The Magnificent Seven [1960] blu-ray

A small town is under attack by a gang of hoodlums – and they go out and hire seven gunfighters to protect them.

I had fond remembrances of this film – it’s good – not great – not sure how people could really say that it is better than SEVEN SAMURAI with a straight face. It’s a cute film – but it’s just too Hollywood’ed up. This viewing what I really took away from it was how great a performance Eli Wallach put into this film – how Robert Vaughn’s character is the most interesting and complex of the Seven – and how skivvy Steve McQueen’s character made me feel. I mean, did he really long for the simple life? Or did he just want to rape some women? I felt he was far too aggressive with the women and the town folk had every reason to hide them away. And I still want to samurai sword chop that “kid” and his romance story.

Anyway – this was a really great looking blu-ray conversion. Everything was crisp and clear and nice – up until there was a fade out scene – then things got really muddy. This being a Hollywood western – there were many fade-outs – but I wouldn’t know how you’d fix something like that. I saw only a few small scenes where the full picture wasn’t as crisp as you’d hope – but the blacks were black and not grainy. If I loved the film – I would get the blu-ray of it.

Weekend Viewing - Feb 19-21 (part 2)

Play Misty for Me [1971, directed by Clint Eastwood]

A radio disc jockey (Clint Eastwood) has a stalker (Jessica Walter).

I liked this film – it was pretty well made – a fine script – and a good build up of tension. My problem with it was that Clint didn’t get sufficiently pissed off with this woman who’s ruining his life – Clint is far too cool for school for the shit she pulled on him. In his feature directing debut – Clint was pretty good with certain elements – and fairly standard for the time the film was released in others. I’ll go out on a limb and give it a 4 out of 5.

Futureworld [1976, directed by Richard Heffron]

In the sequel to Westworld [1973] – the Delos Corporation has reopened their adult oriented theme park after 150 people got snuffed out by killer robots just years before. This time they invite some higher profile reporters to a free visit in hopes they would promote the park – or do they have something up their sleeves?

The fun of Westworld really didn't come over with it to the sequel. This felt more like a dull investigation/conspiracy story that could've been about anything - not just about robots. The relationship between the two reporters felt like love via default - and the relationship between Harry and Clark was disturbing to say the least. They also brought back Yul Brynner in the worst way - in an unnecessary dream sequence that mad you wonder - why is Yul in her dream if they never met? I give it a frustrating 2 out of 5.