Seven Samurai (1954) *****
I think the wisest move that the makers of The Magnificent Seven (1960) (review)—a retelling of this film—made to differentiate itself from Seven Samurai (1954) was to add a heavy "baddie" character (Eli Wallach). It works for that film.
Maybe some will consider it blasphemous, but I think 7 Sam could have been shorter, probably by about 30-45 mins (it's 3 & 1/2 hours long). Don't get me wrong, it earns its 5 stars from me; it is and will always be one of the greatest, most important, and influential films of all time, but it could have been trimmed. It's definitely easier to just pop in most of Akira Kurosawa's other films (which average just over 2 hours long).
Maybe some will consider it blasphemous, but I think 7 Sam could have been shorter, probably by about 30-45 mins (it's 3 & 1/2 hours long). Don't get me wrong, it earns its 5 stars from me; it is and will always be one of the greatest, most important, and influential films of all time, but it could have been trimmed. It's definitely easier to just pop in most of Akira Kurosawa's other films (which average just over 2 hours long).
Comments
Post a Comment