Is John Sturges' tale of seven gunmen defending a Mexican village against banditos as good as its inspiration, Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai? High-brow film critics say: "No way". High-brow film critics are dead wrong. Harnessing established big-timer Yul Brynner to a dream team of up-and-coming young guns (Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn and Robert Vaughan are the stand-outs), Sturges created an unforgettable, bittersweet feast of gun-toting excitement, lyrical widescreen beauty and deadpan sentiment. Even four decades later, just the sound of Elmer Bernstein's score can still lift you out of your seat. Anyone who can't feel the greatness here deserves a one-way trip to Boot Hill.
DVD Extras:
Guns For Hire documentary, cast and crew commentary, trailers, stills gallery, booklet.The commentary (with Eli Wallach, James Coburn and writer Walter Mirisch) is good, but it's the definitive documentary that makes this edition special. Guns For Hire - seen on Channel 4 last year - catalogues the making of the film in huge, fascinating detail, from early legal disputes to on-set cast one-upmanship (like McQueen's bitter efforts to upstage Brynner). With a lump of fresh big-name interviews (Bronson's the only surviving lead player not to crop up) bolstering great behind-the-scenes images, it's difficult to see how this disc could be any better. Simply magnificent.
