A remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai, director John Sturges helped further the “revisionist western” genre with this 1960 star-studded adventure – a genre that saw stronger roles for women, anti-heroes, and a more sympathetic view of Native Americans, if not Mexicans. Featuring every stud actor of its day – Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn, with Eli Wallach again shedding his Jewish ethnicity for that of Mexican. Kurosawa loved it so much, he presented Sturges with a samurai sword. A remake by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) is on the way in 2016, and Tarantino is spoofing the original in his upcoming The Hateful Eight, so do your homework and check out this epic ode to gunslinging and heroism.
Wed., Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m., 2015
