Zkot Pen I'm going to jump right into my criteria for watching any movie:1. Do I believe the story? Not really, kinda, maybe, if I'm suspending disbelief as I do for animation, perhaps? So many unbelievable elements to it -- the token Indian threat; screaming Hollywood from the Joshua Tree National Park (or nearby) in the first 5 minutes; one minute we're in the desert, next minute we're in a torrential downpour, and more. The whole setup was so rigged, I actually found myself paying close attention to sunlight & shadows on the cardboard characters' faces. Questions such as: How can that guy see in the desert with the sun in his eyes? Are they really travelling south, based on which way the shadows are cast?2. Do I care about the story?No way! I don't think I had ever seen a Randolph Scott movie before, unless in childhood. But that song has been with me all my life, "Whatever happened to Randolph Scott, ridin' them trails alone?..." So I figured I'd check out Randolph Scott hunting down 7 bad guys, just for a look. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lasted more than 15-20 minutes. By the end of the film, I didn't really care how things turned out. Without spoiling, I will say I was mostly engaged in predicting what would happen (as opposed to simply watching what happened) -- I got 100% of my predictions right!3. Do I believe the characters?Not really, with one exception: Lee Marvin's character, Masters. I hated him -- and since he was the villain, that's exactly the way I was supposed to feel about him. A nasty old scoundrel from the Wild West. Yep, I believed Lee Marvin!4. Do I care about the characters?No. I wanted to care about Randolph Scott, 'cause he does seem like a cool dude type, right from the start, and his mission was righteous. Naturally, Mrs. Greer is pleasing to the eye, and Gail Russell did the job she was hired to do, but nothing more. On a positive note, I did care about Lee Marvin's Masters. He was the villain, and I was rooting against him, as I was supposed to. A pretty straightforward villain, but very well played, nonetheless.Overall, I'm disappointed, with the exception of Lee Marvin's performance -- the only reason I scored this movie 4/10 and not lower. I strongly disagree with the 7.5 out of 10 rating which enabled me to watch the movie. I believe that average rating to be exaggerated sentimentalism. Indeed, even I began by giving this movie 6 out of 10 -- but realized I had done so for two reasons: (1) I almost felt duty-bound not to give it a lower rating, given its status as a "classic western"; and (2) I know IMDb applies a weight to ratings -- which works in the case of Bollywood and such -- but I honestly felt that giving "Seven Men From Now" the rating I truly felt would somehow diminish the value of my vote. The more I think about it -- even the title is contrived. Most or all negative connotations of "Hollywood" as being a contrived industrial production of cinema as opposed to art, are present in this movie, with the exception of Lee Marvin's performance.My recommendation: Don't waste your time with this one!

disinterested_spectator Seven men rob Wells Fargo, steal a lot of gold, and kill Ben Stride's wife in the process. He sets out to avenge her death, and while he is at it, he retrieves the gold as well. Justice is served. But there is another injustice that has to be addressed in this movie.When Stride first happens across John Greer and his wife Annie, we can see right off that this guy is a wimp, and we wonder how he ever got himself a wife like Annie. Even when she falls in the mud, she oozes sex appeal. Later, when they are joined by Bill Masters and his partner Clete, Masters poses the question to Clete as to why a full woman like Annie would settle for half a man. He is right. Greer just does not deserve Annie.A man like Masters is the sort who cannot help stepping on something little, so one night while Stride, Greer, Annie, and Masters are inside the covered wagon, Masters starts talking about how deliciously desirable Annie is, practically ravishing her with his words, while her husband, who is being verbally cuckolded, just sits there and takes it. Masters also talks about how he once knew another woman like Annie, who eventually ran off with a real man, suggesting that she has a thing for Stride. And apparently she does, because later when Stride says goodbye to her, she moves in to be kissed, although Stride does not avail himself of the opportunity. For one thing, he is a recent widower, and for another, he is too upright to take another man's wife.We know that Stride will eventually kill all the men who stole the gold and caused his wife's death, because that is routine for a Western. It is the injustice of Greer's being married to Annie that worries us, for there is no standard convention for handling that situation. When Stride discovers that Greer had been hired by the robbers to transport the gold, he takes the box of gold away from Greer and tells him and Annie to go west. We get a sinking feeling. The wrong will never be righted. Fortunately, Greer decides to go south to inform the sheriff of Stride's situation.Before Greer can get to the sheriff's office, the leader of the men who hired him to transport the gold shoots him down in the street. Because Greer knowingly risked his life and lost it trying to help Stride, Masters says he was wrong, that Greer was a man after all. Well, it is nice of Masters to say that, being generous about the man now that he is dead, but we know better. After all, Greer was not wearing a gun, and in a Western, that is always the mark of a weakling. And thus it is that when Greer is shot in the back unarmed as he walks to the sheriff's office, we breathe a sigh of relief. Though Annie says she loves her husband, yet we know that this is for the best.Later, after Stride has returned the gold, he tells Annie where he will be working as a deputy and indicates that he would be glad to see her, if ever she should be passing by that way. She quickly decides that after a decent interval (both have recently murdered spouses), she will take him up on that offer. This makes us feel good, because Stride is the real man she has needed all along. When they finally get married and he gives it to her the way her first husband never could, justice will finally be restored.

