They weren’t quite circus bugs, but I couldn’t help but think of the parallels between The Magnificent Seven and Pixar’s A Bug’s Life as I watched M7. Having seen the latter at least a dozen times over the past few years, I’ve come to realize the Disney film is really an homage to The Magnificent Seven and its predecessor, Seven Samurai. Ants in distress about a band of bully grasshoppers who come and take their winter supply of food. That ritual continues until the ants decide to stand up to the grasshoppers and recruit "warrior bugs" to defend the colony and rid the ants of the grasshoppers for good. For years, I’ve been impressed by the storylines of Pixar’s films. I’ve thought the team that wrote Toy Story and A Bug’s Life had original ideas. But after viewing M7, I’m not so sure their writing is as original than I had previously thought.

Oh well, on to the movie.

I want to start out by saying that I’ve never been a big fan of the western. My favorite western by far is Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West (which also stars a quiet Charles Bronson). Outside of that, I can’t really think of a shoot’em up that I’m a huge fan of. Until now, that is. M7 has got me excited to see a few more westerns.

What I enjoyed most about this film was the character development, and how director John Sturges explored each gunslingers’ flaws and fears, individually. He really dug deep to humanize the characters, giving each of them nice, little quiet moments. That’s something I’ve always craved in action films because I think it is quiet moments like these that give films their heart and soul. Most action films are pure action and don’t give the audience room to breathe. Unless I’m in the mood for pure action, I usually get bored of this formula really fast. Three-quarters into the picture, I can’t wait for the thing to end. But M7 was different. Each character had his own issues to deal with, and Sturges gives them screen time to deal with them. The gunslingers weren’t the larger-than-life Clint Eastwood or John Wayne-types, which audiences have become accustom to watching. Instead, they’re real people. They had really problems and fears (or as Tobin would say, "You’ve got serious issues, man!" Not sure what cartoon he got that from.) They were scared. And it was because they were scared, and still decided to go against the odds, that made them heroes.

I’ve seen Yul Brynner in a couple of films (The King and I & Westworld), and in each of those films, I felt he didn’t show much emotion. In M7, I liked his character’s bravery, and the many, subtle facial expressions and laughs he made throughout the film.

Steven McQueen was his usual, hard-nosed self. His screen persona never fails to remind me of a sixth grader with a chip on his shoulder who always wants to show up the eighth grader. He may always get the crap beat out of him, but he always comes back for more. The only problem is, he’s too damn likeable. You can never take your eyes off of him. I don’t know if you watched the DVD, but in the Special Features, they discussed how each of the young (gun) actors tried to outdo each other on-screen. Since McQueen didn’t have many lines (as compared to Brynner) in the film, when he and Brynner are on-screen together, as Brynner is talking McQueen is constantly trying to distract attention by taking off his had, rub his forehead, etc. That’s hilarious, and total Steve McQueen (that sixth grade kid vying for attention any way he can get it).

For me, the two least likeable characters at the beginning of the film were Lee and Chico, played by Robert Vaughn and Horst Buchholz, respectively. However, as the film progressed and they each had their own little moments, both characters grew on me more and more. I really enjoyed Vaughn’s scene when he tried to catch the three flies on the table. When he only catches one, he response by saying, "There was a time when I would have caught all three." Buchholz’s character, on the other hand, was sort of annoying at first. But after the highly entertaining "bull" scene, I started to really get into his chameleon-like character, especially when he poses as one of the bandits to find out what they are planning. His character, alone, supplied much of the passion and humor of the film. Of course, his character was equivalent to the Toshiro Mifune role in Seven Samurai, which was easily my favorite character in Kurosawa’s classic.

My favorite character in M7, however, was Bronson’s Bernardo O’Reilly. I really liked his interaction with the three boys. In A Bug’s Life, the ladybug named Francis adopts a female fan club called "The Lady Bugs" after he breaks his leg. I thought it was very similar to the three boys who followed O’Reilly around. It is also the foursome who supplied my favorite scene of the film. It’s when the one of the boys says that the gunslingers are braver than his father. Bronson surprisingly bends the boy over his knee and begins spanking him (hilarious). He then follows up by saying how their fathers are braver than the gunmen because they carry responsibilities to their families.

Of course, Elmer Berstein’s scored is the standard for every 60s TV western. I liked it, but I would have liked more of a build up, instead of it blaring in your face from the opening scene. The main scored was so loud that every time it played, I had to turn the volume down.

I would like to talk more about the parallels between M7 and Seven Samurai, but I would need to re-rent the latter, again, as it has been awhile since I’ve seen it.

Because of its deep character development, and the fact that I’m more open than ever to rent another western (such as High Noon), I give M7 a solid 3 ½ stars out of 5.