It doesn't matter to me whether or not the Western genre is representative of how life really was back in the day. I don't care if it's been exaggerated, romanticised or straight up invented. What matters is that it provides a recognisable framework within which many different types of story can be told: the frontier town, the bandits, the selfless hero, the guns for hire, etc, are versatile tools in the hands of experienced writers. The original Magnificent Seven film is that versatility in action. It's a remake that's respectful to both its Japanese source material and its own parent genre, proving that some stories truly can be universal at heart and it's just the telling that changes. The western appropriation of the seven hired hands is so good that it even spawned a number of imitators and sequels of its own:
The Source:
01.
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Films:
01.
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
02.
Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966)
03.
Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
04.
The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972)
The TV Series:
01.
The Magnificent Seven: TV Series (1998–2000)
Films Influenced By TMS:
01.
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
02.
The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1983)
The Remake of the Remake:
01.
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