Spikeopath Seven Men from Now is directed by Budd Boetticher and produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions. Written by Burt Kennedy it stars Randolph Scott, Gail Russell & Lee Marvin. Music is by Henry Vars & William H. Clothier photographs out of the Alabama Hills and Lone Pine, California.Former Sheriff Ben Stride is on the trail of the seven men; who whilst robbing a Wells Fargo office, killed his wife in the process. Mentally tortured by having lost his job that resulted in his wife having to work at Wells Fargo, Stride is totally driven by hurt and anger. But along the way he helps a married couple who are stuck in the mud; who persuade Stride to ride West with them in case of further problems. They are then joined by a couple of suspect characters who have their own private agenda for tagging along with Stride: all parties seemingly heading for the day when the truth will out.Director Budd Boetticher and leading Western star Randolph Scott made between 1956 and 1960, seven interesting and genre bending films. This was the first of their collaborations, and although it can be said they were merely honing their "Adult Western" bent here, all the traits that would make the upcoming The Tall T, Ride Loneome and Comanche Station so worthy of genre classic status is evident here in this film. Tho simple in plot; I mean man on a mission movies are not exactly rare are they? Seven Men From Now is boosted by a smartly ambiguous turn from Lee Marvin as Bill Masters, while Boetticher's ability to raise his complex and hungry characters above and beyond the standard tale further gives the piece some kudos. Incidents dot themselves throughout the story to keep the film from ever drifting to the mundane, while the location work at Lone Pine, Alabama Hills in California is gorgeous; where we should be thankful to cinematographer William H. Clothier for realising that Boetticher needs his vista to be another character.Originally intended as a vehicle for John Wayne, who took producing duties instead when his schedule wouldn't allow him the time to star, Seven Men From Now gave Randolph Scott a chance to show just what a fine actor he was. His Ben Stride could so easily have been played as corny and grumpy, but Scott gives it the emotional depth that Burt Kennedy's script demanded. Gail Russell (Annie Greer) is the lady of the piece, she ultimately led a sad real life, but at least here as the woman caught between two men, we get to see that she did have the ability when called upon - even if this didn't relaunch her career in the way that her friend John Wayne had originally hoped for. In fact Gail was to sadly succumb to the alcoholism that blighted her life just five years later, aged just 36. Thankfully this film stands up as a fine way to remember her beauty and for the efforts that she put into the Western genre.Lacking the heavy cloud of doom of Boetticher & Scott's best collaborations, this one, however, boasts richly interesting characters that are telling a cunning moral allegory tale. It be an Oater for those who like intelligence over yippee ki-yay like histrionics. 8/10

OldAle1 This first teaming of Scott & Boetticher also finds them working from a script by Burt Kennedy - his very first screenplay, and impressive enough that he worked with this team three more times, eventually moving on to a prolific if not exciting directorial career himself.All the elements are in place: the lone, upright and indomitable man, with the tragic past and a taste for vengeance that keeps him going against all odds...a woman, no freer than he but just as determined, in her own way....her weak husband, prey to the villains that made off with the gold....a charismatic nemesis who may or may not be one of the killers that the hero has vowed vengeance on....seven bad men who must be brought to justice - his kind of justice.OK that makes it sound hokey, but lets face it an awful lot of westerns sound that way if you reduce them to basics. What makes this one stand out? The terrific widescreen color photography (by William Clothier) and Boetticher's exquisite framing and graceful camera movements -- little rapid cutting here, no scenes that don't play out as long as they need to, and yet the whole comes in at a perfect 78 minutes. The subtle sexual nuances between ex-sheriff Ben Stride (Scott) and strong-willed Annie Greer (Gail Russell) who Stride has joined with and is helping out - despite the presence of her weak husband John (Walter Reed)...the fabulous performance of Lee Marvin as Bill Masters, a likable rogue who may or may not be involved in the crime that took Stride's wife, the participants in which he will hunt down unto death.Boetticher does a lot with a smallish budget and the 50s standards of what you could show; his first action sequence is a tense little moment under a rock with Stride coming upon two men in the rain and stopping for coffee with them, until he finds out....and then we cut away as the shots ring out. The tension is built and released, and we really don't need to see the same standard gun play in every scene - so he doesn't give it to us. We have off-screen shots, quick cutaways between shooters, a reaction shot or two of victims without seeing the shots fired, a dynamic use of space in the many canyon sequences leads to odd angles and unpredictable shots -- really he does more with the few gunfights in this film than many directors did in whole careers.The characters, too, are beautifully developed from small nuances. Scott, typically, is the strong and stoic type, but the sexual tension expressed in all the early scenes between him and Russell is extraordinarily powerful with just an eyebrow, a smile communicating all we need. Marvin, too, is attracted to the sole female in this male world (apart from a very brief bar scene) but his is a predatory view, albeit couched in a touch of civility. His flamboyant dress, flip attitude, and egotism pretty much steal the show and make his final standoff with our hero all the more memorable, because we actually care at least a little about him.In the end, the hero must go it alone, and whether he prevails or not, and whether the woman he has come to love will be free - and willing - to meet him if he does survive the last showdown -- all that I will not reveal. See it for yourself, it's easily one of the best westerns of the 50s and a great start to a series of films that continued on a remarkably high level.