of the cast do well enough but lacks the star quality of the original. There is plenty of action with plenty of shooting and in the final seen plenty of explosions after a case of dynamite is fortuitously found. Overall this is a very average film that passes the time well enough if it is on television but is hardly a 'must see'.

Spikeopath Return of the Seven (AKA: Return of the Magnificent Seven), is the first sequel to the popular 1960 western, The Magnificent Seven. Directed by Burt Kennedy, the film sees Yul Brynner as the sole returnee from the first film as he reprises the role of Chris Adams. Joining Bryner are Robert Fuller, Warren Oates, Claude Akins, Jordan Christopher, and Julian Mateos. It's written by Larry Cohen, scored by Elmer Berstein (receiving an Academy Award nomination for his work) and Paul Vogel photographs it on location in Spain in De Luxe Technicolor.The uninspired story sees Chris re-team with Vin & Chico and a few other gun slinging types; to save another Mexican village from another despotic visionary. It's a colourful movie, in fact it looks tremendous in HD, if only the direction wasn't so poor as the actors sleep walk thru the plodding and cliché ridden plot. A plot that only serves as an excuse to hang a few fight sequences on; tho the last battle is a glorious spectacle of explosions and people falling to the ground as if felled by a tank. It was always a tough ask to follow such a well loved movie as John Sturges' Steve McQueen definer, but merely dressing up the same formula was never going to cut it. Rightly panned by the critics of the time, it remains a dud in spite of containing a line up of admirable character actors. 3.5/10

screenman The original title always struck me as a rather overblown definition for a bunch of gun-toting saddle-tramps. Still; their screen presence was at least underscored by a top-quality group of actors to support Yul Brynner. Most were movie stars in their own right.However; this first sequel was a pale imitation, with a group now composed of largely B and C list players, who were more mediocre than magnificent. It was a similar set-up. Brynner's 'Chris' had to recruit yet another team of gun-toting saddle-tramps to sort out the Mexican peasants' problems again. Another tyrant was giving them grief.With the originality and freshness of the first movie now spent, this remake had little else to offer. The budget was evidently very limited. This was reflected not only in the cast, but also in the below-par script, which borrowed much from the earlier classic. It was also more than half an hour shorter than John Sturges' original. Yet we still had a reprise of the agonising and moralising that made even the first a little turgid at times. However, here there was no decent acting, action or location work to balance things up. Filmiing was less expansive. It failed to convey the broad sweep of landscapes that were a great part of the original.Generally; it just lacked imagination. The first movie had been a smash-hit, and this pedestrian sequel was evidently put together as quickly and cheaply as possible in order to cynically cash-in on former success. And it shows. There's very much a 'made for TV' feel about it.Not recommended.